Christmas Cowboy Kisses: A Family for Christmas / A Christmas Miracle / Christmas with Her Cowboy. Carolyn Davidson

hung his coat and cap on the hook. “If we seem to be running low, I can always take the gun and find a deer for us. I’d think we could eat for a good long time on a nice buck. And we could always have one of the hogs butchered if need be.”

      “I’m so glad you’re here, Gideon,” Joy said with spontaneous happiness. “I’ve never felt so well cared for before. It seemed I had to be the one to do chores and look after my grandfather and keep everything up to snuff. It’s a real pleasure to have you here, and especially with the way you’ve taken over the chores for me.”

      “I’ve been blessed by you and your grandpa, Joy,” he said in a low tone as he sat at the kitchen table to watch her as she put together their supper. “Joseph and I would have been goners if you hadn’t welcomed us into your home.”

      “I think there is a power that watches over us,” Joy said, turning to face him. “Things work together for good, the good book says, and I believe it.” She lifted the coffeepot and filled a cup for Gideon, placing it before him. “I made a fresh pot while you were out taking care of things. I thought you’d be cold and ready for some hot coffee to warm your innards,” she said with a chuckle.

      “I can’t imagine why a woman such as you hasn’t been snatched up by some young fellow,” Gideon said softly, his words carrying only to her ears. “You are the epitome of womanhood, Joy. A real treasure for the right man.” And then she watched as a flush rose to cover his cheeks.

      “I can’t believe you’re blushing,” Joy said, seating herself next to him at the table, her own coffee steaming before her.

      “I’m trying to smooth the way for a question I want to ask you, Joy. I’ve wanted to go to town and speak with your minister there, but the weather hasn’t allowed for travel yet. And I need to deposit my cash into the bank, too. I’d thought the minister or even your sheriff might check up on me for you, kinda relieve your mind about me if you’ve any questions He could write or wire to the folks who wrote my letters of referral and see for himself that I’m exactly what I’ve said I am.”

      “I don’t have any questions about you, Gideon. I read the letters you showed me the first day you were here and I have no doubt that they are genuine. If you want to speak with my pastor or the man at the bank or even the lawman in town, I’d say go right ahead. But I trust you thus far. And unless you give me reason not to do so, I’ll let things ride.”

      He bowed his head in a courtly gesture. “Thank you, Joy. As to what I began saying earlier, I really hesitate to be too bold, for we’ve only known each other for a short while. And yet I feel that I’ve known you forever. Does that make sense?”

      She lifted her cup to sip at the hot brew within, then smiled at him as she lowered it to the table once more. “I know what you’re saying and I understand what you mean, Gideon. I didn’t know I could come to love a child in such a short while, but I feel that Joseph is almost my own. That sounds a bit...presumptuous, I suppose, but it’s how I feel.”

      “Joseph asked me last night when we went to bed and after he’d said his prayers if he could call you his mama. He’d already prayed for a mother of his own, as he has several other times, but for some reason, he has latched onto the idea of calling you mama and I didn’t know how to answer him. I told him I’d ask you today if you wouldn’t mind.”

      Joy folded her hands on the table before her and bit her lower lip, trying her best not to shed the tears that had formed at his words. “I’d be honored, Gideon. I love your boy.”

      He reached out and took her hands in his own, sending his warmth to her very depths. “Joseph will be pleased to hear that, Joy. I’ll be sure to tell him when he wakes up in the morning that you’re agreeable to his plotting.”

      “Let me loose, Gideon,” she said as a sound of bubbling from the stove caught her attention.

      The potatoes had begun to boil and she slid the kettle to the rear of the stove to simmer for a bit. The pork roast she was baking would soon be ready to take up and she’d make gravy by the time the potatoes were finished cooking.

      “I think I’d better check on Grandpa while I have a few minutes free,” she told Gideon, wiping her hands on her apron and heading for the parlor. “He wasn’t feeling just right this morning and he’s been resting on the sofa, enjoying Joseph from a distance. Said he didn’t want to spread around any germs if he had something going on.”

      She went into the parlor, hearing Joseph’s clear tones as he “read” from the picture book he held. It was one from her own childhood and Joseph had felt he’d struck gold when she’d allowed him the use of her outgrown library. Grandpa sat on the sofa, an afghan tucked around him as he listened to the boy make up a story to go with the pictures in the book before him.

      Joy touched the old man on the shoulder and bent to whisper in his ear. “Are you feeling any better, Grandpa?”

      Grandpa shook his head. “I’m not sure what it is, Joy, but my chest is hurting some, and my breathing seems to be not quite right. I’m thinking it would be a good idea for Gideon to ride to town on your mare and see if the doctor would come out here.”

      Joy felt dread strike her soul at his words. She’d feared early this morning that there was something amiss with her grandfather, for he’d not eaten breakfast and had only had hot milk to drink, saying he felt a bit under the weather. Now to hear that his chest was paining him gave her real cause for alarm. She bent to his ear and whispered words of comfort, and then made a decision. “I’d feel better if you’d lie down on my bed, Grandpa. My room is warm, for the stove is just on the other side of the wall and the heat radiates into there. Maybe you’d do better to lie down.”

      “I don’t think so, Joy, for I can breathe better when I’m sitting up. If you’ll bring your quilt out here, I’ll put my feet up on the sofa and lean into the corner and let Joseph read his picture book to me.”

      Joy squeezed his shoulder in reply and went to her bedroom to get the extra quilt from her bed. She lifted Grandpa’s feet to the sofa and tucked the quilt around him, then put the afghan around his shoulders to keep his back warm. “I’ll go and talk to Gideon now, Grandpa,” she said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you.”

      Her heart beat in a rapid cadence as she walked to the kitchen, unwilling that Joseph be frightened by anything going on, then caught sight of Gideon. He stood when she came into the kitchen and grasped her shoulders.

      “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Is Joseph all right?”

      “It’s Grandpa, Gideon.” She felt the tears sliding down her cheeks and Gideon’s warm arms enclosed her tightly, muffling the tears she couldn’t help but shed against his chest.

      He whispered soft words into her ear. “Whatever it is, we’ll take care of it, Joy. Is he not feeling any better? Shall I go for the doctor in town?”