Chapter 9
Florence couldn’t wait to attend the Christmas dance with Frank. She’d always enjoyed going to them and dancing with anyone who wanted to dance with her, but she was really excited to do it with her mate, making everything so much more special.
She and Ava were finishing up the last of the orders at the coffee shop. They just had a couple of humans eating in there. The cougar customers had gone home to dress for the Christmas dance. Nina was watching over her sister and Florence still, just in case Timothy showed up there.
“I keep feeling he’s close,” Ava said, as they cleaned up the kitchen.
“Yeah, me too,” Nina said.
“Timothy?” Florence asked.
“Yeah,” the sisters both said.
“So he has returned to Yuma Town?” Florence asked as the last couple thanked them and left the shop. Florence wished them a merry Christmas.
“Maybe. Or he plans to,” Ava said.
Florence turned off the Christmas music. She left some of the shop lights and the outdoor lights on. Then the ladies left the shop, locking the door. She headed home, with Nina following behind her to make sure Florence arrived safely, while Ava headed to her own place.
Once they reached Florence’s house, Frank greeted her, hugging and kissing her.
Florence hugged and kissed him back. Nina waved goodbye and left to go home to get ready for the dance.
Florence loved this part of coming home now. A warm fire was going on in the fireplace, Christmas music was playing, the Christmas lights were all on, and Frank was dressed to party.
“You look handsome.”
“Thanks. I’m ready for the dance.”
“Me too. I’ll go up and change clothes.” She was soon dressed in a red wool dress, boots, and grabbed her faux white fur coat.
He smiled when he saw her. “You are beautiful and very sexy. Just perfect.”
She smiled and felt like she was ready to walk on the red carpet with the man of her dreams. Even though they had disagreed about cases that they had worked on together, they had both had great ideas, and they’d solved their cases. But as a mate, he was perfect.
They drove over to the community center, where it was decorated with Christmas lights, a Christmas tree, garland, and red bows. Travis waved goodbye to them and then met up with his mate, who had brought him a change of clothes so he could enjoy the dance with her.
While they were there, they didn’t need to have anyone watching out for them, which Florence was grateful for. She looked around but didn’t see Lacy or Rory there yet.
They got some punch and a slice of angel food cake each. The cake was covered in chocolate and miniature sugar candy canes, making it spongy and crunchy, chocolate and peppermint all at the same time. Once they finished eating and drinking, they began dancing again.
Frank held her close during the waltzes, and she felt so connected with him. She was so in tune with him that she didn’t even see when Rory and Lacy had arrived.
But then Rory and Lacy bumped into them in playful fun on the dance floor. They switched partners so that Rory could dance with Florence and Lacy could dance with her granddad.
Florence told Rory, “I mated Lacy’s granddad.” She knew that Frank would tell Lacy.
What she hadn’t expected was for Rory to say, “That’s great. Lacy and I have also mated.”
Florence was thrilled. “That’s wonderful.”
“I’m so glad you and Frank mated too.”
But that’s not all she wanted to talk about. “Did you search for Timothy?”
“Yeah, with the ranch hands, our foreman, the sheriff, and deputies from both the sheriff’s office and agents of the CSF, and Lacy as cougars, for the most part. We even found a bear shifter in a cave, and he helped us search. But we didn’t find any sign of Timothy.”
“Blue?”
“Yeah, girlfriend problems again.”
Florence shook her head. “Ava and Nina said they kept feeling like Timothy was close to the coffee shop.”
“Lacy mentioned he might have gotten a ride from humans to return to town. But he has to be staying somewhere then and getting food. It’s too cold to be out in this weather as a human.”
“That would make sense, but Lacy isn’t in town any longer, except to attend special events. I keep feeling he’ll want to stay nearer to where she is, but we have quite a number of people there to protect her,” Florence said.
“Right. Which could mean he could be after Lacy’s grandfather to get to Lacy, figuring that Lacy is too well protected at the ranch.”
Before Florence could ask Rory any more questions, Lacy and Frank joined them to switch partners. But before they did, they congratulated each other on being mated cougars.
“I’m so thrilled for you,” Lacy said, brightly smiling. She was wearing a slinky, sparkly red dress and looked beautiful.
“We’re so thrilled for the two of you also,” Florence said, giving her another hug. When she had hired Lacy at the coffee shop, she had never expected to gain a granddaughter of her own. She loved it. “Christmas at our house?”
“Yes. And Christmas Eve at the ranch?” Lacy asked.
“That would be great,” Florence said.
Then they all got some more punch, and after they finished it, returned to the dance floor.
It didn’t take long before Dan stopped the music. “During this most special of holiday seasons, we want to welcome two new cougars to our Yuma Town family. And we want to congratulate Frank and Florence for mating each other, and Rory and Lacy for having become mated cougars also.”
Everyone clapped and cheered them. Then they came over to congratulate them with hugs.
Florence was glad everyone knew about their matings and was so happy for them. After all the congratulations, they began to dance again. This was the best Christmas holiday ever.
