by Lisa Carter
“Never better.” Totally, surprisingly true. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this good.
With one foot in and one foot out the door, Ryan hesitated. “See you tomorrow.”
She hung on to the door. “Can’t wait.”
And that truth kept her awake long past her bedtime.
* * *
On Tuesday morning, the motel looked no better than it had Friday night. Maybe even worse. Daylight only emphasized the peeling paint, the pitted parking lot and the sagging eaves.
With a click on his key fob, Ryan locked his car. “Not the safest place, Mrs. Parks.”
Agnes walked with him toward the entrance. “I’ve seen worse.”
He inclined his head. “When you worked for social services?”
She gave him a small smile. “No. As a pastor’s wife. My husband’s work isn’t just on Sunday. We both take our commitment to the community very seriously.”
He’d done the right thing in bringing Mrs. Parks here. She and the Reverend had the background, the knowledge and the wherewithal to do what needed to be done for Oscar.
“And this is the only address you found listed in his school record? I thought Oscar’s mom worked the night shift?”
He held the glass-fronted door for Agnes. “It’s the only address I found. No other phone number listed. I hope we can get a permanent address and contact number from the manager.”
But when they ventured inside, once again Brittany Ericson stood behind the counter. He searched her face for telltale signs of drug abuse. If she was using, he’d call Child Protective Services immediately.
“You again.” Her eyes cut to Agnes. “Who are you?”
Oscar’s mother had the skeletal thinness of an addict, but her teeth weren’t yellowed and she didn’t have the shakes.
She frowned at his scrutiny, then her eyes widened. “Did something happen to Oscar?”
“Oscar is fine.” Agnes smiled. “He’s with his class at school.”
“So, why are you here? I ain’t got all day to shoot the breeze with you people.” Brittany glanced around as if expecting someone to interrupt. “I’m on the clock.”
His fears for Oscar rose another notch. “Do you work here all the time?” He wasn’t sure how to phrase this without offending her. Though offending her was the least of Oscar’s worries. “By the hour?”
Brittany’s eyes glinted. “Yes. No. Not in the way you mean.”
Agnes held out her hand. “I’m Agnes Parks, and I also work in the after-school program with your son.”
Brittany locked her arms around herself. “What do you want?” Agnes’s hand fell.
Ryan cleared his throat. “We’re concerned about how tired Oscar is at school every day.” He surveyed the dingy lobby. “Is this where Oscar sleeps every night?”
Brittany glared. “I know it ain’t much, but it’s a job. I’m doing the best I can.”
Agnes stepped closer. “I’m sure you are, Brittany. We’re trying to do what’s best for Oscar, too.”
Brittany’s thin shoulders slumped. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Her voice dropped. “You’re here to take Oscar away from me.”
Ryan started to speak, but Agnes’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Is that what you think would be best for your son, Brittany?”
“F-first week I got the job—” Brittany’s voice quavered “—a rat crawled across Oscar.”
Ryan’s stomach clenched.
“He wasn’t bitten, I checked. But he’s terrified of them now. So I keep him near me behind the desk. There’s all kinds of rats out there.” She glanced toward the parking lot. “Not only the rodent kind. I can’t risk putting him in one of the empty rooms to sleep by himself.”
Ryan sucked in a breath. Other than her job at the motel, Oscar and his mom were homeless.
Brittany lifted her chin, her jaw like iron. “I sleep during the day. So I can stay awake and make sure nothing gets on Oscar. But he won’t let himself go to sleep.” She choked, a half sob. “He sleeps at school where he feels safer.”
Ryan’s heart clenched for the scared little boy. “Let us help, Brittany.”
The defiance seemed to drain out of her. “Don’t you think I’ve considered giving him up?” She looked at them, all traces of hardness gone. “But would foster care be better? You tell me.” She snorted. “How do you think I ended up pregnant at fifteen with Oscar in the first place?”
