5. Cora
5
CORA
“Testing. Testing. Can you hear me? Copy” Toby's voice sounds out of nowhere.
“Who's idea was it to give my brother a walkie-talkie?” Rhett grumbles as we drive westward toward Anchorage.
“His,” I giggle, picking up the handset from the dashboard and lifting it to my mouth. “Ten-four rubber ducky.”
I catch my husband glancing my way out of the corner of my eye. “For the love of all things holy, do not encourage him.
Patting Rhett's leg, I grin. “I don't think that man needs any encouragement. He does it all by himself.”
“ Comin' through, loud and clear, over,” Mags's voice replies over the line.
“ Do we think it's wise to say the D word? Don't you know that just thinkin' of that bird seems to make him appear?” Austin muses.
The line goes quiet for a spell and I almost wonder if we're in a dead spot. That's until Toby comes back online. “Austin, you've gotta say over, over.”
“We talkin' about du–D words, or is Toby goin' to tell us where we're stoppin' for this decoratin' contest? Over.” Star asks.
Austin comes back on. “Wait. Over, over? Or just over?”
“Just over… over,” Toby shoots back.
“I'm so confused,” Gramma Ruthie announces. “Do we say over, over, over? Or just over… over?”
“I think we just say over once… I dunno. It's been years since I've had a transistor radio,” Aggie says over Ruthie's line.
“This is gonna be hell, isn't it?” Rhett mutters, holding out his arm for the walkie-talkie. “Message for all radios. You've just gotta say it once, OK? Over.”
“Copy that, Christmas one. Over,” Austin replies. “If Rhett's one, then we'll be Christmas two.”
“Can we just focus on the road and discuss call names when we stop?” Red's rumbles over the airwaves.
“Aww, Redmond. Are you road ragin' already?” Colt teases.
Toby growls. “Over. You gotta say over… over.”
“Copy that,” Colt replies.
“Copy that, over ,” Toby sighs.
There's a rustling over the air before Dee's Australian twang fills the air. “OK. Now that I've wrestled the walkie-talkie away from my hubby, let's get this convo back on track, shall we?”
After that, one after the other, everyone with control of their radio replies the same thing.
“You forgot to say over… over,” making us all laugh.
“Copy that, Christmas three,” Dee announces. “Star and Lan, you can be four. Colt and Lee, five. Tobes and I will be six, and Gramma Ruthie, you can be–”
“We thought we should have a name more befittin' for us respectable ladies, over,” Ruthie replies.
“What were ya thinkin', Ruthie? Over,” Dee asks, her voice full of amusement.
Silence falls over the line but soon enough, we all have our answer.
“Sally forth,” Ruthie replies, sounding pleased as punch.
I can't help the laughter that bubbles out of me. “Sally forth it is. Welcome to the gang, ladies. Over,” I reply.
“Looks like we got ourselves a convoy, over ,” Red replies, sounding more country than I've ever heard him.
“You stealin' lines from movies now, Red?” Colt asks. “I love that movie, by the way. Over.”
Red chuckles. “Surprised you knew that one, young'un. Over.”
As Red and Colt swap quotes from the Convoy movie, I grin at my husband before he lifts my hand and brushes his lips over my knuckles, sending a delicious shiver through me. His smirk turns wicked and his hungry eyes rake over me like a caress.
My One still affects me with one look after all these years. There's no doubt the mountain spirit knew what she was doing when she called me back to Spring Haven and into Rhett Graham's life, that's for sure!
“Now that's all sorted, how 'bout we get these Christmas road trip challenges underway? The valley lookout is about twenty miles out. We'll meet there. Be ready for Dee and I to kick all of y'all butts. See y'all then. Christmas six, over and out,” Toby advises.
Rhett gently squeezes my fingers. “Ready to get your decoratin' on, princess?”
“Oh yeah. This truck is gonna be tinseled out by the time I've finished with it,” I reply.
“Lucky I love you and your Christmas obsession.”
I lean over and kiss his cheek before snuggling under his arm and settling into his side. “You'd love me regardless.”
“Copy that , princess.”
Thirty minutes later, we're all gathered at the Valley lookout, the mountains we left back home standing tall in the distance with snow-capped peaks as far as the eye can see. The valley itself is a mixture of green and white, too beautiful for words.
Tearing my gaze away, I turn back and walk toward the group who all stand in a circle looking toward Toby and Ruthie who are standing front and center.
“OK. Y'all wanted some Christmas challenges, now it's time to show just how festive y'all are,” Ruthie says.
“You forgot to say over ,” Mags teases, earning a round of groans and chuckles and maybe a glare from Toby who seems to be taking this road trip and the challenges very seriously.
“ Anyway ,” Toby says. “We'll all have ten minutes to use whatever we've got or can find to decorate our trucks. Miss Dottie has volunteered to be the impartial judge this time around.” Dottie's beaming smile is so big and bright that you can't help but grin back. “When she says go, you can start.”
“Are there any rules?” Charlie asks, always the studious one.
“Yeah, make sure nothing can fall off while we're all drivin' at 60 clicks,” Red adds with a chuckle, setting the men off.
Colt waves his hand in the air. “That's what duct tape is for.”
“OK. If there ain't any more questions, let's get this underway. We've still got a drive ahead of us if we wanna get to Anchorage tonight,” Toby states.
“Speakin' of that. Do we have somewhere to stay in the city tonight?” Rhett asks.
Red and Mags suddenly look very smug. It makes me think they've got a surprise of their own up their sleeves. “We took care of all of that. You are all goin' to love it. It's perfect .” Mags says, her lips twitching, making me more suspicious.
“Anyway, are we decoratin' or not?” Red says, changing the subject.
“Yep. You ready, Miss Dottie?” Toby asks the sweet little old lady who used to be his teacher.
Miss Dottie nods with a mischievous glint in her eye. “I'm ready, Toby dear. Three, two, one… let the Christmas decoratin' frenzy begin !”
With a chorus of cheers and laughter, the group scatters to their respective trucks, pulling out boxes of decorations, ribbons, and even string lights of all things.
Rhett holds my hand as we approach our truck, a determined look on his face. “We're gonna win this thing, princess,” he declares with a grin. “If, for nothin' else, but to see you smile and to beat everyone else.”
“That's the Christmas spirit, cowboy,” I laugh, knowing his competitive spirit all too well. “Let's get to work then.”