Winter Wishes by Ruth Saberton Read Free Book Online Page B

Issie’s eyes were wide. “Can I come too? Please?”
    “Better pawn the silver first,” Nick suggested.
    “If Dad hasn’t already,” Mo muttered, glowering at her father, who merely shrugged.
    “I loved being out in San Francisco back in the nineties,” Jimmy continued, sensing that some of his audience were becoming ever so slightly less antagonistic. “After Penny died, only going out there saved me, you know? I wasn’t myself when I lost your mum.”
    Danny exhaled impatiently. “None of us were. We lost our mum, and then our dad pushed off to ‘find himself’. It was really considerate. None of us are at all fucked up by it, Dad. I’d never do that to Morgan and I’ll never understand how you could do it us. Still, at least you ‘found yourself’, eh?”
    “We’re all different, son,” said Jimmy sagely. “And I’m sorry if you still find what I did hard to accept, but I was grieving and I needed to come to terms with things my own way.”
    “In a Californian hippy commune?” Danny scoffed. “Smoking dope and dropping out?”
    His father laughed. “It wasn’t the sixties, Dan, although truth be told there was a bit of weed now and again. I just fixed farm equipment and helped out. It was a healing time.”
    “It sounds good to me.” Suddenly Issie couldn’t see anything wrong with blowing the month’s bills money on a trip to San Francisco. “Please, Dad, can I come? I’d love to go with you.”
    “Another time, doll,” promised her father. “I’ve got business this trip.”
    Jake’s eyebrows leapt into his thick blond fringe. “Business? Come on, Dad, don’t take us for idiots. You’ll drink whiskey and smoke too much. What business could you possibly have out there?”
    “I can’t tell you that, son, but it’s important and you’ll just have to trust me on this one.”
    Danny and Jake glanced at one another. It was clear that they didn’t trust their father as far as they could throw him; even that short distance would be pushing it.
    “Jim, we really can’t afford that kind of expense,” Alice said wearily. “You’ll have to cancel the ticket and get a refund.”
    Jimmy, busy pulling his ponytail out of its rubber band and running his hands through his grey locks, frowned. “I can’t do that, Ma. The tickets are non-refundable. If I don’t fly then I’ve lost the money. I’ll have to go, with or without your blessing.”
    Alice closed her eyes in despair. “Where did I go wrong with you? What don’t you understand about paying bills?”
    “Can’t Summer help with all that?” Jimmy asked Jake hopefully. “She’s got loads of money surely?”
    Jake’s jaw clenched. “It’s not my girlfriend’s job to pay this family’s bills.”
    “I’m happy help out,” Ashley offered hesitantly. He was holding Mo tightly and his chin rested on her bright red curls. Everything about his body language said that he would protect her from all this nonsense no matter what it took.
    “You’ll do no such thing and neither will Summer,” Alice said hotly. “This is a family matter and we’ll handle it as a family.”
    “Ashley’s part of our family now, remember?” Mo pointed out, waving her left hand at her grandmother. Her wedding ring sparkled as she did so.
    “He’s not a Tremaine though,” Danny said. “No disrespect, Ash. We appreciate the offer but this is our business and we’ll sort it ourselves. That’s the Tremaine way.”
    Ashley nodded. “I understand. I’d feel exactly the same – but the offer’s always there if you change your minds. You’re Mo’s family and there’s nothing I won’t do for Mo.”
    “Are you lot mental?” Issie said, looking from Danny to Jake in disbelief. “Ashley’s bloody loaded. Why can’t he help us?”
    “Because we have our family pride,” Alice told her staunchly, “although your father’s doing his best to destroy that. And besides, it isn’t Ashley’s job to bail us out of financial