JAMES HURRIED THROUGH grooming Milly, one eye on his watch. The Cade family Christmas party started in just three hours.
“Uncle James, will Mama go to jail?”
James’s hand stilled on the horse comb and he turned to peer down at Javi. Blowing softly, Milly sidestepped in the horse barn’s main corridor.
“Why would you think that?”
“’Cause she said so.” Javi’s face was pale, brown eyes wide. “On the sleigh ride. I was sleeping. Then I heard her say it.”
James’s mind flew back to that evening. They should never have talked so openly in front of Javi, even if they had believed him to be asleep.
“I’m sorry you heard that, bud.” He untethered Milly and led her back to her stall. “I promise you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“But I’m only little.” Javi grabbed the feed bucket and shoveled sweet-smelling cornmeal. “I can’t save her from addition.”
“Addition?” James snapped off the faucet after filling Milly’s water trough. Then the word Javi meant hit him. A big word. One Sofia never wanted Javi to know. His gut twisted.
“Do you mean ‘addiction’?”
Javi nodded and his dark hair swooshed to cover his blotchy face. “What’s addiction?”
Oh. Lord. Here it came.
Javi deserved to know, and Sofia’s delay in leveling with him had ended just as James worried it might—with a young child scared and confused.
“Will she do bad things like Daddy?” Javi’s voice quavered. “Is she gonna get sick and die?”
James caught Javi tight in his arms and held the trembling boy. No child should suffer this way. “No. She won’t die.”
“But addiction is bad.”
James swore under his breath. Javi was his nephew, and if Sofia couldn’t bring herself to explain things as important as this, then he would. A mother’s wish was important. But what if the parent was incapable of making a decision in the best interest of the child…a decision in her own best interest, too? Perhaps, once she saw that Javi still loved her after knowing the truth, she wouldn’t need to run off to Portland. With no secrets to hide from, they could begin their life as a family, right here.
Starting now.
If James hoped to one day be a father to this child, then he had an obligation to tell Javi the truth. And he wouldn’t shirk that responsibility, no matter the cost, though he prayed Sofia would understand.
“Is her addiction because of me? Sometimes I’m too loud. And I don’t listen.”
“You’re not to blame,” James said firmly. Poor Javi. He was scared. Confused. “Addiction is when a person can’t stop doing something, like when we eat a bowl of chips but then we wind up finishing the bag.”
Javi snuffled and leaned back. His eyebrows met over his nose. “That doesn’t sound bad. How come you go to jail?”
“Sometimes the things you’re addicted to can be bad.”
A tear slid down his cheek. “Then Mama could die like Daddy and go up.”
“She’s not going to die, Javi. Promise.”
“But I’m too little to save her. I’m not Batman.”
He brushed back his damp hair. “You don’t need to be because—”
“I can save myself.” Sofia’s tight voice cracked through the stable and he whirled, dismayed at the pain distorting her features.
Pain and hurt that he’d put there.
But Javi deserved to know the truth.
Javi raced to Sofia and flung his arms around her waist. He buried his face in her stomach. His voice emerged, muffled.
“Just because you do bad things doesn’t make you bad, Mama. I love you.”
Her chest rose as she breathed deep before releasing a shuddering sigh.
“Mama?”
“I know, sweetie. I know that now and I love you, too. Come on. Supper’s ready and then we’ve got the party to dress up for.”
“Sofia,” James called and she pivoted at the door, her shoulders high and jaw tight. “Can we talk?”
“Later. Too much to focus on right now.”
He watched her disappear around the corner of the door, torn between forcing the conversation as he would have in the past or letting her go.
In the dimness, the horses nickered and his heart thudded in his ears as he forced himself to stay behind.
To let her be.
Would she come back?
* * *
“YES—I WILL MARRY YOU!”
A raucous cheer rose from the party crowd a few hours later, thunderous in the packed room. James clapped and hooted as his older brother, Jack, dressed as Santa, rose from bent knee, swept his girlfriend-now-fiancée, Dani, into his arms and kissed her so passionately the jubilant group whooped even louder.
“Isn’t it a miracle?” his mother crowed beside him. “Never thought we’d get Jack home again and now here he is, with a wife-to-be.”
“Santa’s name is Nick, not Jack,” he heard Javi say beside him.
James nodded absently, his eyes scanning the room for Sofia, a strange longing scraping through him. He was happy for his tormented brother who’d finally found the peace he sought after apprehending Jesse’s killers and discovering the love of his life six months ago.
Would he and Sofia find that same joy?
“Is she going to be Mrs. Claus?” Javi asked, pointing at Dani. In a green dress shirt that highlighted the red in her hair, the freckles dotting the upward tilt of her nose and her dancing, mischievous eyes, she resembled an elf. It was easy to see why Jack had lost his heart to the vivacious stable manager who’d enchanted his family from the moment they’d met her.
“You might say so.” James dropped a hand atop Javi’s carefully slicked back hair.
