It's a Christmas Thing (The Christmas Tree Ranch 2)

“Would you like to talk to Santa?” Tracy asked.

The little girl shook her head. “He’s not the real Santa. I can see his fake beard from here. And he looks tired. Let’s keep going.”

They passed a shoe store, where they found a pair of silver sneakers for Clara to wear with her princess costume. Coming out of the store, Clara suddenly pointed. “There! That’s what I want to do.” She ran toward a brightly painted photo booth. “Let’s take pictures of us together.”

Mugging and laughing in the booth, they took two strips of photos. “One for you and one for me,” Clara said. “We can keep them to remember each other.”

Tracy suppressed a murmur of dismay. Clara, with a wisdom beyond her years, was already preparing for the time when she’d go back to Phoenix and leave everyone she’d found here, maybe forever.

Racing down the mall, Clara stopped abruptly outside the window of a photo studio. “What does that sign on the glass say?” she asked.

Tracy read the sign out loud. “Special: Christmas portraits while you wait. That means you can go in and have your picture taken and get it back while you’re here.”

“I want to do that.” Clara marched into the shop. “It’s for my dad,” she told the photographer.

Clara wasn’t dressed up, but she looked adorabl

e in her red Christmas sweater and jeans. After Tracy combed her hair, the photographer sat her in front of a Christmas scene to snap the picture. “I’ll have it for you in about thirty minutes,” he said. “I can put it in a frame if you like. I can even gift wrap it—after you’ve seen and approved it, of course.”

While they waited, they had Chinese in the food court. By the time they returned to the studio, the portrait was ready. Tracy had it framed and wrapped, and paid for it with her own card.

“Can we go now?” Clara asked as Tracy tucked the wrapped picture in the shopping bag with the little silver shoes.

“If you’re ready.” Tracy had hoped Clara would see something that Rush could pick up later for a gift. But aside from the shoes, which weren’t really a present, all she’d wanted were the photos.

Not long after leaving the mall, Clara fell asleep in her booster seat. Lost in thought, Tracy drove home. Clara was so young. She was bravely preparing for the day when she would have to go home to her parents. But how could she understand the full implications of that time—the idea that she might not be allowed to see Rush again for years, until she came of age?

Tracy remembered the nugget of hope she’d found in her online search. It might not be of any help now, but anything could happen in the years ahead. There were no guarantees, not even the promise that she and Rush would stay together. She needed to make him aware of it while she could.

She’d told herself that it would be cruel to give him false hope. But what could be crueler than no hope at all?

She had to tell him what she’d found. But first she would share what she knew with someone else—a wise friend who could advise her how to proceed.

She would talk to Maggie.

Chapter 14

Standing in the light of Clara’s small Christmas tree, Rush unzipped the tent flap far enough to look inside. He checked on Clara every night before he went to bed. It was a tender moment, made poignant by his knowing that soon she’d be gone, maybe for years.

In the faint glow that shone through the fabric, she lay nestled in her sleeping bag. One arm snuggled her stuffed white cat, much as she’d cradled the real kitten at Tracy’s house. The sight of her, sleeping so peacefully, was enough to tie his heart in a knot.

Tomorrow, the Saturday before Christmas, would be Branding Iron’s day of celebration, with the parade in the morning and the Cowboy Christmas Ball that night. Christmas would fall on the following Wednesday. After that . . .

He tried to shove the thought aside, but it stayed to torment him like a buzzing, biting insect. He’d heard nothing from Sonya. He didn’t even know for sure when the cruise would end. He only knew that after Christmas his days with Clara would be numbered. All he could do was make the most of each one.

* * *

On Saturday morning, Tracy rose early, fed the cats, and went outside to clear away the few inches of snow that had fallen in the night. The sky was clear, the air crisply cold but not frigid. The weather would be perfect for the parade.

The parade, scheduled to begin at 10:00, started at the high school parking lot, continued down Main Street to the last stoplight going south, then turned around at the intersection with the highway and went back in the other direction. Nobody minded that the procession went both ways. Seeing everything twice made the fun last twice as long.

By 9:15 Tracy was ready to go, dressed in a festive red sweater, jeans, boots, and her warm parka. Leaving the car on a side street, she walked the short distance to the city park, a good spot for parade watching.

Rush had arranged to meet her next to the World War II monument, a tall block of native stone with a flagpole on top and a bronze plaque listing the names of Branding Iron’s veterans. The sidewalks along the parade route were already crowded, with people staking out the best spots. Even families from Cottonwood Springs—a bigger town, but with no parade of its own—enjoyed coming to Branding Iron for some old-fashioned Christmas spirit.

It was early yet. Tracy didn’t expect Rush to meet her until almost parade time. But as she strolled through the milling crowd, she spotted several people she knew. Maureen, the receptionist in the courthouse, gave her a friendly wave. “Can I come tomorrow and get that little black kitten?” she asked.

“Can you wait till later in the day?” Tracy asked. “Dr. Rushford is coming tomorrow to give the kittens their vaccinations. Then they’ll be ready to go.”