A Lawman's Christmas: A McKettricks of Texas Novel by Linda Lael Miller Page A

repeated.
    Edrina glanced at Dara Rose, her expression almost conspiratorial, and considered the question under discussion. “I know what I’d want,” she said presently. “Books. Exciting ones, with bears and outlaws and spooks in them.”
    Again, Dara Rose’s heart pinched. She’d be lucky to afford peppermint sticks to drop into the girls’ Christmas stockings this year, never mind dolls and books.
    She cleared her throat. “Harriet and I stopped by the O’Reilly place today,” she said. “Little Addie’s under the weather again, and those boys looked hungry enough to dip spoons into the laundry kettle.”
    â€œAnd something smells bad there,” Harriet added.
    Dara Rose didn’t scold her, but went right on. “I think they’d be grateful to have firewood and enough to eat, like we do,” she said, hoping she’d made her point and wouldn’t have to follow up with a sermon on Christian charity.
    â€œMama’s giving them some of our eggs,” Harriet said matter-of-factly. “She says sometimes a person just has to help somebody else and hope the good Lord pays heed and makes competition.”
    Edrina didn’t say anything, since she had a mouthful of bread.
    Dara Rose wondered if Harriet even knew what it meant to pay heed. “The two of you can take a basket over to the O’Reillys’, as soon as school’s out for the day,” she said. “And furthermore, Harriet Nolan, you will not remark on the bad smell.”
    â€œIt’s probably the outhouse that stinks,” Edrina said. “Ours might get that way, too, without Papa around to shovel lye into it once in a while.”
    â€œEdrina,” Dara Rose said, “we are at the table.”
    A long pause ensued.
    â€œI have to stay after to wash the blackboard,” Edrina reminded her mother.
    â€œFine,” Dara Rose answered, pushing back her chair and carrying her bowl and spoon to the sink. “I’ll wash the eggs and put them in the basket and you can drop them off at the O’Reilly place on your way back to school.”
    â€œThere will be hell to pay if I’m late for class,” Edrina said frankly. “Don’t forget, I’m already in trouble for slugging Thomas Phillips in the stomach.”
    Dara Rose bit the inside of her lower lip to keep from smiling. “I won’t forget,” she said, heading for the single shelf that served as a pantry, bowl in hand, and fishing eight perfect brown ovals out of the crock filled to thebrim with water glass. “If you hurry, you can deliver the eggs and still get back to school before Miss Krenshaw rings the bell. And I will thank you not to swear, Edrina Nolan.”
    Harriet, who staunchly maintained that she was too old to take naps, was already getting heavy-lidded, chin drooping, and yawning a little.
    Dara Rose washed the eggs and put them into the basket, covering them with a flour-sack dish towel. She handed them to Edrina, who was already buttoning her coat. “Wear your bonnet,” she instructed. “The sky may be blue as summer, but the wind has a bite to it.”
    Edrina nodded, resigned, and let herself out, taking the egg basket with her.
    â€œBring that basket home,” Dara Rose called after her. “And the dish towel, too.”
    Edrina replied, but Dara Rose didn’t hear what she said. She was already scooping up her sleepy child and carrying her to bed.
    Â 
    C LAY CHECKED THE B ITTER Gulch Saloon and looked in at the bank, but there was no malfeasance afoot in either place.
    Figuring it was indeed going to be a long winter, he walked back to the jailhouse, where he had a tiny office, a potbellied stove and a cot, and helped himself to a cup of the passable coffee he’d made earlier.
    The stuff was stale and lukewarm, but stout enough to rouse a dead man from his eternal rest.
    That, he supposed, was what this coming