would turn out to be something they all regretted. You couldn’t see a person’s true motives in one meeting and a few phone calls.
Sure, call her wary, but she felt that, unlike other members of her family, Ben needed to prove himself a good man before she accepted him. She was determined to keep her defenses up.
“Debra.” He nodded once in greeting, glancing over the top of Mia’s brown hair. He looked a little stiff, too, and a little wary.
She knew just how he felt. There was no telling where this would go. Meeting one another had been one thing, but to try to establish a relationship? That involved risk; someone—especially Mia—could get hurt.
“I’m glad you made it here safe,” Ben was saying. “The roads are tough-going.”
“Yes, they often are this time of year.” She heard the stilted sounding words come out of her mouth and she couldn’t seem to think of anything more friendly to say.
But she was strikingly aware of Jonah and her emotions seemed to warm for him as he snapped the binder shut and turned away with it, walking with that uneven gait that made her care. Why him? And why for him, when she couldn’t let herself warm up her frosty feelings toward her half brother? She didn’t like this at all. She was accustomed to being very in control of her emotions.
“Sorry I wasn’t here to meet you two.” Ben hung his coat up on a rack by the door. “Thank you for waiting for me.”
It was Mia who jumped in with an answer. “Like we’d come all this way to not wait? So, when do I get to meet my cousin, Olivia? And baby Joseph? Now?”
Ben chuckled, his gaze softening with kindness; it was hard not to like someone who was good with her daughter. “Soon, I promise. They’re home with Leah. You know, Olivia can’t wait to meet you, too. Debra, Leah is especially excited to meet you both. We were hoping you’d come to the tree-lighting ceremony with us tonight.”
Mia jumped in. “What tree lighting? Is it a special ceremony?”
“Yep. It’s a town tradition over at the mayor’s mansion.” Ben’s chuckle of amusement at Mia’s enthusiasm was nothing but gentle.
Debra could already feel the ties pulling at her like invisible strings of obligation. She’d learned that people were unknown quantities. The last thing she wanted was for Mia to get hurt. To get her hopes up, as she always did, only to be crushed if this didn’t work out. The Cavanaugh family might not want real ties; maybe this invitation to town was about getting their curiosity satisfied. Who knew what the future held? Mia’s heart could be broken.
To make matters worse, she couldn’t seem to concentrate on the conversation. Jonah was reshelving the binder, moving with that disciplined control of his. A lightbulb went on. He had the posture and manner of an elite soldier, that’s what he reminded her of, she realized. Although she couldn’t reconcile that with this man who made such beautiful, intricate furniture.
She realized Mia was staring at her again, as if expecting an answer. “Oh, the tree lighting. What time is that happening?”
“At eight o’clock sharp.” Ben strode toward her. “It’s a big event here. There’ll be music and the church choir will be singing carols. Mia, I’ve heard rumors there might even be a visit from old Saint Nick. There will be bags of candy for the kids, prizes and a church raffle. It’s a good, family-friendly event. We’ve all been looking forward to it. Leah made reservations for all of us at the Hamilton Hotel’s restaurant beforehand.”
“It sounds lovely.” What else could she say? She knew it was right when Ben grinned. He had a smile that was a little ghost of her mother’s—their mother’s, would she ever get used to that? And it made Debra sad in more ways than she could count.
Her throat felt tight as she said, “I look forward to meeting your wife. Leah sent us the nicest letter just last week. I hope she received my response.”
“It came in yesterday’s mail.”
The contents of Leah’s letter had been nothing earthshaking. It was simply a very nice and inviting letter telling more about the extended Cavanaugh family, the town, its history and the best places for them to stay. “We have a room at the Peachtree Bed and Breakfast on her recommendation. It’s a cozy inn, just as she promised.”
“I’m glad it helped out.” His cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket to check the screen. “Oh, speaking of the wife. It’s her. Excuse me, won’t you?”
“Certainly.” Debra stepped away to give him privacy and Mia danced up to her, lit with excitement.
“I’ve never been to a real tree lighting before. Uncle Ben knows I don’t believe in Santa Claus, right? I mean, that’s for little kids.”
“It’s just for fun, you know that.” Debra had grown up in a family where Santa Claus was a secular icon and therefore not part of her childhood, but she didn’t feel as strongly on the subject as her mother had. Millie had been a very strict Christian and disciplinarian. Debra smoothed back a lock of Mia’s baby-fine hair out of her eyes, glad that so far things were going well.
Then a blur of movement at the edge of her vision caught her attention.
Jonah. He was the reason that she’d been distracted throughout her conversation with Ben. The big man had hunkered down to his work carefully sanding a portion of the crib. Debra couldn’t help noticing how his big artist’s hands expertly worked the small square of roughened paper over the delicate scrollwork, she supposed to get it exactly right.
She didn’t know him, but what she did know about the man she liked very much. He was so disciplined and exacting. He obviously cared about his work. It must take a lot of the patience and dedication to build something so intricate and perfect.
She admired that kind of stick-to-it-ness. The muscle-bound man looked out of his element kneeling in front of the delicate crib. She never would have pictured him as a minister’s son.
The man was an interesting contradiction; maybe that’s why she kept wondering about him. Why her eyes kept finding him. Why he stayed at the edges of her mind. He seemed different from most men she knew. In the corporate world, she dealt with a lot of power-hungry men, men concerned with their image, wearing the right suit, driving the right car and having the right title beneath the name on their business cards.
Men like that, she deeply suspected, were like Mia’s father. Men who made promises they couldn’t keep, weren’t man enough to keep.
Jonah looked like a man who knew how to keep his promises and honor his commitments. Not that she was seriously considering even trying to date again. No, it wouldn’t be good for Mia to get attached to a man who decided, in the end, to leave.
Debra pushed that old sadness out of her heart and smoothed the last of the damp remains of snowflakes from her daughter’s hair.
“Mom,” Mia leaned in to whisper. “Isn’t Uncle Ben the greatest?”
“He sure seems to be.” Please let him be, she wished. Not that she was religious anymore, but if she were to pray, she would have one simple request. Please, let this work out. Don’t let Mia get hurt.
“Mom. We get to go to the dinner at the hotel tonight, too, right?”
“Of
