Chapter 12
Florence was sound asleep when she felt Frank stir. He sat up in bed.
“Are you okay?” she asked. She thought if he were just going to the bathroom, he would have, but instead, he was staring up at the ceiling, listening, watching.
“I swore I heard reindeer on the roof.”
She might have believed it was cute, but her first thought was of Timothy. What if he and his brother were up on the roof? “Timothy and Manning.”
They both got out of bed and dressed. With guns in hand, they headed downstairs to wake Travis. He was sound asleep on the couch, but as soon as he heard them coming down the stairs, he sat up, his gun in hand.
“I didn’t hear anything, but in his groggy state, Frank heard reindeer on the roof. Could it be Timothy and Manning?”
“Let’s go check.” Travis threw on his boots, and they all put on their coats.
They also pulled on hats and gloves, then armed, they headed out front.
They had to reach the sidewalk to see the roof and if anything was on it.
Nothing. Then they moved around to the back of the house and saw imprints on the snow-covered roof where the cougars had left their paw prints and had lain.
They also saw that the trellis they had removed from the house and put in the garden was leaning against the house, and the cougars must have climbed it to reach the roof. Cougars could leap between eighteen and twenty feet vertically, but the root was about twenty-five feet high.
They explored the area out back and saw fresh tracks the men had made that headed into the forest. Travis got on his phone.
“Hey, Dan, Timothy, and Manning have returned. They were up on Florence’s roof.
But it appears they’ve taken off through the woods.
They had been up on the roof as cougars.
Uhm, yeah, they used that trellis we removed. ”
Travis glanced at Florence and Frank. “Not sure. It’s hard to tell. They moved in a single file. They might have dressed and taken off as humans, but the path is narrow, so they might have traveled as cougars.” He let out his breath as he stared at the trail.
Florence knew he wanted to go after the men, but he was stuck babysitting them.
“All right. See you in a few.” Then Travis finished the call. “Dan wants us to return to the house. He and some of the others will look for the brothers.”
Despite wanting in the worst way to go after the twins, Frank took Florence’s hand, and they went back into the house. Travis followed behind them.
“I know you want to go after them, but we want to keep you safe,” Travis said. “If anything were to happen to you, we would never forgive ourselves.”
“I agree,” Frank said, “but I do want to end this for certain.”
“Yeah, we all do.”
Then they gathered in the living room. They couldn’t go to sleep until they had some word about the brothers.
“Do you want something to drink? Hot tea? Decaf?” Florence asked.
“Yeah, that would be good,” Frank said.
“I’ll have a cup,” Travis said.
Florence made them all cups of tea, and then Dan and the others arrived—Chase, Chet, Ricky, Leyton, Stryker, and Hal.
“We’re on our way,” Dan said.
“Thanks,” Florence said.
After drinking their tea and watching a movie to try and stay awake until Dan and the others returned, she and Frank were cuddling on the couch until they both fell asleep.
Frank heard voices and realized he had fallen asleep on the couch. Florence was cuddled up with him and was still asleep. Travis was talking low to Dan in the dining room.
Dan shook his head at Frank, indicating they hadn’t found the brothers. Then he waved to him, and he and the others left the house. Travis locked up after them.
Frank kissed Florence’s forehead. She stirred and opened her eyes. Then she sat upright quickly. “Did they catch them?”
“No. They’re going home. Are you ready to return to bed?” Frank asked.
“Yeah. Let’s go.” Florence yawned.
Travis said, “We’re under winter weather warnings. We’re going to have heavy snow on Christmas night. It might be better if Rory and Lacy stay the night with you.”
Florence looked at her weather app. “Oh, no, a blizzard. We’ll try to get them to stay the night.”
Frank was disappointed that they still hadn’t caught the brothers. He was glad he had heard them up on the roof, though. Maybe going after them again had convinced them they couldn’t hurt him or Florence, given how many people were watching out for them.
He settled down with Florence in bed, hoping they could both get back to sleep.
Before they knew it, it was time to wake; no more reindeer sounds on the roof, which had turned out to be cougars.
