A Country Christmas Read online

  When he pulled into the driveway, Jane gazed at the house with a sense of homecoming that nearly brought tears to her eyes. It’d been an emotional day from the first. Her mother had broken down when she dropped Jane and the kids off at LAX; seeing their grandmother weep, both children had begun to cry, too. Then the flight and Mary Ann’s fever and her difficulties at the airport. Instead of the loving reunion she’d longed for with Cal, there’d been one more disappointment.

  “You and the kids go inside, and I’ll get the luggage,” Cal told her.

  “All right.” Jane unfastened her now-sleeping daughter from the car seat and held her against one shoulder.

  Paul followed. “How come Daddy’s going to his truck?” he asked.

  Jane glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t know.” He seemed to be carrying something, but she couldn’t see what and, frankly, she didn’t care.

  What Jane expected when she walked into the house was the same sense of welcome and familiar comfort. Instead, she walked into the kitchen—and found chaos. Dishes were stacked in the sink and three weeks’ worth of mail was piled on the kitchen table. The garbage can was overflowing. Jane groaned and headed down the hallway. Dirty clothes littered the floor in front of the washer and dryer.

  Attempting to take a positive view of the situation, Jane guessed this proved how much Cal needed her, how much she’d been missed.

  She managed to keep her cool until she reached their bedroom. The bed was torn apart, the bedspread and blankets scattered across the floor, and that was her undoing. She proceeded to their daughter’s room and gently set Mary Ann in her crib; fortunately she didn’t wake up. Jane returned to the kitchen and met Cal just as he was walking in the back door with the last of her bags.

  Hands on her hips, she glared at him. “You couldn’t make the bed?”

  “Ah...” He looked a bit sheepish. “I thought you’d want clean sheets.”

  “I do, but after three hours on a plane dealing with the kids, I didn’t want to have to change them myself.”

  “Mommy! I’m hungry.”

  Jane had completely forgotten about dinner.

  “The house is, uh, kind of a mess, isn’t it?” Cal said guiltily. “I’m sorry, honey, my standards aren’t as high as yours.”

  Rather than get involved in an argument, Jane went to the linen closet for a clean set of sheets. “Could you fix Paul a sandwich?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  “I want tuna fish and pickles,” Paul said.

  “I suppose your mother let him eat anytime he wanted,” Cal grumbled.

  Stephanie had, but that was beside the point. “Let’s not get into this now,” she said.

  “Fine.”

  By the time Jane finished unpacking, sorting through the mail and separating laundry, it was nearly midnight. Cal helped her make the bed. He glanced repeatedly in her direction, looking apologetic.

  “I’m sorry, honey,” he said again.

  Jane didn’t want to argue, but this homecoming had fallen far short of what she’d hoped. At least Mary Ann was sleeping soundly. But without a nap, Paul had been out of sorts. Cal had put him down and returned a few minutes later complaining that his son had turned into a spoiled brat.

  Jane had had enough. “Don’t even start,” she warned him.

  He raised both hands. “All right, all right.”

  They barely spoke afterward.

  At last Cal undressed and slipped between the fresh sheets. “You ready for bed?”

  Exhausted, Jane merely nodded; she didn’t have the energy to speak.

  He held out his arms, urging her to join him, and one look told her what he had in mind.

  Jane hesitated. “I hope you’re not thinking what I suspect you’re thinking.”

  “Honey,” he pleaded, “it’s been nearly three weeks since we made love.”

  Jane sagged onto the side of the bed. “Not tonight.”

  Cal looked crestfallen. “Okay, I guess I asked for that. You’re upset about the house being a mess, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not punishing you, if that’s what you’re saying.” Couldn’t he see she was nearly asleep on her feet?

  “Sure, whatever,” he muttered. Jerking the covers past his shoulder, he rolled over and presented her with a view of his back.

