“Have faith,” Brett said with a smile. “You have four intelligent males surrounding you. How hard can it be?”
“Harder than you think. Now, you boys need to finish your breakfast. You can open my presents after the dishes are done.”
Brett turned over the disc. “Mine, too. And then we’ll feed the cattle.”
Mrs. Bennett set a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Brett. “The recharger can wait until after breakfast.”
“But it’s Christmas.”
“Makes no difference. You know the rules. No electronic devices at the table.”
Brett left the recharger beside his plate and smiled. “Can I sample one of your pies for doing what I was told?”
Mrs. Bennett grinned. “We’ll see.”
Pat, Thomas, and Dave looked hopeful. If Mrs. Bennett only gave him one pie, he’d have to cut it into quarters.
He blinked as two sweet cherry pies appeared in front of him.
Mrs. Bennett wiped her hands on her apron. “I could see your mind working overtime. Half a pie each and that’s my best offer.”
“Your best offer is perfect,” Brett said. “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Bennett.”
She patted his shoulder. “Here’s to a wonderful Christmas for everyone.”
Brett glanced at Pat and hoped his bad feeling about today was wrong.
***
Brett glanced in his rearview mirror. So far, their journey from Ida’s retirement village had been uneventful.
After a lot of discussion, Dave and Thomas had stayed at the ranch with Mrs. Bennett. It was probably the safest place for Dave, but Brett wasn’t happy taking any chances.
“Don’t worry. They’ll be okay,” Pat reassured him.
Brett had called Mrs. Bennett before they’d left Bozeman. Apart from a visit from his neighbor, Nathan Gray, nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
He checked the time on the dashboard. They’d spent longer at the retirement village than planned, but Ida had loved seeing them. It had been hard leaving her in Bozeman, but there was no way they could have cared for her at home. Even the journey back to the ranch would have been difficult.
Brett looked at Pat. It wasn’t like him to be so quiet. “Are you all right?”
“Did you know that next month, Ida and I will celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary?”
“I knew it must be getting close.”
“The years have gone by so fast,” Pat murmured. “Before she had her stroke, Ida and I hadn’t spent more than a week apart. The last two years have been difficult for both of us.”
Brett knew that Pat was struggling with not being close to Ida, but he hadn’t realized how hard it had become.
Pat stared through the windshield. “Ida’s parents never approved of me. I still remember her father taking me aside on our wedding day. He told me not to break his daughter’s heart. I always wondered what would have happened if Ida had been unhappy.”
“From the sound of it, you would have had her family chasing you out of town.”
“There were a lot of them, too. It wasn’t until we’d been married twenty years that Ida’s father told her she’d made a good choice.”
Brett smiled. “Sounds like high praise.”
“From him, it was. Ida and I have always supported each other, but I feel as though I’m letting her down.”
