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Her hackles went up. “I’ve been riding these mountains all my life. I’m perfectly capable.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go alone.”
Her grip tightened on the handlebar of the machine. “I can make that decision for myself.”
He looked as though he wanted to argue but refrained. The tension between them crackled. Hands on his hips, Rafe looked off toward the snow-covered mountains for several long seconds. When his focus came back to her, his annoyance was gone.
Gently, with just a touch of humor, he chided, “What are you trying to do, Ames? Hog up all the blessings for yourself?”
Ames. No one had called her Ames in a long, long time. She opened her mouth to argue but the words didn’t come. He’d worked harder on this project than she had, and delivering was the greatest blessing and the most fun.
An array of emotions shifted through her. An afternoon alone in the wilderness with Rafe?
She mounted the snowmobile and started the engine. “Just try to keep up.”
A slow grin slid over his handsome features. “You’re on, Ames. You’re on.”
Chapter Six
“He’s thinking of selling out next spring,” Rafe said as he and Amy left the last of the remote homes, a forlorn-looking ranch house with smoke spiraling from the chimney. “Economic times are hard enough and now winter’s taken a toll on his animals.”
“It must be incredibly hard for him to ranch and care for three kids since his wife died.”
While Rafe had talked with the rancher and warmed himself by the woodstove Amy had played with the motherless baby. Her heart ached for the man and his children.
“He seemed pretty down—embarrassed, too.” Vapor clouds puffed from his lips like smoke rings. “A real man doesn’t like taking charity, but he wanted his kids to have Christmas.”
“I’m so sad for all of them. I wish I knew some other way to help. The ranch is so far out here, he can’t have many visitors.”
“The life of a Montana rancher.” Rafe pulled his helmet into place and mounted the snowmobile.
“I suppose.” Still, she wanted to do more. The smiles and gratitude of the other families had blessed her, but the proud rancher and his kids tugged at her heart. “It was nice of you to offer to come up and drive them to the church drama.”
He shrugged a thickly clad shoulder, the silky material whispering. “I have the equipment. Not a big deal.”
“It was to them.” She spun the snowmobile around and started back along the tracks they’d made coming in, thinking. About her blessings. About the rancher’s plight. About Rafe.
They rode for a mile or two, road wind flapping around them, snow spitting up from the ground. After a bit, Rafe gunned his engine and passed her, lifting one gloved hand to point behind him. She got his message. He could beat her even pulling a passenger sled. Challenged, Amy caught up and returned the favor, mood elevated a little to play in the great Montana outdoors with Rafe.
Miles and miles of pristine snow frosted the meadows and forests. In places, drifts many feet high stacked against the cliffs and mountains. They’d carved a route on their way up but even now, snow flew around them like a blizzard until her vision was obscured. It was a wonderland of beauty and treachery.
As they neared the outskirts of Snowglobe, the land flattened into an area sparsely populated. In the powder bowl ahead, the amber lights of town and home glowed like angel halos. Rafe pulled alongside her and motioned for her to stop.
Curious, Amy followed his lead and drove across a bumpy thicket of snow, through a scattering of tall pines toward...nothing. An empty snowy meadow. Rafe stopped and killed his engine, straddling the snowmobile.
Amy pulled up next to him and flipped up her visor. “Why are we stopping?”
Rafe ripped off his helmet and speared her with an incomprehensible look, gaze as gray and intense as the sky above. “Wanted to show you something.”
Amy parked her ride and dismounted, the rumble of the machine still humming through her muscles though she’d shut down the engine.
Rafe came up beside her. “Look around at this place. What do you think?”
She looked at him first, saw an eager hope and knew he was showing her something important. Taking her time, she turned slowly, gazing over the ripples and hills of snow, taking in the mountain backdrop, the forest, the panorama of sky above and valley below.
“In spring a creek runs along the back,” he said, pointing, “through that line of trees and down toward the valley. The land is fairly flat here, plenty of space.”
And then she knew. A lump formed in her throat. “You bought it.”
“Next spring, if all goes well, I’ll start building.”
They’d once talked about building their own little paradise in the mountains. Now Rafe was going ahead with their dreams. A moment of sadness at all they’d lost came and went, and then she was glad for him.
“You deserve to have a wonderful place.”
“Mom and Dad have been great since I got home, but it’s time I moved out.”
“This will be perfect.”
As if he’d been awaiting her approval, Rafe eagerly launched into the plans.
