Yesterday's Embers by Deborah Raney Read Free Book Online Page A

Christmas decorations she hadn’t gotten around to putting up on the shelf yet. “Okay,” she told Doug. “We’re good to go.”
    “Thanks, Mickey. I really appreciate it. I’ll add some gas money to your next check.”
    She went to help the kids into their coats. She truly didn’t mind. It wasn’t like the extra trip was keeping her from a hot date or anything.
    Twenty minutes later she pulled the minivan up behind Doug’s Suburban in the DeVores’ driveway. She never would have found the place if Kayeleigh and Landon hadn’t told her where to turn. The two-story farmhouse stood in the center of the section facing east, but it was set back from the road about a thousand yards, hidden behind a thick shelterbelt of red cedars. An overgrown, tumbledown barn north of the house appeared faded and scoured by half a century of summers.
    Bicycles in an array of sizes littered the front yard, and three tiger-striped cats perched on the porch railing. The house looked as if it had been added on to numerous times over the years, but a fresh coat of white paint unified the patchwork of rooms tacked to the house.
    She unbuckled Harley from the car seat while the kids piled out of the car. With the toddler on her hip, she followed the older kids up the porch steps. They jostled to be first through the front door, but Mickey hung back. It felt awkward to just barge into the house. “Wait. Kayeleigh, is your dad home?”
    “His truck’s not here,” Landon said.
    Kayeleigh motioned her inside. “He’s probably parked in back. Come on in.”
    Mickey shook her head. “I need to get home. But I want to make sure your dad’s here before I leave.”
    Kayeleigh shrugged her narrow shoulders. “It’s okay. I can babysit until he comes in.”
    Mickey hesitated. “I’m sure you can, but I should wait and make sure…” She cleared her throat and started again. “I should stay until he gets home.”
    The living room was a pigsty. There was no polite way to put it. And the house smelled musty—like a basement that had been closed up for a long time. The coffee table was littered with dirty dishes, and she had to pick her way around toys and stacks of newspapers and magazines before she found a place to set Harley down. She helped the twins out of their coats and gloves while Kayeleigh did the same for the baby.
    With the matching coats draped over one arm, she turned to Kayeleigh. “Where should I hang these?”
    Kayeleigh looked around the room as if she hadn’t lived here her whole life. “Um…you can just throw them on the couch.”
    The sofa was already piled high with a laundry basket and a load of white clothes in various stages of folding. She tucked the girls’ gloves into the pockets of their jackets, moved a stack of unopened mail off the arm of the sofa, and placed the coats there.
    “Come see our room, Miss Mickey!” Sarah grabbed her hand and Sadie took the other, and they started tugging her across the toy-littered living room.
    She wriggled out of their grasp. “Not tonight, girls. I’m sure your dad will be here any minute. It’s late and I need to get back.”
    “Hows come? Is your husband waitin’ for supper?”
    “Stop it, Sadie.” Kayeleigh looked embarrassed. “Miss Valdez isn’t married.”
    “Yeah, dummy,” Landon piped up. “Why do you think she’s called Miss Valdez?”
    Sadie gave an impish grin that said she did, indeed, know.
    Before she could think of a comeback, Mickey heard the front door close behind her. She turned, still with a twin attached to each arm, to see Doug duck through the doorway.
    Relief shone in her blue eyes. He’d never noticed before that she had such blue eyes. Liz Taylor eyes, violet almost.
    Chapter Seven
    D oug tossed a fat Dairy Barn sack on a cluttered table by the sofa, took off his ball cap, and dipped his head in Mickey’s general direction. “Hi there.”
    Feeling like an intruder, she took a step toward the door. She still had a twin attached