Karen Rock – Christmas At Cade Ranch (страница 12)
“Yes. But only because I’m going to go very slow, and you’re wearing a seat belt.” He met Sofia’s eye. “Okay, Mom?”
She smiled tightly. “Just don’t go far.”
“We won’t. Let’s go, Javi.”
And a moment later, he guided the Impala down one of the dirt roads that separated pastures. The sports coupe growled and whined, bouncing over potholes, kicking up clouds of white snow, dust and pebbles. His thoughts and feelings swirled around his head like quicksilver, unpredictable and reluctant to coalesce. As he drove alongside barbed wire fences and stared at the white-crusted land illuminated by his headlights, he allowed himself to think about Jesse. Was Javi really Jesse’s son? And if so, had he disavowed the child? Why?
Although he didn’t imagine he’d ever have children, he knew he’d never turn his back on his own. He’d always take responsibility and protect what was his.
He shut down the traitorous thought of his brother. Believing Javi was Jesse’s son meant accepting his sibling had acted worse than he’d imagined, hurting not just his family, but inflicting pain on an innocent child. On Sofia.
He cast a sideways glance down at the wide-eyed boy beside him. Javi huddled in the passenger seat, fidgeting with the large seat belt that crossed his lap. Cool air streamed in through the open window and he breathed in the bovine scent that mingled with the hay they’d tossed out to the livestock earlier.
Javi was quiet. Too quiet. Concern rose. “Want me to turn around?”
“No.”
“Where do you want to go?”
Another moment of silence. Then, “Home.”
“You miss your family.” It was more statement than question.
Javi shook his head. “I don’t have any.”
“No grandparents?” Was Sofia an orphan? If so, then who’d raised her? Curiosity rose, swift and urgent.
“Joy. I mean, Grandma’s my first one besides Mama. Do you think she likes me?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice gruff. Encouraging Javi to feel a part of the family was wrong until he had proof he was truly a Cade. Yet his convictions dwindled in the face of this child’s wish to belong.
“No one ever likes me except Mama.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.” James turned down a left loop that would carry them back to the house. A row of wind turbines rotated slowly on a distant hill.
“A lady behind a desk once called me a waste of space.”
James’s fingers tightened around the cracked leather steering wheel. “That was a bad thing to say.”
“Mama said her panty hose were too tight.”
That pulled a laugh right out of him.
“What’s panty hose?”
Before James could think of how to explain, Javi asked, “Was Daddy bad?”
James’s throat swelled. “Jesse tried his best. He was a good man, but he sometimes did wrong things.”
“Mama says he went up.”
James pressed on the brake when a ginger cat broke from some brush and scuttled across the road. “That’s true.”
“You only get to go up if you’re good,” Javi said to his clasped hands.
James flipped off his lights as they neared the glowing ranch house. “That’s why it’s important to be on our best behavior.”
“But it’s hard,” moaned Javi.
He grinned and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Yes, it is.”
They pulled up to the front porch and there stood Sofia, just where they’d left her, as if she’d been frozen in place.
She yanked open the door the moment they rolled to a stop.
“Javi!” She swung him up into her arms. “I missed you.”
James joined them as she set Javi on his feet.
“Look what just got delivered!” Joy strode down the steps with a wallet held out toward Sofia.
“Who?” Sofia grasped the small clutch bag that served as her wallet then opened it and peered inside.
“A neighbor. He was having coffee at the diner when they found it wedged between the booth and the wall. He dropped it off on his way home.”
If Sofia had her wallet, did she have drugs inside—her reason for not going to the police?
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.