The Cowboy's Promise (UNDER HEAVY REVISION)

Christmas Eve-Eve?

Summer and fall passed quickly. When winter arrived, everything finally settled down. And, of course, with winter came snow. We all love playing in snow. So the first white day, I come out with a cup of coffee and see Elliot working in the corral, throwing hay to the horses. And I just can't resist.

Setting my coffee on the porch, I pick up a handful of snow and roll it into a ball. Elliot still has his back to me, oblivious to the fact that I'm there. Once I have the snowball near-perfect, I throw it at him. It nails the back of his neck, falling into his jacket. He jumps and tried to get the cold snow off his back.

Red comes out of the barn to see Elliot glaring hot death, shaking his jacket out. He bust out laughing right before I hit him on the crown of his Stetson. He turns towards me at the same second Elliot does.

"Blake!" they exclaim in unison.

"What? Just tryin' to have a little fun." I shrug innocently. Then a wad of snow hits me in the face. My head jerks back like I've been punched, and I wipe the icy slush off my face.

"Wait, wait, wait," Red interrupts, stopping Elliot and me right before we throw our snowballs. "Let's get Faith in this."

We nod and agree. He runs in the house and drags our sister out. Elliot and I both launch our snowballs, hitting her in the chest.

"Blake and Elliot Dodge! You two are so dead!" she yells.

We grin at her. Red shoves a handful of snow down the back of her shirt. She squeals, freezes up, then turns and smacks Red.

"Oh my God. Red Kaden Dodge, you cannot be serious."

She doesn't like us at first, but eventually she joins in. I chase Red around the yard before tackling him into the snow, Faith dog-piling on top of us. Elliot whistles loudly and holds up his hands.

"That is against regulations!" he announces. Our parents and James, an older ranch hand, laugh at us from the porch. We look at him from our positions on the ground.

"Against what regulations?" Red and I demand.

"The regulations of snowball fights," he says confidently.

"Since when do snowball fights have regulations?" Faith questions.

"Since, uh, December 23, 2015," he declares.

We roll our eyes and go back to our fight. We go from snowball fights, to snow wrestling, to snow angels. Then Mama and Daddy make us do real chores. Faith goes with Mama to fold clothes and bake, Elliot stays to finish giving the horses hay, and Red and I go with James to check on the cows. At least two have to be branded, so Red and I saddle Immature and Candyman while James takes the Gator. We talk as we ride down the dirt road.

"So, do you know what tomorrow is?" I asks my brother.

"Yes, bro, I am aware that it is the day before Christmas Eve. And I've gotten like two presents," he replies.

I laugh. "Lucky for you, I've only gotten a couple presents, including yours. Wanna go today?"

"You serious?" he asks. "Two days before Christmas?"

I give him a look. "Uh, yeah. When do you plan on getting gifts?"

"Good question."

€*€

We finish with the cows a few minutes past lunch and head into town. We agree to meet at Dolly's Diner in an hour and go our separate ways. I walk down to the bait shop first. I may or may not have run over Elliot's old fishing pole around late summer. So my gift is gonna be a new pole.