Wyoming Christmas by Grace Jelsnik

Author:Grace Jelsnik
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, western, rodeo, crime, cowboy, family
Publisher: Plainswomen Press
Published: 2017-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Her grandmother looked fragile, a dry husk barely visible beneath the blankets pulled high beneath her chin. She rested against several pillows, elevating her posture, and when Lexi entered her bedroom, only the black eyes, sharp and penetrating, gave proof of life. “Sit beside me, child.”

Lexi moved to the chair beside her bed, her breath catching on a hitch. Since lunch, a space of mere hours, the woman had deteriorated beyond what she could have possibly imagined.

Her grandmother addressed the caregiver. “Leave us for a while, Abby. Tell Julian supper will be served in one hour. We won’t need kitchen staff to attend to us. The snow is still falling, and he and his staff will want to leave soon if they hope to spend Christmas with their families.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Abby disappeared through the door.

“How bad is it out there?” Grandma asked.

“Not bad, but I’m a Coloradan. Wyoming can’t show me anything when it comes to snow. There’s about four inches right now, but no wind.”

“If the wind picks up, four inches is more than enough for a white-out ground blizzard. Sawyer will need to have someone plow the road.”

“I’ll tell him.” Lexi thought he’d be able to figure that one out for himself, but if it comforted her grandmother to know her orders had been transmitted, she didn’t mind passing on the information.

“How did it go in town?”

“Not well. Albert cleaned out the box yesterday, maybe while Sawyer was picking me up at the airport.”

Grandmother grimaced, whether from pain or from disappointment, Lexi couldn’t tell. “How?”

“A forged court order from Judge Hildegarde.”

Comprehension sharpened and narrowed the eyes. “I should have anticipated that.”

“You know what was in that box, don’t you?”

She shook her head, a slow, back-and-forth motion against the pillow. “No, but I know what it concerned, and I should have anticipated a forged court order.” She shifted her gaze to the door. “Where is Sawyer? You were both supposed to be here.”

“He went with Sheriff Rafferty and Doc Williamson.”

“To examine the body?”

“Yes. He’ll be in soon.” She reached, ineffectually patting the blanket where she guessed a hand might be. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

The eyes sparked. “It wasn’t a loss. He was an Ortner.”

“And my father wasn’t?”

A small smile played on papery lips. “No. Your father was a Bramsen, like my father, a good man, a moral man.” Her eyes developed an unnatural sheen, and a tear spilled out, racing down to the pillow. When Lexi grabbed a tissue from the box on the nightstand and dabbed at it, her grandmother said, “Must be getting old. Weak. Never used to cry.”

Lexi leaned back in her chair. “Old? Don’t be silly. You’re merely tired. You should rest. I’ll stay here and wake you when Sawyer gets here.”

“Not now. I must tell you. You and Sawyer.” The elderly woman’s voice wasn’t much more than a whisper now. She was fading fast.

Sleep. That’s all she needed: sleep and lots of it. By tomorrow, she’d be much better. So Lexi told herself while tears of fear and projected loss rose in her eyes.

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