Something tore inside Ryan for a young woman who’d already suffered so much. “Let us help you, too, Brittany.”
“There’s no help for someone like me.” She shrugged as if she didn’t care, but tears welled in her eyes. “I’m broken beyond fixing.”
Agnes took Brittany’s fist in her hand. “Nobody’s broken beyond fixing. I know a lady looking for a boarder. We can find you a new place to live. A safer place.”
Brittany shook her head. “I can’t afford—”
“How would you like to work in a garden center?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he was appalled at himself.
But Agnes gave him a pleased smile. Luke was going to have his head on a Christmas platter.
The family had just started to dig themselves out from a financial hole. Ryan gritted his teeth. But somehow, somewhere, they’d find a way to pay Brittany more than the paltry amount she had to be making here.
Brittany’s mouth curved. “I like plants.” Then her eyes dulled. “But I don’t have a car.”
Agnes shooed away her concerns. “Transportation can be arranged. Trust me.”
Trust was the crucial issue. Would Brittany trust them? But trust went both ways. Ryan had to be willing to trust this young woman with something more important to him than the business: his family.
Brittany tilted her head. “Are you sure?”
His family wouldn’t want Ryan to deny them the chance to make a difference in Brittany’s life. Justine and Tessa would have a ball loving on little Oscar. Their mom, too.
Ryan nodded. “I’m sure.”
Agnes moved into action. “Let’s get you packed.”
“Thank you.” A smile flickered across Brittany’s face. “For everything. I never dreamed—” She blinked back tears.
His heart lifted at the hope dawning on the young woman’s features. It didn’t take long for Brittany to pack. The entirety of her and Oscar’s possessions were contained in a single backpack.
Ryan drove them to the school parking lot to retrieve Agnes’s car. With his planning period nearly over, Agnes would take it from here. By the end of the day, Brittany would be settled into a new place. And tonight, he hoped Oscar would have sweet dreams at last.
Hurrying into the school building, Ryan had a phone call to make to his brother. But he felt better than he had in a long time. As if one of the weights lodged on his shoulders had lifted. He could leave with a clear conscience. He’d done what he could for Oscar and his mom. Done everything he could for everyone.
Or had he? Zander and Anna rose to his mind. And suddenly he had the uncomfortable suspicion that leaving here wasn’t going to be as easy as he once believed.
* * *
That afternoon, while Ryan worked to secure the lock on the back door of the trailer, Anna—oh so casually—mentioned the lack of a peephole.
She gave him the bright Pruitt smile. “Then I wouldn’t have had to guess it was you knocking on the door last night.”
Obviously, she’d known it was Ryan on the other side of the door.
He stared at her over the rim of his glasses. And she feared he’d call her on the absurdity of her request. But he cocked his head in that way he had of studying a question from every angle.
“Okay...” He blew out a breath. “I’ll fix that next.”
Sh
e leaned forward, resisting the urge to do a fist-pump. “Wednesday?”
When he agreed without further questions, she released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
On Wednesday, the mellow sound of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” filled the small trailer while Ryan worked on the peephole.
In the frayed upholstery of an armchair, her candy cane–striped stocking feet dangled over the armrest. She sipped from a mug of herbal tea. And—thanks to Ryan—this Christmas was shaping up to be a merry one.
On Thursday, she roped him into hanging swags of garland. A garland that new employee Brittany Ericson rang up for Anna at the garden center.
The transformation in Oscar was remarkable. Within a few days, he went from a withdrawn, sleep-deprived child to a bubbly, curious six-year-old, eager to learn. Which was exactly what he should be.
Although Ryan insisted he’d done very little, Anna almost burst with how proud she was of Ryan for his part in giving Oscar and his mom a new start.
A new start. What Anna had hoped for when she returned home to raise her child.
That her new beginning and Oscar’s took place during the holiday season was icing on the cake. A Christmas cake. And how much of her happy Christmas homecoming she owed to Ryan both scared and thrilled Anna.
