Journey of the Magi by Barbara Edwards Read Free Book Online Page A

there,” Noel said. She brushed her hair from her cheeks. Dan hadn’t pushed, hadn’t insisted on an immediate answer, but she was aware of his regard, every minute of every passing day. Her thoughts were muddled, her feelings chaotic. He’d offered her what she dreamed of, but it was the wrong time and the wrong place.
    Every time she closed her eyes she could see the wide porches and warm rooms of her old home. The cozy furniture she’d grown up with remained for her children. Her spine stiffened. She’d keep her promise, unlike her husband.
    A sigh trembled on her lips. She readied the quarters, nickels, and dimes for coin wrappers. Tips had been generous. She had enough for the trip.
    “Go play while I make a phone call.”
    Noel scribbled her neighbor’s number on a sticky pad. She’d need to repay Dan for the long-distance call.
    “Hello?” A female voice chirped.
    “Hi Rita, this is Noel. I wanted to let you know we’ll be there for Christmas.”
    “That’s great. I’ll have the electric company turn the power on.” Her cheerful answer didn’t lighten Noel’s spirits. “I can hardly wait to see you again. We need to discuss that offer.”
    “I can’t right now, Rita. I’m paying for this call.”
    When she hung up the receiver, she knocked over a stack of envelopes and stooped to retrieve them. Dan had divided the bills with neat notes: pay now; pay next month; wait. The wait stack was the biggest.
    His writing was strong and firm, like Dan himself. She pasted a sticky note saying “for the telephone bill” on a dollar and added it to the stack.
    “Can I help?” Holly peered over the desk’s edge. She clutched a toy car to her chest. “I need money to get tires for my car.”
    “What?” Noel asked after she sealed another quarter wrapper containing twenty dollars.
    “Tires. Like our car. Joe said new tires cost money. And Dan said okay.”
    Noel’s ears rang as she straightened. Dan paid for new tires? Her gaze locked on the unpaid bills on his desk. Her chest hurt with love and pride. Love? She loved him. Somehow she’d given him her heart. And he’d never let her repay him.
    A knock on the doorframe interrupted her troubled thoughts.
    “Can I help you?” she asked the familiar-looking man hovering in the door. His charcoal-gray overcoat and polished leather boots proclaimed him a businessman, not one of the mill workers.
    “Hello, Noel,” he said. “I’m George. We met at the holiday dinner. I wanted to talk to Dan about his insurance policy. The company won’t let him put the payment off.”
    “Oh, no! He used his spare cash to buy my car tires,” Noel exclaimed. “Is there anything he can do?”
    A cold sweat coated her skin. Insurance was vital to keep things together in an emergency. After her husband was killed, her whole life had fallen apart. She couldn’t afford the mortgage on her small house and had to move to a one-bedroom flat. Her tips barely covered the rent.
    With shaky fingers she scrambled through the bills and pulled out the one labeled insurance. Her eyes blurred with painful memories. Her health insurance had disappeared with his job. There were free health clinics, but she’d needed to take time from work and bring Holly to the crowded waiting rooms.
    Blinking rapidly, she cleared her vision and her thoughts. She’d learned the hard way. Dan shouldn’t take the chance he’d have to suffer for being a good man. She winced as George enumerated the quarterly payment amount.
    Her hands steadied before she refolded the bill and tucked it inside the envelope.
    “How much to keep it active?” Noel’s hand hovered over the rolled coins.
    “I talked to them. They’ll accept one month to keep him covered. Money’s always tight over the holidays,” George said.
    She nodded once when he named a figure. After counting, she gathered up more than half the pile of filled quarter wrappers.
    After she paid Dan’s premium, she’d barely have enough to reach