  “Oh, Cal, stop it,” she said, tempted to shake him. He was acting like a spoiled little boy—like their own son when he didn’t get what he wanted. At this point, though, Jane didn’t care. She undressed and turned off the light. Tired as she was, she assumed she’d be asleep the instant her head hit the pillow.

  She wasn’t.

  Instead, she lay awake in the dark, wondering how their reunion could possibly have gone so wrong.

  Five

  To say that Jane’s kitchen cupboards were bare would be an understatement. One of her first chores the next morning was to buy groceries. Cal kept Paul with him for the day, instead of taking him to preschool, and Jane buckled Mary Ann into her car seat and drove to town.

  She was grateful to be home, grateful to wake up with her husband at her side and grateful that the unpleasantness of the night before seemed to be forgotten. With the washer and dryer humming and the children well rested, the day looked brighter all the way around. Even Mary Ann seemed to be feeling better, and a quick check of her ears revealed no infection.

  Although she had a whole list of things to do, Jane took time to go and see Ellie. Later, when she’d finished with her errands, she planned to make a quick run over to Annie’s.

  “You look...” Ellie paused as she met Jane outside Frasier Feed.

  “Exhausted,” Jane filled in for her. “I’m telling you, Ellie, this time away was no vacation.”

  “I know,” Ellie said, steering her toward the old-fashioned rockers positioned in front. “I remember what it was like. With my dad sick and my mother frantic, it was all I could do to keep myself sane.”

  Jane wished Cal understood how trying and difficult these weeks had been for her. He should know, seeing that his own mother had been so terribly ill, but then, Phil had protected his sons from the truth for far too long.

  “I’m glad you’re home.” Ellie sank into one of the rockers.

  “Me, too.” Jane sat down beside her friend, balancing Mary Ann on her knee. She loved sitting right here with Ellie, looking out at the town park and at the street; she’d missed their chats. She could smell mesquite smoke from the Chili Pepper. California cuisine had nothing on good old Texas barbecue, she decided, her mouth watering at the thought of ribs dripping with tangy sauce. A bowl of Nell Grant’s famous chili wouldn’t go amiss, either.

  “Everything will be better now,” Ellie said.

  Jane stared at her friend. “Better? How do you mean?”

  Ellie’s gaze instantly shot elsewhere. “Oh, nothing... I was thinking out loud. I’m just pleased you’re back.”

  Jane was a little puzzled but let Ellie’s odd remark slide. They talked about friends and family and planned a lunch date, then Jane left to get her groceries.

  Buy-Right Foods had built a new supermarket on the outskirts of town, and it boasted one of the finest produce and seafood selections in the area. The day it opened, everyone in the county had shown up for the big event—not to mention the music, the clowns who painted kids’ faces and, not least, the generous assortment of free samples. There hadn’t been a parking space in the lot, which had occasioned plenty of complaints. People didn’t understand that this kind of congestion was a way of life in California. Jane had forgotten what it was like to wait through two cycles at a traffic light just to make a left-turn lane. A traffic jam in Promise usually meant two cars at a stop sign.

  Grabbing a cart at the Buy-Right, she fastened Mary Ann into the seat and headed down the first aisle. Everyone who saw Jane seemed to stop and chat,
welcome her home. At this rate, it’d take all day to get everything on her list. Actually she didn’t mind. If Cal had shown half the enthusiasm her friends and neighbors did, the unpleasantness the night before might have been averted.

  “Jane Dickinson—I mean, Patterson! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

  Jane recognized the voice immediately. Tammy Lee Kollenborn. The woman was a known flirt and troublemaker. Jane tended to avoid her, remembering the grief Tammy had caused Dovie several years earlier. After a ten-year relationship, Dovie had wanted to get married and Frank hadn’t. Then, for some ridiculous reason, Frank had asked Tammy Lee out. The night had been a disaster, and shortly afterward Frank had proposed to Dovie—although not before Tammy Lee had managed to upset Dovie with her lies and insinuations.

  “Hello, Tammy Lee.”