With the upcoming Kiptohanock tree lighting ceremony on Friday night, she and Ryan decided to make good on their promise of a reward for the effort put forth by the kids. Permission from Maria’s family and Oscar’s mom was easily acquired. But Anna had no success in contacting Zander’s guardian.
Just when she worried he’d have to be left behind, Zander arrived at the media center on Friday afternoon and dug the crumpled form from his backpack. Broadening his stance, he handed it to her.
Chin raised, he folded his arms. A fair imitation of the way Ryan often stood. Ryan had no clue what a positive masculine influence he presented to boys like Zander.
“You said we’d eat at Tammy and Johnny’s first, right? And my milkshake is free, too.”
She scanned the permission slip. “I can’t read your guardian’s name on the signature line.”
His lips flattened. “I did what you said. Got it signed. Can I go or what?”
Although grubby and smudged, it appeared the official requirements had been met. If only they could as easily find a solution for his behavioral issues.
She turned the paper over in her hand. “Your address isn’t listed.”
He shrugged, the chip on his shoulder growing exponentially. “My uncle said he’d drop me at the restaurant.”
An uncle. Maybe now they might get somewhere. Finally, a chance to talk to an adult in Zander’s life. “I look forward to meeting him. What’s your uncle’s name?”
He picked up a book lying on the table. “What chapter did you say we were working on today?”
She wasn’t fooled. Zander looked forward to reading every day as much as someone awaiting a tray full of vaccinations. Something was up with him. Her suspicions aroused, she meant to get to the bottom of it tonight.
Chapter Nine
Ryan took Friday off from school. A self-imposed distance. Thus far, his decision to avoid her wasn’t working. He’d spent way more time with Anna than was good for his heart. And the close proximity wasn’t doing anything for his so-called boundaries. He needed to draw a line in the proverbial Kiptohanock sand.
Which—considering he was about to spend Friday evening with Anna and the kids at the tree lighting—was a half-hearted, doomed-to-failure attempt at best.
But nonetheless late that afternoon, he found himself winding a strand of white lights around the town gazebo railing. Something his dad had volunteered for each year. A job that, oddly enough, made him feel closer to his dad. But this was the last year he’d be home to decorate the square.
Margaret Davenport supervised the volunteers like a general marshaling her troops. Four different groups trimmed a tree on each corner of the green. Tonight marked the Kiptohanock Tree Lighting. And Margaret was here to make sure everything was done to her usual high standards for the little fishing village. She marched across the square to harangue the Waterman’s Association—mainly Seth Duer—in charge of the tree closest to the church.
Ryan worked the lights around the railing spindles, and his defense mechanisms went around, as well. They were just friends. Can’t get attached. He was leaving soon. They were just friends. Can’t get attached. He was leaving—
At the clatter on the roof of the gazebo, he poked his head out. Glad for a distraction, he grinned at the teenager climbing the aluminum ladder. “Santa? So soon? I’m not ready.”
“You better get ready, Mr. Savage.” An electrical cord dangled from the Moravian Christmas star in Gray Montgomery’s hand. “’Cause Santa Claus is coming to town.” He smirked. “Even a town the size of Kiptohanock.”
“Better heed your own advice, son.” Canyon Collier braced the bottom of the ladder against the gazebo. “Santa knows when you’ve been bad or good. So—”
Ryan wagged his finger. “—be good for goodness sake.” Exchanging glances, he and Canyon burst out laughing.
Gray heaved a sigh. “Old people humor.” He stretched to attach the star onto the top of the gazebo.
Canyon sucked in a breath as Gray wobbled. “Careful...”
Ryan’s eyes darted from Gray’s precarious perch to Canyon’s face.
“I got this, dude,” Gray called. “No worries.”
“Fear is so not a factor.” Canyon shook his head. “Do you remember being immortal when you were sixteen, Ryan?”
Gray teetered.