“What do you think about putting the house right here?”
“Facing the valley or the mountains?”
He stopped, frowning. “Good question.”
“I know,” she said. “Do both. Build a house with incredible views open to both sides. Lots of tall windows, a double deck.”
“Skylights.” His smile widened. He raised both arms, fists clenched in a victory punch, reminding her of a little boy at Christmas. “Ames, you’re a genius. Will you help me with the plans? I need your artistic eye.”
The compliment sizzled along her nerve endings and she caught his excitement. “How many square feet?”
“Flexible.”
“Cathedral ceilings or two-story?”
“Yes.”
She laughed and the sound puffed out in a noisy, foggy cloud that startled the birds from a nearby pine. She laughed again. “Tell me what you have in mind. This is exciting.”
Rafe’s quick description included an enormous beamed living room with a full wall fireplace and a game room. “It’s the kitchen and all that stuff I have trouble with. I mean, how much room does a man need for a microwave?”
Amy thumped a gloved hand against his thickly coated arm. “Goofy. An incredible kitchen is everything. Even if you don’t cook a lot, you’ll want a beautiful space, just in case.” Just in case you get married. Just in case you fall in love. The idea of Rafe and another woman pinched, but she let it go, clasping the pleasure of the moment. “Lots of gleaming wood, granite, a center island that opens up the whole living/dining area.”
Rafe grinned and looped an elbow around her neck, snugging her close to his side. “See why I need you? You’re brilliant.”
“Well, of course I am. I am woman.”
She’d meant the statement as a joke, but Rafe’s expression went serious as he gazed down into her face. “Yes, you are. And quite a woman, at that.”
Her grin softened to a smile, a mere curve of lips, as she gazed back at him. They were different people now. Grownups. She could spend this time with him, enjoy his company, throw herself into planning his dream home. After all, she had forgiven him even if she hadn’t forgotten.
The quiet of the day, broken only by the crackle of frozen earth and the occasional cry of a bird surrounded them in a cocoon of winter wonderland. Rafe’s warmth seeped through his jacket into hers, his arm feeling right and good around her. Without thinking too much, a nasty habit of hers, she circled his lean waist with one arm and leaned against his solid bulk.
He hugged her closer until his chin rested on her hair. “Ames?” he said.
Her pulse thudded in her throat. “What?”
A second passed and then two while she wondered what he was about to say, and wondered even more if she wanted to hear it. Something was stirring inside her again for Rafe Westfield. Maybe Mom was right.
She licked suddenly dry lips and lifted her chin. “You were saying?”
Rafe stared out across the clearing for another second before saying, “Nothing important.”
Slight disappointment tugged at her. “Oh.”
She started to pull away but Rafe pulled her back. “On second thought, I was about to say something.”
Her heart bumped. “Which was?”
“The Chamber is offering sleigh rides after the tree lighting. Want to come along? Maybe lead the kids in some Christmas carols?”
She studied his face, certain he’d had something else in mind. But even this sounded too close, too personal, too scary. “Are you driving the sleigh for the foster kids?”
“Yep. Just like always.”
“Santa Rafe.” Don’t do it, her brain yelled. Don’t do it.
He grinned. “I like that. Will you come?”
Ignoring the inner sentries she’d erected against this particular man, she said, “I’d love it.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Afterward, if it’s not too late, I’ll ply you with pizza and show you my fledgling house designs. How does that sound?”
A lot better than it should.
* * *
On the ride home, they’d raced, thrown snow on each other and laughed like loons. All the while the feel of Rafe’s casual kiss on the head warmed a place long empty inside of Amy. Though she was unsure of what it meant, a new relationship was slowly developing. She didn’t know how she felt about it, but Rafe was clearly an unresolved issue or she wouldn’t think about him so much.
Perhaps this was the answer to her prayers, a chance to resolve the past and move forward, one way or the other. It was the other that made her nervous.
After they’d parked the snowmobiles and warmed up, Rafe walked her to her car. He opened the door, waited until she was inside and closed it, motioning for her to roll down the window. He leaned in as she cranked the engine. “Thanks for sharing the blessings. I enjoyed it.”
“Me, too.”
He did the quiet thing again, staring at her as if something heavy plagued his mind. Finally, he cupped her cheek with a gloved hand and smiled, then slapped the window opening with a single pop and backed away. “Be safe.”
