New Hoofprints in the Snow, page 15
“Mr. Anderson, I believe your son isn’t telling us the truth about what he was doing last night. Why was his truck here?”
“I have a friend who lives up the road, okay?” Billy shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I hit a patch of ice on the road and slid into the ditch then couldn’t get out. The blizzard was just starting up.”
“Yeah, I bet you couldn’t,” Maia said. “You’re a liar! You cut the fence!”
“Fence? What fence?” Billy said, a quizzical look on his face.
The sheriff put his hand up to silence Maia. “It appears the fence to the pasture was cut last night, and one of the horses got out.”
“What?” Mr. Anderson turned to look at Billy. “Billy, did you cut the fence?”
“No, Dad, how could you say that?” He stared at his father as if he’d expected him to accept everything he said at face value. “What reason would I have to cut a piece of that damn fence out?”
“I didn’t say anything about a whole piece of the fence being removed. Most people would have thought that the fence was just cut and perhaps bent backward. How did you know the fence had been removed?”
“Why aren’t you wearing your ball cap, Billy?” Emma asked as Billy was stammering over the previous question.
“I just guessed about the fence. That don’t prove nothing,” Billy said and pointed at Emma. “And where my baseball hat is, is none of your business, you dyke.”
“Billy!” Mr. Anderson admonished him. “We don’t call people names!”
His face grew even redder as he slammed his hand back in his pocket and turned to his father. “But Dad, she is—and she’s convinced Maia she’s a dyke too! I tried to protect her from Emma, but neither of them listened to me….”
“What’s all this about?” his father asked.
Billy scuffed his feet in the snow and wouldn’t look up at anyone. “Dad, I just thought that if something happened to Emma’s ‘precious’ horses, maybe Maia would see her for what she is.”
“And you would come riding to her rescue.” The disapproval was heavy in his father’s voice.
“Something like that,” Billy said under his breath.
“Well, Billy, it seems that you didn’t do a good job of hiding your tracks.” The sheriff took Billy’s baseball cap out of his coat pocket and laid it, along with the plastic bag with the cloth from Billy’s letterman jacket, on the hood of Billy’s truck. “Since you’ve confessed, I guess we don’t need to check to see if this material fits your letterman’s jacket.
“The next question is,” the sheriff continued, “whether or not Ms. Bailey wants to press charges.”
Emma’s mother said, “I told him a couple of days ago to get off my property and to not come back because he had insulted my daughter and her girlfriend—”
“Ma’am, if you don’t mind me butting in—” Mr. Anderson said. “Billy won’t be bothering you again.” He glared at Billy and Billy seemed to shrink away. “I’ll see to it he’s punished fairly. Perhaps a season of being off the school’s football team will teach him a lesson—”
“No, Dad!” Billy stormed over to his father and glared at him, their faces just inches apart. “You can’t do that—”
“I can and I will, young man. You’ll be lucky if Ms. Bailey doesn’t press charges against you.”
“Well, Mr. Anderson—” Emma’s mother began.
“William, please.”
“William, I think you’ve got a good enough handle on your son,” Emma’s mother said. “But if I ever hear of him insulting or jerking around with my daughter and her girl, I’ll be damn sure to call the sheriff and press charges.”
“Thank you, Ms. Bailey.”
Emma and Maia hugged while Billy’s father and Emma’s mother made arrangements for him to come back and get Billy’s truck. The sheriff still took statements from everyone, in case there were future problems. He made sure Billy understood the severity of the situation, and that if anything happened again, he’d be the first suspect. Emma just hoped the punishment for Billy would be enough for him to stop and think about the things he did to people in the future, and that it wasn’t just going to be a slap on the wrist that wouldn’t mean anything. She’d get Maia to check with Tess in a few days and make sure Billy was off the football team.
25
MAIA LAUGHED at Emma, who sat across from her in the small coffeehouse as they waited until it was time for their movie. It had been too cold to go to the zoo. “Drift? Really?”