“Stop fooling around, son.” Canyon’s face reflected his concern.
Ryan jammed his hands into the warmth of his coat pockets. “Gray won the prize this year to install the star?”
“More like the short straw.” Canyon gestured. “My son was thrilled for the opportunity to defy the laws of gravity.”
Gray wasn’t Canyon’s son, though. He was his stepson, Kristina’s son by her first marriage to an airman killed over Afghanistan.
Ryan fingered the stubble on his chin. “That’s kind of rich coming from a crop duster like you.”
Canyon’s mouth curved. “Aerial application specialist.”
Ryan chuckled. “Sorry. I forgot. My bad.”
Canyon exhaled. “You can’t fault the boy. Take your pick. Nature or nurture.”
Ryan arched his eyebrow. “Either way, he didn’t stand a chance of avoiding the daredevil gene.”
Canyon glanced over his shoulder toward the florist shop. “Just don’t tell his mother. She’d have a fit.” He sniffed. “You know how women worry.”
Ryan had difficulty not cracking a smile. “I hear you, man. They do worry about every little thing.”
Canyon laughed. “That they do.”
“I’ve been wondering...” Ryan shuffled his feet. “Feel free to tell me to mind my own business.”
“Fire away. I won’t answer if I don’t like the question.”
Ryan took a breath. “You and Gray are close. You and your niece, too. Neither of them are your biological children. And now that Kristina is carrying your child—”
“Won’t make any difference.” Canyon never took his eyes off Gray. “It doesn’t work like that. Or at least not for me.”
“How does it work then?”
“Does this have anything to do with Anna Reyes?”
Ryan didn’t answer, but red crept from beneath his collar.
“Thought so.” Canyon’s mouth twitched. “Therefore, I expect you’re not asking out of nosiness but out of a need to know.”
“Anna and I are old friends,” Ryan mumbled, his lips suddenly stiff from the cold.
Canyon cut his
eyes at Ryan. “Sure you are. Friends make the best—”
“Woo-hoo!” Gray fist-pumped the sky. “Mission accomplished.”
Canyon motioned. “Good for you. Now climb down slowly off the roof.” He stepped aside as Gray moved down the rungs. “Get your buddies to help you return the ladder to the fire station.”
Jumping the last two feet, Gray landed as nimbly as only a sixteen-year-old could and wheeled toward a group of kids Ryan recognized from the youth group.
Canyon smiled. “I couldn’t love Gray or Jade more if they were my biological children.”
“But he’ll never be your son.” Ryan’s heart thundered. “Don’t you see his father every time you look at him?”
“Love doesn’t work like that.” Canyon’s blue eyes sharpened. “Paxton Montgomery’s love for Kristina and Gray made them who they are today. As for the unpredictable, always marvelous purple-haired girl of mine?” His face brightened. “Every day I think how blessed I am to have them in my life.”
“But how do you get there? I want to, but...” Ryan dropped his gaze.
“It’s like Paxton passed me the torch. And God’s given me the sacred privilege to finish raising his son. A gift of grace—nothing I ever deserved. Same with Jade.”
“What about your own child when he or she is born?”
Canyon’s shoulders rose and fell. “They’re all my children, Ryan. This child Kristina carries...” He swallowed. “An unexpected gift I never thought would be mine.”
Ryan sighed. “It still doesn’t add up to me.”
“Sometimes love makes no sense. Love multiplies as it’s given. Never divides. I can’t explain it. I just know it’s so.”
“Dad!” Hands cupped around her mouth, Jade stood on the sidewalk in front of the florist shop. “Dad! Mom needs you!”
Canyon waved. “Gotta go. I’d be happy to talk more another time.” He winked at Ryan. “But right now, love is calling.”
Ryan finished installing the lights. He planned to drive Anna to the tree lighting later. Her vehicle was high on his To-Fix list, except she kept throwing other projects his way. As for the children? Agnes was bringing Oscar and his mom.