Night closed in as Amy headed for home through the cheery lighted town, her insides glowing like the lights of Snowglobe. The snowplow had scraped the narrow streets during her absence, a constant in the tiny town. Thoughts of Rafe and the afternoon, of the rancher and his motherless kids, and of the dream home Rafe would build filled her head. He was eager, it seemed, to move on with life after the military, a revelation that had caused her opinion to shift a little. She’d never asked him why he’d given up the career he’d claimed to want more than marriage to her. He’d come home to Snowglobe, just as she had. And he was putting down roots. Building a home. Making a life. She knew he wasn’t seeing anyone special, but a man didn’t build a house to live in it alone. Did he?
If Rafe found someone else, would she mind?
The answer was yes. Even with their painful parting years ago, she still had feelings for Rafe Westfield.
A thought both elated and scared her. Could she let go and see where this tangle of feelings might take her? Did she dare trust him again?
As she pulled into her mother’s drive, she noticed an unfamiliar truck parked outside. Her mom had company. Probably one of the ladies from the Bible study or the hospital auxiliary. Dana was on so many committees, the visitor could be anyone in town.
Amy bounded up the steps eager for the warmth inside the cozy house. She pushed open the door and stepped in. Her first impressions were of the recently hung garlands festooning the living room and the spicy scent of Mexican casserole. She followed the scent toward the kitchen, expecting to find her mother.
She rounded the door frame and blinked in confusion. A man carried a casserole dish toward the glass-topped table while her mother filled two coffee cups.
“Amy! I didn’t hear you come in.” Dana’s olive skin flushed beneath dark eyes that sparkled with an energy Amy had never observed before.
What was going on here?
“Honey, I want you to meet Jeffrey Fischer.” Looking flustered, her mom set the cups on the table and looped elbows with the man. He was blond, like Dad, with piercing blue eyes. Amy’s stomach twisted at the thought of her long-absent, uncaring father. “He bought the old Cleveland house and moved up from Helena last spring.”
“Hi.” Amy nodded toward the newcomer. “Nice to meet you.” Sort of. What are you doing here with my mother?
Jeffrey reached out and shook her hand. Then he slid an arm around her mom and smiled into Dana’s face with an expression of affection. “Your mother’s told me so much about you.”
Wish I could say the same about you. But Amy found her manners in time to say with humor, “Don’t believe a word of it. I’m not that bad.”
“I’m sorry the two of you haven’t met before. I was waiting for the right time.” Again, Mom seemed flustered as though worried about Amy’s approval. “I thought we might all have Christmas dinner, spend the day together. Jeffrey has a daughter in California who may come for a visit. Her name is Lisa. You’ll like her. Very sweet young woman.”
Dana Caldwell was not one to prattle on nervously. The fact that she did raised Amy’s suspicion that Jeffrey was more than a casual acquaintance.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, sweetie,” Jeffrey said to Dana with a tender look. “But what I think you’re trying to say is that we’ve been spending a lot of time together and we hope to spend more.” To Amy he said, “Your mother is an amazing woman. The day I stumbled into her shop to order flowers for Lisa’s birthday was one of the best days of my life.”
“And the rest, as they say, is history,” Dana said with an airy flutter of fingers.
Stunned realization slid down Amy’s back. Whoa. Mom had a boyfriend? When had this happened?
Amy looked from Jeffrey’s face to her mother’s and back again. This man was in love with her mother. And maybe her mom felt the same.
The sudden paradigm shift was too much for Amy to take in. Silly as it was, she felt alone and left out, an unwanted intruder. “Don’t let me interrupt your dinner. You two go ahead.”
“Why don’t you join us, honey? There’s plenty. Jeffrey brought his special Mexican chicken dish.”
“Makes enough to feed an army,” Jeffrey said. “Afterward, we’ll finish decorating the tree and watch It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Mom’s favorite movie. Amy’s, too. Watching it together was their tradition.
Amy managed a weak smile. “I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll head off to my room and a hot bath. Warm up after the afternoon on a snowmobile.”
If she expected her mother to argue, she was wrong. Confused and a little hurt, Amy left the kitchen. Her mother had a boyfriend. She wasn’t surprised that a nice man would find Dana attractive. Mom was gorgeous and smart and successful. But since Amy’s father walked out, Dana had never dated anyone. Not that Amy knew about. Mom’s desire to retire and “kick up her heels” suddenly made a lot more sense.
