“No, I have not. Well, now that we got that cleared up, I’ll start another snowball for the middle of our snowman. I believe we’ve got enough to build a snow momma and maybe a couple of kids.”
“Darlin’, there’s enough snow to build a whole new town. What shall we call it?”
She laughed. “Mistletoe.”
He raised one dark eyebrow, retrieved his hat from the snow where it had landed when he attacked her, and set her to one side. “Why Mistletoe?”
“You’ve got some stuck to your hat, Creed. Every time you go outside you bring more in the house.”
“All right, then our town of snow people shall be called Mistletoe, Texas.” He laughed, got to his feet, and offered her his hand. “I’ll be back in a few minutes with the tractor.”
He pulled her up like she was a feather. Not many men could do that without a grimace or even a small grunt, but not Creed. She felt like a princess standing there in her mustard-colored overalls, no makeup, and snow in her hair.
* * *
Creed had planned to hop on the tractor, drive it through the snow to the front yard, and use the hay spike on the front to help lift Mr. Snowman’s midsection. But then he saw the scoop shoved up against the back wall of the barn. He grabbed the toolbox, removed the spike, and put it on the short trailer that could be affixed to the back of the tractor. He attached the trailer and put the scoop on the front of the tractor.
Noel hopped up on the seat beside him and he carefully backed out of the big double doors. Using the scoop like a snowplow, he cut a five-foot swath from barn to house, leaving a pathway with a ridge of slightly dingy snow on either side.
Sage shook her head when he got close and put up a palm. When he shut off the engine, she yelled, “Don’t plow all the way up to them! I want them sitting in snow when I take pictures.”
He nodded and hopped down off the tractor seat. Noel chased back and forth on the plowed pathway like a kid with a brand-new toy. Angel sat in the window watching the whole affair and twitching her tail.
“We need to let her out. She’s getting jealous of Noel,” Creed said.
“But she might run away or get buried in the snow and die and the kittens wouldn’t have a momma,” Sage argued.
“She’ll be fine, darlin’. Turn her loose to play with us.”
“Promise she won’t run away.”
“Not a chance. Her babies are inside and she gets fed in there.”
Creed could hardly believe it when Sage let the cat outside. The miracle was back on track. He was changing out implements when she crossed the distance from porch to tractor in a few long strides and helped him. “Good idea to plow out pathways. It’ll sure make chores easier. Look, she’s going to sit on the porch. She’s not even interested in coming out into the yard.”
“Got the idea from the ones we made when we made the snowman’s butt. We’ve never had snow like this in Ringgold. Noel might entice her out to play but she won’t go far.”
“I believe you are right. I wouldn’t have thought of plowing pathways. Grand probably would have. She says when she first came here about fifty years ago there were some fierce winters. You about ready to give Frosty a big round belly?” She pointed to the big ball she’d rolled up while he was gone.
He looked down and nodded. “Perfect. But is that his jolly round belly or his wife’s butt?”
She studied the size and shape and even the location. “It could be his wife, couldn’t it? Okay, that is the wife’s butt, but we’ll have to move it closer to him. Let’s make all the bottoms and the middles and then stack them. It will make fewer tire tracks with the tractor when we put them in place. That way there will still be snow all around them.”
He grabbed a handful of snow and patted it.
The twinkle in her eyes when she looked up had him wondering if she’d start another battle. A part of him hoped she did because the next one was going to involve him touching bare skin. The only problem was that when he did, he might not have the willpower to stop.
“Want to go inside and warm up before we start?” Creed asked.
She shook her head. “I was going stir-crazy in the house. I can’t remember ever being cooped up like that.” She dropped her snowball on the ground and started rolling, patting the sides firmly as she did.
He did the same. When they were the perfect size, he picked up the first one and carried it to the place where the two snow children would stand.
“Right here?” he asked.
“Wow! You are strong,” Sage said.
He made fists and bent his elbows in a wrestler’s stance. “Muscles of steel!”
He didn’t need to posture to prove that to her. She’d felt those muscles up close and personal and would like nothing better than to feel them even more.
“You wrestle in high school or college?” she asked.
“No, ma’am, not unless you count wrestlin’ a bunch of hay bales into the barn. I worked on one ranch or the other during the summer from the time I was thirteen. Even went over the river and helped throw watermelons the summer I was sixteen. I’d rather throw hay from the pasture to the trucks than watermelons into the haulin’ busses.”
“Why?”
“Because you can’t break hay. You ever haul any?”
“Oh, yeah! This is where I grew up. I know all about hay. You about ready to put this family together?”
His eyes twinkled when he grinned. “I sure am and then we’re goin’ inside for something hot.”
“Oh?”
“Hot chocolate. Get your mind out of the gutter, woman. We’re about to birth a couple of snow children here.”
He loved it when she laughed.
