The Christmas Ranch & A Cold Creek Holiday by RaeAnne Thayne

Author:RaeAnne Thayne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

They were all mostly silent on the way home. Emery was lost in thought, wondering if this whole trip had been crazy. What place could she ever have in the Daltons’ lives? As much as she had instinctively liked both Wade and Caroline Dalton and despite the ties they didn’t even know about, she was a stranger to them. What right did she have to burst into their lives, dredging up the past?

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn’t pay much attention to anything until they turned onto the Hope Springs access road. As Cielo moved alongside Claire’s horse, she had the first clear view of the girl in several moments and she was stunned to see silent tears trickling down cheeks reddened by the cold.

The sight jerked her from her own self-absorption and she nudged the horse closer so she could reach out to touch the girl’s shoulder. “Oh, honey, what is it?”

“Nothing,” Claire sniffled.

“It’s the cookies Tanner’s mom made,” Tallie said. She looked close to tears, as well, though she seemed to be holding them back.

“What’s wrong with the cookies?”

“Nothing,” Claire said. “It’s just...we haven’t made any this year. Not real ones, anyway.”

“Our mom always made Christmas cookies with us. Every year. It was so fun,” Tallie said sadly.

“We made sugar cookies and wedding balls and almond ones dipped in chocolate,” Claire said, her voice breaking on the words. “I miss them so much.”

She let out a sob and Emery stopped her horse and pulled the girl into as much of a hug as she could manage when they were both on horseback.

“We made cookies with Uncle Nate,” Tallie reminded her sister. “They were okay.”

“They were from store-bought dough. That’s all Uncle Nate said he could make. And we still burned them.”

Emery did her best to ignore the fluttering in her stomach at the image of the tough, virile man who could lift her heavy suitcase without a blink standing in the kitchen in an apron making cookies with his nieces.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” she murmured. She wasn’t the only one missing her mother or the life she used to have this Christmas, though what these two little girls were suffering seemed so much harder.

“Listen, I’m not the greatest baker, but I do have a few good cookie recipes. Maybe we could find a day before Christmas and the three of us could whip something up.”

Tallie, on her sister’s other side, looked ecstatic at the offer. “Really? You mean that?”

“As long as your uncle doesn’t mind.”

“He won’t mind,” Claire assured her as she wiped at her eyes. “He loves cookies. He just doesn’t know how to make them.”

“Can we still make a hat like yours if we’re making cookies?” Tallie asked.

“I’m sure we can figure out a way to do both,” she answered, and was greeted with delighted smiles.

So much for her claim that she wanted to avoid Christmas this year, she thought as they spurred their horses toward the house. Now she was committed to helping the girls make cookies and sew a few presents.

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