Emma shrugged and smiled. It was a cute, sexy smile that Maia was finding hard to fight. “Sure. There are several things some horse breeders use to determine unique names for their horses. Now, since the filly doesn’t have any papers, we don’t have to get flashy or funky with names. She doesn’t have enough white on her for Snowy, but Drift. I like it. When we found Georgia, she was already covered in snow.”
“Looking like a snowdrift.” Maia nodded. “I get it.”
“I know you like more person-like names.” Emma reached past their steaming beverages and took Maia’s hand. “She’s, like, our first joint critter. I want us both to like the name.”
Squeezing Emma’s hand made Maia feel good. It had been so perfect since they came out, other than Abuela Sylvia’s continued silence. Maia’d never thought she could be happy with a girl, but she was more content than she ever had been. “It’s not a bad name.” The more Maia mulled over the name in her head, the more it made sense. “I was thinking of Atlanta, you know, since her mother’s Georgia.”
With a sigh, Emma shook her head. “Yeah, I can see your mind going that direction. It’s also the way some horse breeders would go. Atlanta’s not a bad name.”
“But it’s not a good name either,” Maia admitted. “I was trying to think of something better. Let’s let Drift bounce around for a few days, see if she and Georgia like it, and then decide.” She’d had dogs and cats that they named almost instantly, and others that took forever to tell her their name. Georgia’s filly had been in the world almost ten days, and no name had jumped out at them. She was a beautiful paint, but there weren’t any outstanding or unusual markings that lent themselves to a name. She refused to even consider the name Socks, which was the first thing Emma suggested.
Emma grinned. “Okay. Next time you come out, we can try it and see if she likes it or not.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Maia grinned back. That was one of the things she found herself doing a lot around Emma—smiling. When she stopped and thought about it, they were both smiling a lot. She couldn’t remember being as happy as she was since they’d gotten trapped in the blizzard.
“You know, I can’t believe your abuela let you loose today,” Emma said, letting go of Maia’s hand to take a drink of her apple cider. “Doesn’t she have a lot to get ready?”
It was Maia’s turn to shrug. “She’s been baking all week. When Mom told her you and your mom were coming, it just made her bake all the faster. I don’t know.” Maia frowned. “I’ve offered to help, but she keeps telling me there’s nothing for me to help with, but she keeps cooking. She hasn’t said anything derogatory since her initial blow up, but I feel like she’s pushing me away. It’s not right.”
Emma squeezed her hand again. “I’m really sorry she’s not coming around. Who knows, maybe meeting me and Mom today will help. She’ll see that we’re nice and normal. That can’t hurt, can it?”
“I guess not. I hope not.” Maia shook her head, trying to fight off the melancholy that had begun to come over her when she talked or thought about Abuela Sylvia. They’d always been so close, and her abuela’s rejection of Maia’s coming out was the only thing that had put a damper on the process. She wished her abuela would at least talk to her about it, but that seemed unlikely.
“Maybe once she gets to know me, I can sit down and talk to her and tell her all I want to do is make you happy.”
A soft smile that crept up pushed some of Maia’s sadness away. “And I want to make you happy too.”
“Good.” Emma glanced at her cell phone, lying near her cup of hot cider. “Hey, we need to get moving. The movie starts in fifteen minutes.”
Maia stood and picked up her cup. “Guess it’s a good thing we already have our tickets.”
“Right.” Emma stepped in close to her and gave her a quick kiss.
It still surprised Maia that no one said anything to them the couple of times they’d been affectionate in public. It felt so right for her to be with Emma, she wasn’t sure she would’ve cared if someone had said anything negative to them. It was their life, and no one had any right to complain about how they chose to live it, or who they chose to love, as long as they were happy.
THE DELIGHTFUL aroma of succulent turkey, tamales, and posole hit Maia as she opened the door and walked into the house.
“Wow, it smells great,” Emma whispered in her ear. “It’s been a long time since we did a whole lot for Thanksgiving. After my dad was killed, it kinda took a lot of the excitement out of the holidays.”
