A Little Country Christmas - Carolyn Brown Page 0,3
she gathered up her heaviest coat and a little snowsuit that Retta had given her when her own child, Annie, had outgrown it. Just to be on the safe side, though, she picked up a quilt like Landon suggested, along with the diaper bag.
She hadn’t been a bit surprised at the little spark of electricity that popped when she touched Landon on the shoulder. From the first time she shook hands with him at the ranch and he’d stepped in that gopher hole, there had been chemistry between them. If she’d tried to get him out of her mind, it would have been impossible, what with all the teasing from the ladies at the two ranches about Landon’s “proposal.” Since that day, their friendship had kept growing, and she’d learned to admire him more and more. His heart was as big as Texas, and he was constantly doing sweet little things, like making sure she and Sally had a Christmas tree.
Dixie stood back in the shadows for a few moments and listened to him read. He hadn’t quite picked up the Texas drawl that all the other cowboys out on Longhorn Ranch had, and with his shaggy blond hair and scruffy beard, he didn’t look much like them either.
Oh, but he sure looks fine to me, she thought.
Landon looked up, caught her eye, and smiled. “You got those coats ready? This little princess says she’s ready to go. My mama would have loved her. She told me that she always wanted a daughter, but all she got was three old ornery boys. I still have trouble forgiving her for not telling me about my two brothers until I was grown.”
“I have trouble forgiving my mother for turning her back on me when I got pregnant, and Sally’s father for leaving us. But it doesn’t stop the sun from coming up every single morning.” Dixie took the baby from him and slipped the snowsuit on her and zipped it up, then pulled a stocking cap onto her head and tucked her wispy blond hair up under it.
“In other words,” Landon said as he laid the book back on the table and stood up, “life goes on, and our forgiveness don’t matter much one way or the other?”
“Oh, it matters. Not for those who did us wrong, but for ourselves. Unforgiveness and hate can take up a person’s whole heart and then there ain’t room for love,” she answered. “So, when we get ready to forgive those who’ve been ugly to us, we free ourselves from the burden of carrying all that crap around.”
“Then why is it so hard?” Landon kept Sally in his arms and opened the door for Dixie. “And who made you so smart?”
“I’m not smart, Landon,” she told him. “I’ve figured out that it’s just human nature to want to get even, not forgive. I hated Sally’s father for leaving, but then it finally came to me that he didn’t even know how I felt, and if he did, he wouldn’t care. So why was I hanging on to those feelings when I have a better life right now than I ever had before—and a lot better than if he had even stuck around?”
“Oh, no!” he said.
“You don’t agree with me?” she asked.
“No, not that,” he answered as he opened the back door to his truck. “We need a car seat for the princess.”
“It’s in the house. I’ll go get it.” She turned around and jogged back to the shop through the inch of snow that was on the ground. She still wasn’t sure about this whole idea of putting up a tree in the shop. Maybe she should ask Claire before she did such a thing. After all, Dixie only worked at the Quiltin’ House, she didn’t own the place. Claire was married to Levi, the foreman out on the Longhorn Ranch. Working for her the past year had been wonderful, and she had become a close friend. Dixie valued their working relationship and their friendship too much to jeopardize either one.
When she returned, Landon was sitting in the driver’s seat, letting Sally play with the steering wheel. They were both having so much fun that she couldn’t tell him she was having doubts about bringing a tree into the shop without asking. If Claire said that she didn’t want a tree in the shop, then Dixie would just move it into her bedroom.
“Give me a minute or two to get this thing roped down, and then