Christmas At Cade Ranch. Karen Rock

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СКАЧАТЬ her tone conspiratorial. A sparkle brightened her eyes. “Don’t tell anyone I said that.”

      Javi moved close and dropped his voice. “It’s our secret?”

      “Exactly.”

      “I don’t like secrets.”

      Sofia cringed inside.

      Please, oh, please, don’t ever learn about mine.

      “Honesty’s a good policy to have, young man. And you can put those paper towels outside in the trash.”

      “What else can I throw out?” Javi picked up a chipped ceramic saltshaker. “This is old.”

      “It is. It came all the way from Chicago when your great-great-great-great-grandfather ordered it from the Sears and Roebuck catalog over a hundred years ago.”

      “What’s a catalog?”

      “A book with pictures of different things you can buy.”

      “What kinds of things?”

      “Oh, anything back then. You name it. Rifles, chickens, fur coats, even a house. There’s one in town I can show you someday if you’re still here. They decorate it like it’s a Las Vegas casino. Blinking lights everywhere, a singing snowman and Santa on the roof.”

      When her hopeful eyes met Sofia’s, Sofia hurried to the broom closet. She had plenty of reasons to stick around, the most disturbing of which was her sudden interest in James Cade. When he’d smiled at her bungled lyrics, her breath had caught for a second, long enough for interest in the man to take hold.

      “Santa doesn’t like me.” Javi raced out the back door. A thunderclap of joyous howls rose from the Border collies.

      “He thinks Santa doesn’t like him?”

      “I’ve tried telling him that Santa loves all kids the same, even if they don’t get a visit, but...” Her words stumbled to a halt. It pained her to think of all the holidays they’d had to do without, the times she’d had to explain to Javi why Santa hadn’t come that year. Or the next.

      “Well, now. That’s a sad enough thing.”

      “We have each other. Plus, Javi’s never known anything different.”

      “Christmas used to be Jesse’s favorite holiday.”

      They smiled faintly at each other. “I remember.”

      “Guess we haven’t done much celebrating here, either, not since...” Sadness weighed down Joy’s friendly face, making her seem older and less present somehow. It was like looking at a hologram. Sofia’s heart went out to her.

      “Anyway,” Joy said, straightening, brisk. “Here I am thinking of myself, when you’ve only just learned about Jesse. I wish you hadn’t had to find out this way.”

      “Yes.”

      “Where did you and Jesse meet?”

      Sofia glanced at the shut door and lowered her voice. Her heart pounded. How she hated dredging up this old stuff, but she couldn’t deny another mother details about her son. “At the Alano House.”

      “Six years ago.”

      “Yes.”

      Joy’s chest rose and fell with the force of her sigh. “Jesse couldn’t stay sober. And Lord, but I couldn’t help him, either. He lived to assist others but couldn’t take care of himself.”

      “He was good with Javi.”

      Joy’s face brightened. “He always loved kids. We used to joke that moms had to watch out, or Jesse would steal their children. He’d carry off any old baby he could get his hands on without even checking if it was okay with the parent, when he was sober, of course. When he wasn’t...”

      Sofia winced, remembering a strung-out Jesse pacing her apartment, hands over his ears as Javi had screamed and shrieked. “Yes.”

      “How did you two break up? It’s hard thinking Jesse left his own child and then didn’t even tell us about Javi all these years.”

      Sofia struggled to keep the hurt off her face. She wouldn’t run down a son to his own mother. “I told him not to contact me unless he was sober. He was probably waiting to get clean.”

      She ran a mop over the floor, careful not to dampen Joy’s rose-pink heels. Given she wore a beaded necklace in the same color, along with a headband in an identical shade, Joy had a color story going on that Sofia didn’t want to mess with. Especially now that the kind woman had lost hours’ worth of work literally down the drain.

      “And it never happened...not long enough for him to be sure of his sobriety, I’m guessing.” Joy dabbed at her eyes, not placing blame as Sofia had feared, her acceptance filling Sofia with unexpected warmth.

      “How’s your wrist?” she asked to break the emotionally fraught moment.

      “Getting worse.” Joy’s elbows jerked as she scrubbed the pot. White, frothy water bubbled over the metal sides. Sofia stowed the mop and grabbed a dish towel, its pattern a mirror image of the rugs scattered around the room. “The steroid shots aren’t working on my rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Billings says I need to stop postponing surgery.”

      Joy’s glasses slipped down her nose, and Sofia pushed them back up. They exchanged a quick smile. For a moment, Sofia imagined what it’d be like to have a mother like Joy. Or a mother at all, given hers had died in childbirth.

      Her father must have blamed her for the loss, she’d often thought during those awful and numerous times when she was consumed with guilt. It explained his constant anger and dismissal. No matter what Sofia did, it was never good enough to make up for his beloved wife.

      While she didn’t know what it felt like to be a loved daughter, she’d always be the best mother possible to Javi. Everything she’d missed, she gave. Tenfold.

      Sofia grabbed the rinsed pot and began drying it. “What’s stopping you from getting the procedure?”

      Joy shrugged. “I’d be out of commission for four to six weeks, depending on how fast I heal. Who would look after the family?”

      Concern for kindhearted Joy rocketed through Sofia. “Your kids?”

      “The ranch takes up all their time.”

      “A relative could step in maybe?”

      “My husband and I were both only children. Our parents have passed. But not to worry, dear. I’ll get by. I always have. Unless...”

      “Unless...?”

      “There’s any chance you might be willing to help out,” Joy said, offhandedly, though a light now filled her eyes, an undeniable wish, easy to read, that she wanted them to stay.

      Sofia froze.

      “If you could spare the time,” Joy babbled on in the СКАЧАТЬ