“Every holiday around here is a big thing.” Maia pulled off her coat and hung it in the hall closet, then reached for Emma’s. “But a large part of that is being Hispanic. We’ve got to do everything with the whole family and make a big affair out of it.”
Emma gave her a quick kiss. “I’m just thankful you asked me and Mom to come today. It means a lot.”
Maia closed the closet door. “It was Mama’s idea. I don’t know if she discussed it with mi abuela or not. I think she and your mom got a lot closer last week during the blizzard.”
“Yeah.” Emma chuckled softly. “I think you’re right about that. If I didn’t know better, the way they’ve been on the phone with each other, I’d think—”
The doorbell rang, cutting off Emma’s words.
“Chica, get the door!” Abuela Sylvia called from the kitchen. “Your mama and I are busy, and I don’t know where your papa is.”
“I got it!” she shouted back. Maia opened the door, and Cassie stood there with a couple of Village Inn pie boxes in her hands.
“Hey, I was following you girls down the road, but got held up a couple lights ago.” Cassie held the pie boxes out to Emma.
“I wasn’t sure if that was your truck or not,” Maia said as she held out her hand to take Cassie’s coat. “There’s so many white Dodge pickups around here.”
Cassie laughed as she handed over her coat. “Don’t I know it? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost that thing in the parking lot at Walmart. The next one’s going to be something bright and obnoxious, just so I can find it easily.”
Emma laughed. “Yeah, that’ll be the day. Every vehicle I can ever remember you having has been a white truck. You always say you’re going to get something different, but we always get the same thing.”
“Cassie, you found us okay!” Maia’s mom appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, wiping her hands on a simple white apron.
“I actually followed the girls in a good part of the way.” Cassie smiled and took the pies from Emma. “But when I lost them, your directions were great. It’s a pretty easy place to find.”
“That’s what I told Mama when she bought the house.” Maia’s mom took the pies. “Thanks. I hope we all have lots of room to put away the food. There’s tons of it.”
Maia laughed. “I’ve already told Emma that Abuela Sylvia’s been cooking all week.”
Cassie looked shocked. “All week? Really?”
Maia’s mom waved the comment away and motioned them all to the kitchen. “This is nothing. Next month it’ll be worse. There’ll be candy making starting about the fifteenth, and we’ll escalate from there.”
When they made it into the kitchen proper, the smell of food was both overwhelming and comforting. Maia always enjoyed the holidays with her family, and a huge part of it was cooking. Even when her abuela didn’t allow much help, there was always a good number of people around with fingers ready to dive into whatever had just come out of the oven or off the stove, even if it wasn’t yet time for dinner.
“Mama, take a moment and meet Emma and Cassie,” Maia’s mother said as she set the pie on the counter next to the other desserts.
Abuela Sylvia turned and smiled. She wiped her hands on her apron in the same gesture Maia’s mother had used moments before. “Please come in and make yourselves comfortable.” She held her hands out to Cassie first. “You have both done so much for our Ramon. Thank you for coming.”
Cassie smiled at her. “Thank you for having us. You have a very lovely house.”
Abuela Sylvia waved the compliment away. “It is a wreck right now. You’ll have to come back and see it when I’ve had time, or help, to clean.” Then she looked at Emma. She grinned, something Maia hadn’t expected. “So you are Emma. Maia has spoken very fondly of you.” She took Emma’s hands. “You are very pretty. Very pretty indeed.” She patted Emma’s hands before she released them. “Now, go relax. I think the others are outside playing a bit of football before dinner. Let them know they have”—she glanced over her shoulder at the clock on the wall—“five minutes until I start setting food on the table.”
“Can I do anything to help?” Cassie asked.
Abuela Sylvia waved toward the sliding glass door out onto the patio. “Go relax. Rosie and I have everything under control.”
Maia grabbed Emma’s hand and headed for the patio. She knew when to get out of the kitchen and when to stay. Once her abuela dismissed you, you got out.
Two of her uncles, one aunt, and five cousins were out in the backyard with her father. Ramon sat on the porch, huddled in his coat. For a moment, Maia wished they’d gotten their coats but realized they wouldn’t be out long and there wasn’t much point.