  The older woman’s gold heels made flip-flop sounds as she pushed her cart alongside Jane’s. “My, your little one sure is a cutie-pie.” She peered at Mary Ann through her rhinestone-rimmed glasses. “I swear I’d die for lashes that long,” she said, winking up at Jane.

  Trying to guess Tammy Lee’s age was a fruitless effort. She dressed in a style Jane privately called “Texas trash” and wore enough costume jewelry to qualify her for a weight-lifting award.

  “From what I hear, it’s a good thing you got home when you did,” Tammy Lee said.

  Jane frowned. “Why?”

  Tammy Lee lowered her voice. “You mean to say no one’s mentioned what’s been going on with Cal and that other woman while you were away?”

  Jane pinched her lips. If she was smart, she’d make a convenient excuse and leave without giving Tammy the pleasure of spreading her lies. They had to be lies. After five years of marriage, Jane knew her husband, and Cal was not the type of man to cheat on his wife.

  “Her name’s Nicole Nelson. Pretty little thing. Younger than you by, oh, six or seven years.” Tammy Lee studied her critically. “Having children ages a woman. My first husband wanted kids, but I knew the minute I got pregnant I’d eat my way through the whole pregnancy. So I refused.”

  “Yes, well...listen, Tammy Lee, I’ve got a lot to do.”

  “I saw Cal with her myself.”

  “I really do need to be going—”

  “They were having dinner together at the Mexican Lindo.”

  “Cal and Nicole Nelson?” Jane refused to believe it.

  “They were whispering. This is a small town, Jane, and people notice these things. Like I said, I’m surprised no one’s mentioned it. I probably shouldn’t, either, but my fourth husband cheated on me and I would’ve given anything for someone to tell me sooner. You’ve heard the saying? The wife is always the last to know.”

  “I’m sure there’s a very logical reason Cal was with Nicole,” Jane insisted, not allowing herself to feel jealous. Even if she was, she wouldn’t have said anything in front of Tammy Lee.

  “When my dear friend finally broke down and told me about Mark seeing another woman, I said the very same thing,” Tammy Lee went on. “Wives are simply too trusting. We assume our husbands would never betray us like that.”

  “I really have a lot to do,” Jane said again.

  “Now, you listen to me, Jane. Later on, I want you to remember that I’m here for you. I know what you’re feeling.”

  Jane was sure that couldn’t be true.

  “If you need someone to talk to, come to me. Like I said, I’ve been down this road myself. If you need a good attorney, I can recommend one in San Antonio. When she’s finished with Cal Patterson, he won’t have a dime.”

  “Tammy Lee, I don’t have time for this,” Jane said, and forcefully pushed her cart forward.

  “Call me, you hear?” Tammy Lee gently patted Jane’s shoulder. Jane found it a patronizing gesture and had to grit her teeth.

  By the time she’d finished paying for her groceries, she was furious. No one needed to tell her who Nicole Nelson was; Jane had no trouble figuring it out. The other woman had approached Cal the afternoon of the rodeo. Jane had sat in the grandstand with her two children while that woman flirted outrageously with her husband.

  For now, Jane was willing to give Cal the benefit of the doubt. But as she loaded the groceries into the car, she remembered Ellie’s strange comment about everything being “better” now. So that was what her sister-in-law had meant.

  The one person she trusted to talk this out with was Dovie. Jane hurried to her friend’s antique store, although she couldn’t stay long.

  Dovie greeted her with a hug. The store looked wonderful, thanks to Dovie’s gift for display. Her assortment of antiques, jewelry, dried flowers, silk scarves and more was presented in appealing and imaginative ways.

  They chatted a few minutes while Dovie inquired about Jane’s parents.

  “I ran into Tammy Lee Kollenborn at the grocery store,” Jane announced suddenly, watching for Dovie’s reaction. It didn’t take her long to see one. “So it’s true?”

  “Now, Jane—”

  “Cal’s been seeing Nicole Nelson?”

  “I wouldn’t say that.”

  “According to Tammy Lee, they were together at the Mexican Lindo. Is that right?”

