Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
W henever things went wrong, they went completely and totally bonkers. Early Tuesday morning when she landed in Bozeman, they had issued a blizzard warning. Over the terminal’s speaker system, they announced they would be closing the airport shortly. She had made the right choice to leave Burnett Ranch when she did.
Now, five days later, the evening sun was trying to peek from between the clouds and set on their first Christmas Eve without her brother and her father.
Their employees and friends had all stayed at the ranch for the last few days. While the snow had stopped, the road had not been plowed and those on the news were warning people to stay at home. Do not try to travel unless you wanted to spend Christmas in a ditch.
She and Emily were going to make this last Christmas the very best. This morning, Emily and Ben went through the freezer and found enough food to make a scrumptious meal for tonight and tomorrow.
Sam and her mother wrapped small gifts for everyone they would spend Christmas with. Everyone was going to get something to remind them of the Mistletoe Inn. A little something from their one-time home.
The phone, the internet, and even the cable had been out for days, and they’d worried about losing power, but so far, the lights had stayed on. They were doing their best to make this last Christmas special.
They had not heard from Edward, and Sam feared her mother felt guilty for sending him out to find his own way right before this storm and Christmas. It would be the first Christmas they were not all together.
As much as she missed Edward, she still felt incredibly angry at what he’d done.
On the plane home from Dallas, she’d regretted her hasty departure. Maybe she should have stayed and spoken to Cameron. For days now, she’d hoped he would call and then she would remind herself the phones were not working. Maybe he tried and couldn’t reach her.
Oh, to hear his voice and speak to him before Christmas would be wonderful. But that didn’t appear possible.
That last night with him, he kept asking her to forgive him and she’d thought long and hard if it was possible. She wasn’t certain. As much as she loved him, he had gone behind her back, and because of that, she’d lose the family inheritance she loved.
If only Edward had not gotten them so far in debt, but yet she would probably never have met Cameron if not for her brother’s manipulation.
As she walked into the barn, she saw that the workers had put on Christmas music as it drifted through the large room. The melodies were nice.
Though her heart was broken and she didn’t understand why it was necessary they lose the ranch, they were still going to celebrate the Savior’s birth.
For without him, there would be no Christmas.
Glancing at the manger, she saw that it was empty. The Christ child had not yet been brought out. With a smile plastered on her face, she saw her mother helping to set up tables for tonight’s dinner.
Samantha came up behind her and hugged her. “It’s going to be a good Christmas, Mother.”
“Yes, it is,” she said. “I just hope your brother is somewhere safe and warm.”
“Me too,” she replied. “We have to remember he’s learning a tough lesson. Hopefully he’ll return someday and we’ll welcome him back into the fold.”
“Yes,” her mother said with a sigh.
Tara and Garrett came into the barn, laughing and holding hands, and Samantha smiled at her friend. Even though Francesca’s wedding was a disaster, Tara had reconnected with the man she loved years ago. They were happy and she was so pleased for them.
Just then Anna the housekeeper came out of a room with Conor at her side. In the last weeks, she’d noticed that this pair were always together and laughing and smiling. Emily and Ben were now together and even Casey and the banker who had gotten stuck at the ranch were smiling and flirting with one another.
Why did it seem that everyone she loved and cared about had found love but herself?
“Dinner is at six tonight,” Emily said.
“Afterward, we’ll have presents and sing Christmas carols. Then at midnight, we’ll put the baby Jesus in the manger,” Sam said. Every year that had been Edward or her father’s job. But this year, she would take over.
Things were different without the men of their family here and they would make the best of it.
Glancing at her watch, she saw it was time to get ready. Six was only thirty minutes away.
Suddenly the rumble of loud machinery shook the barn. What was that?
They all hurried to the door. One of the highway department’s snow plows had just pulled into their drive, leaving a cleared driveway in his wake.
Was the driver in need of shelter? What was going on?
Then she saw him and her heart leaped into her throat.
Cameron.
He helped another man out of the cab and then he grabbed a suitcase and spoke to the driver.
“Thank you so much for your help. I would never have gotten here without you,” he told the man and shook his hand.
The plow pulled on through the drive and then back out onto the road.
That left Cameron and the stranger standing there staring at her like he’d never let her out of his sight again.
“Sam,” he said.
“You’re here,” she replied, stunned that he had made it. The airports had been closed as were the roads, and yet the man had hired a plow driver to get him out to the ranch.
He grinned. “Mother Nature didn’t make this easy for me,” he said. “Can we talk in private?”
Her mother stood over to the side a big smile on her face. As Sam walked past her, she whispered, “It’s going to be a great Christmas.”
Sam didn’t respond but took Cameron’s elbow and led him into the house and Edward’s office.
She didn’t want to sit behind the desk and closed the door, secluding them. She was about to ask him who the other guy was, but Cameron spoke first.
“I owe you an apology,” she said. “I should never have left without saying good-bye. I’ve been trying to call you, but the phone has been out.”
He put a finger to her lips and then he leaned down and kissed her softly.
“No more apologies. Maybe we both have not done what we needed to do, but hopefully I can fix that today.”
He reached into his bag and pulled out papers.
“Sam, I love you with all my heart and I know this is your inheritance and that this land means so much to you. I know that Edward really has put this ranch into one of the worst financial binds I’ve ever seen.”
He said he loved her and then he moved on. She wanted him to go back to that part. She didn’t want to talk business. She wanted to talk about them and how to get over this.
“I was wrong to listen to your brother. I’m sorry and I want to make it up to you.”
How did she respond?
He took her hand and led her to a small couch in the overlarge office.
“This ranch is to you what the Burnett Ranch is to my family. I can’t imagine losing my family home. So I’m prepared to loan you all the money you need to save the Mistletoe Ranch.”
She gasped. “And it would still be my family’s?”
“Yes,” he said. “You can pay me back as little or as much as you want. I’d like to be here to help you, not as a business partner, but as your husband.”
Speechless, she watched as he moved down on one knee. He pulled out a ring box and opened it.
“I love you, Sam. You’ve made me realize that I’m too obsessed with making my business successful. You’ve shown me what love is like and I want to be by your side until I take my last breath. I want a family with you. I want to love you when we’re both old and gray and senile. Please say yes and marry me tonight.”
A grin spread across her face and she reached for him and pulled him onto the couch beside her. “I love you, Cameron. I was falling in love with you before you left for Texas. I love you and I want to be your wife, but there are some conditions.”
His brows raised.
“This ranch will never be part of the Burnett Ranch. Our children will inherit the Mistletoe Inn and Ranch. We’ll spend part of the time here and part down in Texas with your family. You will only work five days a week and not seven. And most of all, you will help me make my heritage into a working ranch once again that is profitable. And I will return your money to you.”
A grin spread across his face and he pulled her lips to his and kissed her thoroughly.
“Do you say I do?” she asked breaking the seal on their lips.
“Honey, you could ask for the moon, a billion dollars, and everything I own right now and I’d say yes,” he said laughing. “But I want to spend Christmas married to you. I brought along a Justice of the Peace. Could we get married tonight? Right now?”
“What about your family? Don’t you want them here?”
“I want you. I want the world to know you’re my wife. We’ll have a reception later at the Burnett Ranch, but tonight I want to make you my wife.”
“We happen to have a wedding planner here. I think we can make this happen.” Reaching out her hand, she smiled. “Come on, let’s go tell my mother,” she said as she kissed him on the lips once again. “Oh, and Edward is no longer at the ranch. Mother kicked him off the property until he could get his act together.”
“Good, because I was going to make him go to rehab. Let’s go tell the others,” he said.