If it came to a philosophical debate, he knew he would lose on passion points. He was inclined to let them open everything. Just as he was inclined to back Marybeth.
"It's tradition. One present on Christmas Eve," Marybeth interjected, turning in her seat. "And besides, you need clothes."
"But I don't want clothes," Sheridan whined.
"Me neither," April added sourly.
"I do," Lucy squealed, cutely. Missy laughed.
"We know!" Sheridan shouted. "And maybe you expect some pearls like Aunt Missy's."
Joe said nothing. His mother-in-law liked to pretend she was not a grandmother, but an aunt. She suggested that the girls call her "Aunt Missy" in mixed company. Joe thought it was ridiculous. This was a sore point. Sheridan had obviously picked up on it.
"Let's all be kind to each other," Marybeth said, in her most calming tone. "It's Christmas Eve."
It worked. Joe felt Sheridan give up her debating points and settle into her seat. Marybeth was amazing, Joe thought.
They drove through Saddlestring with the heater on high and the defroster at full strength. The girls pointed out the good decorations and dissed the poor ones.
After they had cleared the town limits, Joe sped up. They passed the feed store, the Saddlestring Burg-O-Pardner (the lighted outdoor sign beckoned: ROCKY MOUNTAIN OYSTERFEST FREE WITH PURCHASE OF SAME), and the Mini-Mart. But it was the unusual number of parked cars at the First Alpine Church of Saddlestring that made Joe slow down and look.
"I've never seen so many cars at that church since we moved here," Marybeth said.
Neither had Joe, and he often passed the church on his way home from work. The number of parked vehicles-more than thirty-was unusual in itself, but it was the license plates that caught his attention. There were campers, vans, battered four-wheel-drives, and SUVs from Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota, Georgia, Michigan, and Wyoming. The small parking lot was filled with them, and late arrivals had lined up bumper to bumper along the entrance road.
"I'm pulling over," Joe announced. He wanted to check this out, even if it wasn't his business. As expected, his children responded with a collective moan.
Marybeth gave him a look. "Joe, you can take the night off."
"Wait," Sheridan suddenly said from the backseat. "It's all of those cars we saw in front of the school."
Joe shot a glance in the rearview mirror at April, to gauge her reaction. Her eyes had suddenly grown very large. But she said nothing.
"It'll just be a minute," he said.
Marybeth started to say something-Joe knew it was going to be a "be careful" admonition-but caught herself for the sake of the children and her mother.
"Don't be long," she said instead, turning to comfort the children, and especially April.
Joe left the van's engine running and the heater on, and walked down the middle of the road that led to the church. It had started to snow, and the moon was now blocked by swift-moving storm clouds.
The First Alpine Church of Saddlestring was a small structure made of logs with an adjoining double-wide trailer that served as living quarters for the "unconventional" Reverend B. J. Cobb and his wife, Eunice. The Reverend Cobb normally served a small congregation of Twelve Sleep County's survivalists and the dispossessed. These were the people who had chosen Saddlestring because it was the end of the road-people who built bunkers, stockpiled weapons and food, and reported sightings of black helicopters to the sheriff's department. Normally, even on Christmas or Easter, there were not more than a half-dozen cars at the church. The tiny congregation provided so little income that the Reverend Cobb supported himself and his wife by working full-time as a certified welder. Eunice was the Welcome Wagon lady, who met with new residents and gave them coupons to local retail stores.
The footing was icy. Large flakes wafted through the air and settled into vague cotton-ball shapes on the ice. The three steps to the front door were slick, and Joe steadied himself on the handrail as he climbed them. The church was heated inside by a stove; the sweet smell of woodsmoke hung in the air.
He stopped at the door, his fingers around the elk-antler handle. He could hear the Reverend Cobb finish a passage with a flourish. When Eunice began to play the electric piano-the church was too small and poor for an organ-he opened the door and stepped inside. A harsh mixture of woodstove heat, candlewax, and body odor assaulted him. Eunice was playing Silent Night. Most of the congregation sang in English, but a few were singing the words in poor German. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht! Alles schlaft, einsam wacht…
The rough-hewn pews were packed with visitors wearing big, weathered coats. Their backs were to him. He recognized no one except for the Cobbs, and two locals, Spud Cargill and Rope Latham, who co-owned a company called Bighorn Roofing. He had recognized their identical white Ford pickups outside-the ones with the company logo of winged roofing shingles on the doors. Joe suspected them of poaching, but had never caught them in the act.
As the congregation began the second verse, Reverend Cobb noticed Joe standing in the back. Still singing, the minister skirted the row of pews and greeted Joe with a handshake. Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh' Schlafe in himmlisher Ruh'
Reverend B. J. Cobb was a blocky ex-Marine who had served in Vietnam. He had short-cropped silver hair and a big jaw. His wife, Eunice, was just as short and just as blocky, with a mat of iron-gray curls on the top of her head. She had also been a Marine.
"Can the Lord, or this humble servant help you, Mr. Pickett?"
Joe surveyed the wall of turned backs and heavy coats.
"Maybe both of you can," Joe said. "Who are all these people?"
The Reverend Cobb smiled, and shrugged happily. "They're here to worship and celebrate Christmas. Who am I to question that?"
Joe looked sharply at Cobb.
"I don't know them all yet," Cobb confessed. "I was happily surprised when they showed up for services."
Joe felt a pair of eyes on him and looked over Cobb's shoulder. A big, bearlike man had turned slightly in the back row. The man had a massive head with deep, soft eyes and fleshy lips. His expression was alert, but somehow calming. The man looked Joe over carefully, and Joe looked back. He must be the one Sheridan described as their leader, Joe thought. The man turned back to his hymnal.
"They've established a camp in the forest on Battle Mountain," Cobb said. "They all drove down tonight."
"You're kidding," Joe said, alarmed. "In the national forest?"
"That's what they told me. I haven't visited it yet."
"That sounds like trouble in the making," Joe mumbled.
Cobb smiled sweetly. Despite Cobb's unique take on things, Joe liked the man.
"I might give you a call in a few days," Joe said, thanking Cobb and shaking his hand good-bye. "Merry Christmas."
"And a merry Christmas to you, Joe Pickett," the reverend said.
Joe turned toward the door but paused before he opened it, feeling eyes on him again. He wondered if the big man had once again turned, to make sure Joe was leaving.
Slowly, Joe looked over his shoulder. The big man still had his back turned, and was singing. Then Joe saw her.
Because she was small, she couldn't see him over the congregation, so she had to lean out into the aisle. Her face was thin and pinched, her eyes so hard and cold that Joe shuddered.
The first time he had met Jeannie Keeley was at her husband Ote's funeral. She had walked up to Joe, pulling April behind her like a rag doll, and said: "Aren't you the mother-fucking prick who wanted to take my Otie's outfitting license away?"
And now she was back. After making three piles of Santa's gifts for discovery in the morning, and after eating the cookie and drinking the milk left for Santa by Lucy (with plenty of telltale crumbs), Joe and Marybeth said good night to Missy. She acknowledged them by raising her pinkie finger above the rim of her just-filled wineglass. That annoyed Joe, who was still on edge from seeing Jeannie Keeley.