Kittens had gotten on top of his roof and run across it one night when he lived in Florida, and he swore they sounded like a stampede of elephants.
So he wasn’t surprised when he heard the cougars, though he knew they would have been trying to be quiet.
“Breakfast?” Florence asked, not making a move to leave the bed.
“Yeah, sure.” He got out of bed and started to dress. “Cinnamon rolls?”
“Absolutely.” Then she finally climbed off the mattress and hugged and kissed him. “Merry Christmas.”
He smiled. “Merry Christmas, honey.”
Then she dressed, and they headed downstairs. Travis was gone. Leyton was there.
“What did Dan say about having someone stay here with us while Rory and Lacy are here?” Frank asked.
“He said it was fine since we’re so close by. But after Christmas, if you two are alone, we’ll have someone staying with you until we catch these guys.”
“All right,” Florence said.
Just then, Rory and Lacy arrived, wishing everyone a merry Christmas and giving hugs all around, even to Leyton.
“Merry Christmas, everyone. If you have any trouble at all, call us.” Then Leyton left.
“The snow is really picking up,” Lacy said.
“We want you to stay overnight.” Florence motioned to the guest rooms upstairs. “Once the gifts are wrapped and under the tree, you can choose a room.”
“All right, if it’s terrible out, we will,” Rory said.
Frank figured he knew he would be needed at the ranch, but he wouldn’t risk Lacy’s safety either by returning to the ranch during a blizzard.
Florence turned on the Christmas music, Lacy lit the cinnamon-scented candles, and Frank plugged in all the Christmas lights.
Lacy and Florence began making fresh cinnamon rolls while Frank made everyone coffee, and Rory worked on the eggnog topped with nutmeg. Then Lacy grilled some pork sausages to eat with their cinnamon rolls.
They were soon sitting down to breakfast, and Frank and Florence were telling about the reindeer on the roof that turned out to be cougars.
“Oh, no, I can’t believe they keep coming here.” Then Lacy frowned. “They probably thought I would be here last night for Christmas Eve.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Frank said.
“Me too.” Florence drank some of her coffee. “Frank and I still need to wrap presents.”
“We need to run out to the pickup truck and bring ours in,” Lacy said.
“Okay, well, we’re going to head upstairs and wrap up things and bring them down.” Florence carried some of the mugs into the kitchen.
Lacy brought in some of the others.
Then Lacy and Rory left the house to gather presents, and Frank and Florence ascended the stairs to wrap theirs.
Florence brought wrapping paper, Christmas bags, tape, and bows out of her closet and divided them between them.
She had put Christmas presents in Lacy’s guest room.
Frank had used the other one to hide his gifts.
With arms full of wrapping and such, they entered the bedrooms and shut the doors. After a while, they carried the packages downstairs and put them under the tree.
“It looks like a lot of us were nice and not naughty,” Lacy said.
Rory kissed her. “I’ll say.”
Lacy kissed him, then headed for the kitchen. “Coffee or cocoa for everyone?”
“Cocoa,” Florence said.
“Same for me,” Frank said.
“I’ll help you.” Rory went into the kitchen with Lacy, and the aroma of chocolate and sweet whipped cream filled the air.
When they sat down with their mugs of cocoa, they stared at the Christmas tree for a few minutes. Rory loved having family like this for Christmas. It wasn’t the same as sharing Christmas with the ranch hands.
“Do one of you want to do the honors and play Santa?” Florence asked.
Rory glanced at Frank. Frank smiled. “I’ll do some, and you can do some.”
“Sounds like a deal.”
Rory was glad that they wanted to get on with Christmas. They were having a blast. Opening gifts, loving what everyone got for them. They even had gifts in the Christmas stockings—treats, chocolate, mini jars of honey, beef jerky, and more.
Then Florence and Lacy started heating the cooked spiral ham.
Lacy washed her hands and hugged Florence. “I thank my lucky day that I met you, and my grandfather mated you.”
Florence smiled. “I feel the same way.”
Then they all went back into the living room and played Trivia and other games until it was time to make the sides for the ham, parmesan roasted asparagus, and mashed potatoes.