“Abuela Sylvia says five minutes!” Maia shouted from the porch as she walked up beside Ramon.
“Good,” Ramon muttered. “I’m ready to go in for a while. I’d have already gone and parked at the table, but they wouldn’t let me.”
Their dad walked up, panting slightly from having run from the far end of the yard to the porch. “Hey, did you say fifteen minutes?”
Maia shook her head. “Nope, five. Wrap up the game or she’ll be upset.”
He smiled. “Hey, Cassie, Emma. Good of you two to come join us. You better get used to big families quick, now that you’re a part of this one.”
“Hey, are we going to finish this game or not?” Maia’s Uncle Gus shouted from the yard. “We’ve got time for one more play. I don’t wanna piss Mom off by not being in when she said to be.”
“All right.” Maia’s dad ran back down the steps and headed for the middle of the yard where half the family was in the huddle and the other half was lining up against them.
“Ramon, what do you say we go ahead and wheel you in?” Maia said, walking up behind the wheelchair. “That way we can get seats and not get trampled when all of them head in for dinner.”
“Sounds good,” Ramon said.
“Is that safe?” Emma asked. “You said something about always doing exactly what your abuela wants.”
“That’s good advice in any family.” Cassie laughed. “We can hang out here for a few minutes more if we need to.”
Maia shook her head. “We’ll be okay.” She took hold of the handles of Ramon’s wheelchair. “Ramon gets special treatment, and you two are guests. Next time you’ll be treated like family.”
Emma smiled at her. “That sounds nice.”
“Yes, it will be.” Maia grinned back. For years she’d always figured the first time she brought someone to a holiday, it would be a boy, but having Emma there felt so much better than she’d ever dreamed it would.
AS ABUELA Sylvia finished saying grace, she paused and looked at Maia sitting next to Emma. While everyone waited for her to sit and signal them to eat, she took a long, deep breath. “Now that we’ve asked the Lord’s blessing on our table, I’ve got something to say. It has been a very tough time for many of our family. We have missing members. Others aren’t as well off as they have been. It’s been a time to remind us of what family is. I fear I have wronged one of us when she needed me the most.” She swallowed and a tear rolled down her cheek.
A sudden realization of what was happening hit Maia. Her throat tightened and she swallowed too.
“Maia, chica.” Abuela Sylvia started from the head of the table toward Maia. “I am so sorry I reacted as harshly as I did to your news a couple of weeks ago. When you were lost in the blizzard, I prayed long and hard. My old knees didn’t leave the floor in front of my altar for hours until I knew you were safe.”
Maia turned in her seat so she could see her.
Abuela Sylvia took Maia’s hands in hers. “God answered my prayers and sent you back to me. He saved Emma too. He showed me in that, the two of you belong together. The Bible may not agree, but God showed me that day how it doesn’t matter who you love, but that you love.”
Tears streamed down Maia’s face. She swallowed hard and hugged her abuela. “Thank you.”
Abuela Sylvia kissed her cheek. “You’re my chica. I want you to be happy. As part of this family, you will always know my love.” She reached past Maia to Emma. “Welcome to our family, Emma. I hope you make our Maia very happy.”
Emma’s voice cracked. “I’ll do my best.”
“Good.” With a heavy sigh, Abuela Sylvia let go of both of them. “Now, everyone, eat. My cooking is getting cold, and that’s not the way good food should be treated.”
As the unusual silence that had settled over the table cleared to the normal rambunctiousness of her family, Maia turned to Emma. Tears streamed down both their faces. They hugged, then shared a brief kiss.
“I love you,” Maia murmured.
“I love you too,” Emma whispered back.
“Eat, you two,” Abuela Sylvia said from the head of the table as she sat down.
Maia let go of Emma and turned back to the table just in time to catch the dinner roll Ramon threw at her. She laughed. Everything felt right and perfect as they settled in and ate. Her abuela understood and accepted her, and she had Emma at her side. Even Selena was still around. She knew everything was going to be okay. Her life was great.