Frank held Florence close as they waltzed the night away. They danced to faster dances too, but they preferred nice and slow and close. Some of the partygoers were leaving the dance a little early because they had younger kids at home with caregivers. But Frank and Florence stayed until closing.
When Shannon announced the end of the dance and reminded everyone of the Christmas bazaar tomorrow, Frank, Florence, Rory, and Lacy hugged each other to say goodbye.
Hal and Tracey followed Lacy and Rory home, but so did the other ranch hands, and Ted and Stella, who had all been enjoying the dance.
Then Travis and Bridget followed Frank and Florence home. He would stay the night with them while Bridget drove home to relieve the babysitter who was watching their twin boys.
“Do you want me to take you to the Christmas bazaar tomorrow?" Frank asked as they retired to the master bedroom.
Florence untied his tie. “Yeah, that would be fun. I need to get something for you, Lacy, and Rory for Christmas.”
“Yeah, I was thinking about that too. Maybe we could go in together to get something for Rory and Lacy. They’ll be starting anew. Maybe something warm for them since Lacy was living in the south and won’t have wool blankets.”
“Maybe we could get them a gourmet set of pots and pans. Lacy took off without being able to take anything much with her,” Florence said. “Rory and the other guys also cook, but when Rory and Lacy have a place of their own, they’ll need their own equipment.”
“A good set of knives too,” Frank said, getting into this.
She smiled. “When they marry, we’ll check out their wedding list to see what else they need.”
“What about us? I mean, do you want a justice-of-the-peace marriage? Or—”
Florence laughed. “Believe me, the cougar community will want to be involved.”
Frank got a call on his phone. “It’s Lacy. Yeah, are you okay?”
Lacy and Rory were sipping cocoa while they discussed their marriage after the first of the year. “Now, this is totally up to you, but what do you think about us having a double marriage ceremony with Mrs. Fitz and Granddad?” Lacy asked.
“I like the idea. The same people would be coming to both, and since we all mated at the same time, I think it would be nice to have it together.”
“I was afraid since they’ve already each been married once, they might not want to have a fancy wedding, but they deserve it,” Lacy said.
“Yeah, I agree.”
“Okay, well, I’ll call Granddad and tell him what we want to do.” She got on her phone and put it on speaker when her grandfather answered her.
“What’s going on?” her grandfather asked, sounding concerned.
“We’re at the bunkhouse having cocoa. The guys all went to bed so we could have some alone time in the living room. We have a proposal we wanted to make about our wedding. I have this on speakerphone.”
“I’ll put my phone on it also. What do you have in mind?”
“We would like to have a double wedding with you all. Everyone would be coming to both, so it would be easier to have everyone go to one, don’t you think?” Lacy asked.
Frank laughed. “We were just talking about that. We wanted to see if that would work for you.”
“Well, that works for us.”
“Us too,” Mrs. Fitz said. “What is the home situation for the two of you?”
“Hal said he would give us land to build a house on. We need to decide on architectural plans, so that’s our next step.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. So when do you want to get married?” Mrs. Fitz asked.
“We need to see if we can schedule the community center, have a minister lined up, and decide on wedding clothes,” Lacy said. “But we were thinking the end of May.”
“All right. Have you planned a honeymoon yet?”
Lacy looked at Rory.
“Belize? They have cougars there so we could blend in while we take runs in the wilderness,” Rory said.
“Belize it is,” Lacy told her grandfather and Mrs. Fitz. “What about you two?”
“What about Oregon?” Mrs. Fitz asked.
“Sounds good to me,” Frank said. “We can go to the Oregon Coast and stay at a cabin.”
“Red wolves came through here last year and stopped in the coffee shop,” Mrs. Fitz said. “They said they have cabins they rent on the coast.”
“Shifters, great,” Frank said. “We’ll book one of them then.”
“We’re going to the Christmas Bazaar tomorrow. Will you be there?” Rory asked.
“Yeah, we’re going,” Mrs. Fitz said.
“Why don’t we have lunch together? They’ll have food booths available, and we can pick what we want,” Rory said.
“Absolutely, that would be fun,” Mrs. Fitz said.
“Okay, well, we’ll get together tomorrow.
Rory has to work early, then he can be off afterward to go to the bazaar.
The guys are all giving him a hard time.
” Lacy loved him for wanting to take her.
“Hal is taking his wife and the kids. Ted is taking Stella and his. That way we will have enough protection.”
“That sounds good. We could all enjoy lunch together then,” Frank said.
Then they ended the call, and Rory put their empty cocoa mugs in the dishwasher, swept her up in his arms, and carried her to bed.
Frank and Florence cuddled in bed. “I’m glad we all get along.
” Frank was so relieved that Lacy had come around as far as the event that had torn them apart, and that she was thrilled he had mated Florence.
It was something he had worried about in case she felt he was forgetting his mate’s memory, but he wasn’t.
Just like he knew Florence wasn’t forgetting about hers.
They just had a new lease on life when they met up and fell in love. He wished that Timothy wasn’t still an issue though.