They sat down for lunch and began passing the sides around.
“I haven’t had a real family in years,” Rory said. “You all make this super special.”
“I was going to say the same thing,” Florence said.
“Well, I’m delighted that Lacy and I have expanded our family, and we hope it will continue to grow.” Frank began slicing the ham.
Rory smiled at Lacy. Her cheeks were a brighter pink. Yeah, kids were on the agenda.
He had thought of offering to cut the ham, but Frank seemed to want the role as the senior male there, even though both Florence and Lacy cut up meat in their line of work also.
Once everyone’s plates were filled, they began eating their Christmas lunch.
“Everything tastes great,” Lacy said.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Frank said. “Last year, I had takeout Chinese.”
Florence smiled and reached over and squeezed his hand. “We can have anything you like for Christmas or Christmas Eve in future years.”
“I agree,” Lacy said. “Florence and I can make tasty Asian dishes if everyone wants something different next year.”
“As long as we have turkey for Thanksgiving, I’m game,” Rory said.
“Yeah, I prefer turkey also.” Frank buttered another roll.
“What about New Year’s Eve? We’ll be going to the dance, but what about dinner before that?” Frank asked. “Steaks sound good to me.”
Everyone agreed.
The wind was howling, and after they finished eating, they looked out the windows at the blizzard, a total whiteout, the wind whipping about at about eighty miles per hour.
“We’re staying here the night.” Rory wrapped his arm around Lacy’s shoulders.
“Yeah, that’s too dangerous to drive in,” Florence said.
Rory wondered about the twin brothers and if they were out in this storm.
Their thick winter coats would keep them warm, trapping air close to the skin.
But they would also have to find a cave, rock overhang, or dense shrubs to protect themselves from the storm, and move to lower levels where it would be warmer.
If they were wild cougars, they would increase their body fat in wintertime.
But for humans, they were often warmed up by fires or heating units, so that might not happen for shifters.
The cougars also had higher body temperatures and, in conditions like these, could sleep more to conserve energy.
Too bad they couldn’t catch them while they were holed up somewhere.
“Does anyone want to watch The Santa Clause?” Florence asked.
“Yeah, I do,” Lacy said.
So they watched the movie while Rory stroked his light beard, and the Santa kept trying to remove his white beard whenever it appeared.
They all loved how he was eating cookies and growing a belly like Santa's. When the movie was done, Florence said, “It’s time to make 7-layer bars for dessert.”
“I’ll help,” Frank said, before Lacy could offer.
“We’re going to take our gifts up to the guest room we’ll stay at.” Lacy began gathering her gifts.
Rory quickly began cleaning up his gifts and heading upstairs with them. Lacy followed him while Frank spread chocolate chips on the 7-layer bars.
“This is really simple,” Frank said.
“Yeah, it is. I usually make it to sell at the shop, but it’s fun because there are four of us to enjoy it, especially since Lacy and Rory will be staying for another day. Though they can always take some home to share with the other ranch hands.”
She put the baking dish in the oven and started the timer. “Twenty-five minutes to cook.”
“Let’s take our presents up to the room,” Frank said.
Florence glanced at the half-wall on the second floor. She thought Lacy and Rory would have just left their presents in the guest room and come downstairs, but they were still up there.
Having a special Christmas moment? Florence smiled, hauled her gifts upstairs, and carried them down the hall to the master bedroom.
After she put them away, she helped Frank put his things away. Then they went back downstairs to carry all the Christmas treats into the pantry. They could have sampled some of those for dessert, but she really loved 7-layer bars, and it was the only time of the year that she made them.
Once they put away the rest of the Christmas treats, they sat down in the living room, and both looked up at the second story. Then they smiled at each other, kissed, and hugged.
“Youth,” Frank said.
“Yeah, but we’re going to do what they’re most likely doing when we go to bed,” Florence said. “The 7-layer bars had to cool down anyway before we can eat them.”
“While upstairs things are heating up.” Frank put his arm around her shoulders, and they leaned back on the couch and just cuddled.