  Hands clenched in front of her, Dovie hesitated, then nodded.

  Jane couldn’t believe her ears. She felt as though her legs were about to collapse out from under her.

  “I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical reason,” Dovie murmured, and Jane realized she’d said the very same words herself not ten minutes earlier.

  “If that’s the case, then why didn’t Cal mention it?” she demanded, although she didn’t expect an answer from Dovie.

  The older woman shrugged uncomfortably. “You’ll have to ask him.”

  “Oh, I intend to,” Jane muttered as she headed out the door. She’d visit Annie another day. Right now, she was more interested in hearing what Cal had to say for himself.

  When she pulled off the highway and hurtled down the long drive to the ranch house, the first thing she noticed was that the screen door was open. Cal and Paul walked out to the back porch to greet her. She saw that her husband’s expression was slightly embarrassed, as if he knew he’d done something wrong.

  “Don’t be mad,” he said when she stepped out of the car, “but Paul and I had a small accident.”

  “What kind of accident?” she asked.

  “We decided to make lunch for you and...well, let me just say that I think we can save the pan.” A smile started to quiver at the corners of his mouth. “Come on, honey, it’s only a pan. I’m sure the smoke will wash off the walls.”

  “Tell me about Nicole Nelson,” Jane said point-blank.

  The amusement vanished from his eyes. He stiffened. “What’s there to say?”

  “Plenty, from what I hear.”

  “Come on, Jane! You know me better than that.”

  “Do I?” She glared at him.

  “Jane, you’re being ridiculous.”

  “Did you or did you not have dinner with Nicole Nelson?”

  Cal didn’t answer.

  “It’s a simple question,” she said, growing impatient.

  “Yeah, but the answer’s complicated.”

  “I’ll bet it is!” Jane was angrier than she’d been in years. If they’d had a wonderful reunion, she might have found the whole matter forgettable. Instead, he hadn’t even bothered to show up on time or at the right terminal. The house was a mess and all he could think about was getting her in the sack. She shifted Mary Ann on her hip, grabbed a bag full of groceries and stomped into the house.

  “Jane!”

  She stood in the doorway. “I have all the answers I need.”

  “Fine!” Cal shouted, angry now.

  “Daddy, Daddy!” Paul cried, covering his ears. “Mommy’s mad.”

  “Is th
is what you want our son to see?” Cal yelled after her.

  “That’s just perfect,” Jane yelled back. “You’re running around town with another woman, you don’t offer a word of explanation and then you blame me because our son sees us fighting.” Hurt, angry and outraged, she stormed into the bedroom.

  * * *

  It was obvious to Glen that things weren’t going well between his brother and Jane. He saw evidence of the trouble in their marriage every morning when he drove to work at the Lonesome Coyote Ranch.

  He and Cal were partners, had worked together for years, and if anyone knew that Cal could be unreasonable, it was Glen. More importantly, though, Glen was well aware that his older brother loved his wife and kids.

  By late October the demands of raising cattle had peaked for the season, since the greater part of their herd had been sold off. Not that the hours Cal kept gave any indication of that. Most mornings when Glen arrived, Cal had already left the house.

  “Are you going to talk about it?” Glen asked him one afternoon. Cal hadn’t said more than two words to him all day. They sat side by side in the truck, driving back to the house.

  “No,” Cal barked.

  “This has to do with Jane, right?” Glen asked.

  Cal purposely hit a pothole, which made Glen bounce so high in his seat that his head hit the truck roof, squashing the crown of his Stetson.

  “Dammit, Cal, there was no call for that,” Glen complained, repairing his hat.

  “Sorry,” Cal returned, but his tone said he was anything but.

  “If you can’t talk to me, then who can you talk to?” Glen asked. It bothered him that his only brother refused to even acknowledge, let alone discuss, his problems. Over the years Glen had spilled his guts any number of times. More than once Cal had steered him away from trouble. Glen hoped to do him the same favor.