“Your brothers have already set the table and split firewood.I just sent them out to the bunkhouses to deliver presents and food to the ranch hands.They’ll be gone for about an hour.”
“Okay.”
“This is going to be a beautiful, special Christmas Eve, my sweet Phoebe.Because you’re safe and all of us are together.”
We reach the downstairs and head into the kitchen.
“Oh and one other thing,” my mother says.“I was very proud of the way you handled yourself in that hospital room, with Rick and with Jake.I could have done without all the ‘F’ bombs, however.”
“So what did you think about Rick?”
She is opening the refrigerator door when I ask her this.She closes it without retrieving what she wanted and spins around.
“It would have been nice to have a doctor in the family.”
My mouth falls open.
Then she laughs.“Do you think Evander might consider med school?”
Just then, the doorbell rings.
“Why don’t you start the salad, honey?I’ll get the door.It’s probably just Mrs.Liddy from church.”
“Okay.”
From the kitchen, I hear my mother’s soft voice say, “I’m so happy you’re here.Let me take you upstairs.I told him you were stopping by.”
Did my mother really just tell me to go for it with Evander?
Is she really proud of me?
My head is spinning so fast that when I ask myself why Mrs.Liddy is going upstairs to talk to Dad, I never get around to answering my own question.
CHAPTER 59
Evander
“Thank you, Mrs.Travis,” I say.
She’s escorting us down a long upstairs hallway.I realize I’ve never set foot in this house.The closest I ever got was the front porch on the night of Phoebe’s scraped knee.
“Please call us Izzy and Gil.We don’t stand on pretense around here.And let yourselves out when you leave, since I’ll be busy in the kitchen.”
“Of course,” Dad says.“Thank you, Izzy.”
She opens the door to an old-fashioned bedroom and ushers us inside, shutting the door behind us.
The wallpaper is dotted with tiny yellow flowers and green leaves.The old wood floors are polished and covered with a braided rug.The room is stuffed with antique oak furniture, including a nicely carved bed with a high headboard.
Gil Travis is propped up against a stack of pillows.Clear, plastic tubing runs from a home oxygen tank to his nose, and a bedside table is crowded with a variety of prescription bottles and medical accessories.
It’s shocking to see how small Gil appears, framed by that tall headboard.He’s always been as big and broad as Dad, and I have to hide my surprise at how much he’s wasted away.
Dad swallows hard and politely approaches Gil.They shake hands.I reintroduce myself and shake his hand as well, and Dad and I sit in two straight-backed wooden chairs that have been pulled near the bed.
Dad wasn’t kidding when he said that Izzy was more than happy to accommodate our request.Not only has she set out chairs, but she’s also cleared the house of interruptions.I didn’t see Phoebe or any of her brothers when we arrived, so Izzy must have come up with a way to keep them busy during our short visit.
I half listen to Dad and Gil make ranching small talk.They discuss the storm, and the number of head lost and the damage to outbuildings.
