Jingle Bell Blessings by Bonnie K. Winn Read Free Book Online

lights.
    â€œThe days are shorter,” Chloe commented, sounding nervous. “Gets dark so early.” She pointed toward the sky. “Good there’s moonlight.”
    â€œAre you a stargazer, Miss Reed?”
    â€œChloe,” she insisted. “Yes, I suppose I am. Not that I’ve had time to—”
    â€œHow do you spend your time? Convincing people to make bad decisions?”
    Anger flashed in her sea-green eyes. She was right. The light from the moon aided the gas lights enough to read her expression. Chloe’s mouth opened, then she firmed her lips into a resolute line as she pulled her shoulders back. “I work, if you must know.”
    â€œThat’s what you call it?”
    The anger in her face intensified. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
    So, she had a temper. “Surely it’s clear, even to you, that Wainwright’s plan isn’t going to work.”
    â€œWhy are you so negative? You act as though Jimmy has some sort of disease. He’s a wonderful child!”
    â€œI didn’t say he isn’t.” The boy seemed like a good kid. On the quiet side, but Evan didn’t expect anything different after what Jimmy had been through.
    â€œThen what is it?” Exasperation spilled into her voice.
    â€œI told you my answer is no. ”
    Chloe paused, tilting her face so that the moonlight enhanced the beguiling heart shape of her face. “Your father seems to have a different opinion.”
    Evan tried to ignore the unwanted feeling her proximity caused. “It’s not going to work, regardless of what my father says. There’s no room in my life for a child. I’m fighting to keep the business alive. I have twenty-seven employees who depend on me for their livelihood. Do you expect me to forget about them?”
    â€œOf course not.” The exasperation had left her voice. Concern replaced it. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t do both. You have help—your father, Thelma and Ned.”
    â€œWhat is it about no that you don’t understand? This isn’tlike a pet rescue. I can’t turn Jimmy out in the yard with Bailey if I don’t want him close to me. He needs parents, not a guardian.”
    â€œBut with time—”
    â€œThere isn’t going to be any time.” Evan’s constant anguish flared so fiercely it felt like a physical blow. The back door opened and Jimmy ran outside, followed more slowly by Gordon.
    â€œGuess what?” Jimmy asked Chloe with a glimmer of excitement. “Tomorrow we’re going to see the school.”
    All four adults looked at one another. Chloe seemed uncertain. Gordon was determined. And Evan knew he had to stop this from happening. At all costs.
    Â 
    Chloe and Jimmy had disappeared upstairs. Evan made certain of it before he confronted his father. “What were you thinking? Telling the boy you’ll show him our school?”
    Gordon knocked the ashes from his pipe into an ashtray. “Why shouldn’t he see it?”
    â€œYou know exactly why. Jimmy will think that means he’ll be staying on for a while.”
    â€œSon, he needs us.”
    Evan snorted. “There are thousands of orphaned children who need homes. Are we going to take them in as well?”
    Gordon packed cherry tobacco into the bowl of his worn pipe. “He’s family.”
    Evan felt his chest heave with pain. Family would never again mean the same thing for him. “Are you planning to take care of him?”
    â€œWe had that talk when Wainwright first called.”
    Slumping into a deep leather chair, Evan sighed. “Why are you doing this to me, Dad?”
    Gordon stopped tamping down the tobacco, which didn’t really matter since he never lit the pipe. “It’s not to you, son.It’s for you. When we first lost Robin and Sean, I knew it would take you a long time to accept that you still have a life. It’s