Stranded With Santa. Janet Tronstad

Zach felt around the side of his seat and found not one but two candy canes. Hallelujah! He’d soon be out of here. “I suppose you tried the cereal and didn’t like it—or you thought the manufacturer shouldn’t say it is the cereal real cowboys eat when everybody knows cowboys don’t eat anything but beans and trail dust.”

      “No, actually, I like the cereal. And I think cowboys would like it if they had a chance to try it. It’s great—real nutty.”

      Zach nodded and didn’t make the obvious comparison. “So you like the cereal. You just object to the box.”

      Jenny nodded sheepishly. “I guess it is kind of odd.”

      “No problem.” Zach smiled to show it was okay. He’d been bucked by broncs. He’d learned how to take his lumps in life. If the woman was that set against him, he’d let it be. Better times were waiting for him. “I’ll just take this other candy cane into the house and pick up the letter from—what’s the kid’s name again?”

      “Andy.”

      “So I’ll pick up the letter from Andy, do our bit with the camera and be on my way back to the doctor’s.”

      “Thank you for understanding.”

      Zach shrugged as he opened the driver’s door on the postal truck. “Don’t mention it.”

      To show there were no hard feelings, Zach walked around and opened the passenger door, as well. “Some folks think the picture on the box is just some dress-up modeling job. But it isn’t. The cereal company asked to put my picture on the box because I won the All-Pro Championship in bronc riding last fall.”

      “Oh, I didn’t think they used your picture because of your looks.” Jenny gracefully stepped out of the truck and almost immediately folded her arms in front of her for warmth.

      Zach admitted complete defeat. Most women found him attractive. He wasn’t fool enough to go after one who didn’t. Especially not when he was out in the middle of nowhere and the sky was turning a serious gray.

      “Storm’s coming,” Zach offered as they walked toward the house. He suddenly understood why Delores worried so much over this little family. He felt some of that same worry tugging at him. There wasn’t another house around for miles. “You got enough supplies stored up and everything? A winter storm in southern Montana can be a fierce thing.”

      “I know that.”

      Zach wondered how she could know that. He didn’t ask, but she must have caught the drift of his disbelieving thoughts.

      “I may not have lived through one of the storms here, but even in Los Angeles they have guidebooks that talk about Montana.”

      Zach groaned inside. She’d learned about Montana storms from a guidebook.

      The few snowflakes that were falling had a dry sting to them. Zach knew that meant the coming storm would be cold enough to freeze a person. Some folks thought the large wet flakes signaled the worst storms, but they didn’t. The wet flakes generally meant more snow, but the dry ones foretold a swift and merciless drop in temperature. And with the wind that could be dangerous.

      “The electrical will probably go out. Are you set for that?”

      Jenny turned to look at him squarely and lifted her chin. She was standing on her porch and she could still feel the pinch of the cold in her nose. She could see the sky was going deep gray and she could hear the grumbling in the air. “We have a propane furnace. And I have some oil lamps if the lights go out.”

      Zach grunted.

      The door on the house popped open when they stepped near it. Andy, the little boy, had been waiting for them to come back and must have heard their steps on the porch.

      “Hi, there, Andy.” Zach stepped inside behind Jenny. At least the little boy liked him.

      Zach revised that opinion. The boy was looking at him like he’d sprouted a second head.

      “Santa Claus?”

      Zach grabbed for his chin. He’d forgotten the beard.

      Jenny met his eyes in alarm. She took a quick breath. “Santa shaved.”

      Zach slipped the beard back over his chin. But it was too late. The kid was bewildered.

      Then the confusion on Andy’s face slowly cleared as though he finally understood a big secret. Zach felt a momentary pang, but then decided it was just as well the kid learned the truth about Santa Claus.

      Zach looked over at Jenny. She was signaling him desperately to do something.

      Zach figured there wasn’t much to be done.

      “He’d find out someday anyway—now that he’s a big boy.” Zach threw the boy a bone. He knelt down until his eyes were level with the boy’s. “Isn’t that right? You’re a big boy and big boys can handle the truth about Santa Claus, can’t you?”

      Andy nodded happily.

      Zach threw Jenny a self-righteous look. He might not be a parent, but he did know some things about little boys. “You’re a real smart big boy to figure out Santa’s secret.”

      Zach noticed the girl who stood beside her mother. She rolled her eyes as if Zach was hopeless.

      Andy nodded eagerly and leaned forward to whisper. “I know the secret. Santa’s a cowboy—he’s you—Lightnin’ Lucas.”

      “Well, now, that’s not exactly true.” Zach stalled. Maybe he didn’t understand a little boy’s mind as much as he thought he did. “I am Lightning Lucas—that’s true—but I’m just wearing a Santa suit. I’m a pretend Santa.”

      “I have cowboy pajamas,” Andy nodded happily as he danced from one foot to the other. “That’s pretend. Want to see?”

      “Sure, I guess.” Zach looked up at Jenny to get direction.

      Jenny gave a reluctant nod. The pajamas had been Andy’s present last Christmas and they were still his most prized possession. “Why don’t you bring them out here and let Mr. Lucas see them when you give him your letter? I think he’ll still take it for you.”

      Jenny lifted a questioning eyebrow at Zach.

      Zach bristled. He was a man of his word. “Of course I’ll still take the letter. I’ll see the letter gets to the North Pole tonight. Before Santa leaves on his trip tomorrow. I’ll take it personally.”

      “Can you fly?” Andy looked at him in awe. “Like the reindeer?”

      Zach swallowed and shifted his weight onto his knee. “No, but I know the way to the North Pole and I can drive fast in my truck. Zoom. Zoom. Of course,” he said, fumbling, “nobody should drive fast.”

      Zach hoped the kid forgot this conversation before he turned sixteen and got his driving permit.

      “Will you take me with you?”

      Zach looked over at the little boy looking at him with such shining trust. Like a shy deer, the boy had edged closer and closer to Zach as he knelt beside him until now the boy was practically leaning against Zach’s shoulder. Zach had to swallow again. “Not this time.”

      “Why not? I’ll be good.”

      Jenny looked down at the man and her boy and felt sad. Andy yearned for a father even more than he yearned to be a cowboy. Maybe after Christmas she should accept a date from that rancher up north who kept asking her out. Even if Jenny didn’t find him very exciting, he was stable.

      Jenny had learned the hard way that exciting men weren’t the best family men. She had a second chance to provide a father for her children, and this time she was going to choose carefully. Her children had never known the warmth of a real father. If she married again, it would be for them.

      “Of course you’ll be good,” Zach said. “But you see,