Colorado Christmas by C. C. Coburn Page B

chance.”
    Will smiled at the sight of Daisy, bullwhip in hand. He could see her taking over the ranch from Luke one of these days.
    “My girls behaving themselves?” Luke asked from behind him.
    Will spun around. “Always do,” he said and was about to suggest Luke view his children more positively, when his brother threw him for a loop by saying, “I didn’t think you’d manage to pull this all together. You’ve impressed me.”
    He moved on, leaving Will openmouthed with shock at the biggest compliment Luke had paid anyone in a very long time. If ever.
    Will purchased a sheet of tickets and handed over a couple for a plate of brisket. He surveyed the barbecue area filled with friends, neighbors, townsfolk and tourists enjoying the sunshine, talking, munching on corn or ribs, greeting old friends. It seemed half the county was at Two Elk.
    He wandered toward the barn, where people boot scooted to the band’s popular tunes. He’d join in later. Maybe when the judge got there.
    “Uncle Will! Uncle Will!” He spun around to see Sash dragging another kid behind her. “This is my friend, Nicolas!”
    “Hey, buddy!” Will high-fived the kid. “Glad you could make it.”
    “You know each other?” three female voices chimed in unison.
    Daisy and Sash wore identical frowns of confusion. The judge, who’d now joined them, looked more bothered than confused.
    “Sure. We met at the rec center. Howdy, Judge. Welcome to Two Elk.”
    “How do you know this man?” Becky asked Nick.
    Wearing a smile from ear to ear, he clasped Will’s hand. “I told you about Will. He’s gonna teach me to swim.”
    The judge’s eyes narrowed as she surveyed Will, then lookedpointedly at their joined hands. Will eased his hand from Nick’s and said to the boy, “We were going to talk about that with your mom first, buddy.” He turned to Becky. “How about you let me teach this little guy to swim?”
    Will enjoyed watching the judge’s features crease with consternation, figuring it wasn’t often she got her feathers so ruffled. He’d finally worked out who Nick’s mom was after he said he wished she’d put all the bullies in jail. Will knew every female cop in town and in the sheriff’s department. The only other woman who could jail anyone had to be the judge.
    And now he saw them together, their resemblance was unmistakable—red hair, freckles, cute smile, when the judge allowed herself one. Right now, she wasn’t smiling.
    Becky crooked her finger at him, indicating Will should follow her away from the children.
    “Mr. O’Malley, I have no idea how you discovered my son does sessions at the hydrotherapy pool. And I especially don’t appreciate you befriending him in order to get closer to me.”
    Will held up his hands. “Whoa there! You’re right off track, Judge—”
    “I want you to stay away from him!”
    Stung by her vehemence and what she was intimating, he said, “You think I’d harm the little guy?”
    “I would hope not, but an older man befriending a child is not appropriate!”
    That did it. He’d had a gutful. He’d tried to be nice to her, welcome her into the community. Date her. But to suggest that meeting Nick at the pool had some sort of nefarious intent was going way too far. “You know, Your Honor —” Will put the emphasis on the words, since she obviously thought she was far above the rest of the folk of Spruce Lake, especially him “—I’ve had it with your attitude toward me.”
    He counted off on his fingers a few points for her to consider. “One, I met Nick, ” he said, shortening the child’s name, figuring it would probably annoy her, “last week at the pool. Two, he said he wanted to learn to swim like me. Three, I offered toteach him, provided he got his mom’s permission. Four, I didn’t know you were his mom until yesterday. Five, and even if I’d known, I would still have liked him.” He let that remark sink in before continuing. “He seemed lonely, desperate