A clapping Sofia, tucked beside her NA counselor and a slouching teenager from the same support group, caught his attention. In a rose-hued chiffon dress that revealed one smooth shoulder and silver heels that highlighted her shapely calves and delicate ankles, she knocked the breath clean out of him. She had her hair fixed different and he liked it. Piles of dark curls twisted atop her head, then fell around her long slender neck. She could have stepped right off the pages of some fairy tale. In fact, she’d put any of those princesses to shame, he’d wager.
She was just as beautiful.
And just as remote.
She might as well be hidden in some tower, for all the access he’d had to her this evening.
Since the barn incident, he’d hoped to catch her alone, but she avoided him, bustling from table to table, guest to guest, ensuring everything went off without a hitch. Not that she need worry. She’d planned the event perfectly.
About an hour ago, the guests began arriving and there’d been nonstop action ever since. From signing the holiday-themed guest book, to posing for pictures on the sleigh, to grabbing plates of barbecue, to dancing to Justin’s surprisingly appropriate holiday mix, their chattering, animated neighbors were enjoying old-school Cade hospitality.
“This must be Jesse’s boy,” someone pronounced in the stern, nasal voice that haunted most of James’s childhood. One sidelong glance at the tall, steel-haired woman confirmed his suspicion. Lillian Grover-Woodhouse, the strict principal of their local school.
“This is my grandson, Javi.” Joy used the subdued tone she’d always adopted when called down to Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse’s office for one of her troublemaking offspring. “Say hello, dear.”
“I don’t want to call her ‘dear,’” protested Javi, turning and burying his face in James’s side.
James pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.
“Well!” Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse tutted a moment, nonplussed at this challenge to her undisputed authority in the small community. “I certainly hope he’ll be joining us at school soon. It appears it might do him some good.”
Javi tipped his head back and regarded her upside down. “My teachers don’t like me because I don’t bring in paper.”
Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse’s stern face softened. “Young man, no educator of mine would ever feel that way. We care about all of our children, and we always have enough paper.”
“And crayons?”
Her straight shoulders curved as she bent ever so slightly to peer directly into Javi’s eyes. “Every single color,” she avowed.
“I want to go to school here!” Javi whirled between him and James’s mother. “Please, Grandma. Please, Uncle James. Can I?”
“That’s up to your mama, honey.”
And you, he swore he heard his mother add silently, or he could read it in her eyes, at least, as she studied him with raised eyebrows. She’d been hinting around about him and Sofia and he knew without her needing to spell it out that she’d be thrilled to see them together.
As would he.
He nodded, mind made up. This “let fate take the reins” approach was wearing a hole in his patience. He and Sofia needed to settle things and not waste another moment of the wonderful party apart.
After several minutes exchanging pleasantries and shaking hands, Jack finished crossing the room. His older brother and fiancée seemed to have cornered Sofia beside the punch bowl.
“Congratulations.” James gave his brother a quick, one-armed hug, then kissed Dani’s cheek.
“Thanks. There’s no greater feeling,” Jack said without taking his eyes from a blushing Dani.
“We’re trying to convince Sofia to plan our wedding here this summer.” Dani tore her gaze from her fiancé and smiled at Sofia. “She’s done an incredible job with the party.”
“I couldn’t have pulled it off without James,” she murmured, eyes averted.
“He didn’t boss you around too much, then?” Jack thunked James on the back hard enough to make the air whoosh out of him.
Sofia’s curls swirled as she shook her head. “I wouldn’t let him get away with it.”
Jack squinted at her, then peered at James before his deep rasp of a laugh emerged. “She’s a keeper, bro. Don’t let this one get away.”
“That’s what I’m telling her.” He angled his head, hoping to catch her eye.
Look at me.
“And that’s not bossy at all,” Dani drawled. She ladled punch into a red Solo cup and handed it to Jack.
He swallowed back a laugh. “Of course.”
Sofia, he noticed, hadn’t even cracked a smile. He shifted closer to her. “Dance with me?” he murmured.
Before she could answer, a loud, chattering group bottlenecked beneath the Christmas tree bower and the room fell silent.
“What are they doing here?” Jack slammed down his cup and a wave of punch splashed onto the table.
James’s mouth dropped open. The Lovelands. Here. On Cade land. Strolling in like they owned the place, acting as though they had any right to be here.
“I invited them,” Sofia said, as calmly as if making a weather observation.
James gaped at her. “Without telling me?” He’d thought they’d moved past secret-keeping and on to a place of trust.
“I didn’t think you’d approve.”
“Darn straight.”
A dark suspicion grew. Did this have something to do with Boyd’s interest in his mother? He and his siblings had worried when mysterious presents began arriving. Since nothing seemed to come of it, however, they’d dropped their fears. Apparently they had been lulled into a false sense of security, never noticing the devil standing on their doorstep. And Sofia had invited him right in.
“Who are the Lovelands?” Dani asked in the tense silence.
“What you call creatures lower than snakes,” James hissed.
“Welcome!” His mother’s voice rang into the quiet and the crowd parted, making way for her as she advanced on the family. Boyd stepped forward and his giant-sized sons, Daryl, Cole, Travis, Maverick and Heath, moved to flank him, wearing identical scowls, arms crossed over puffed chests. His fair-haired daughter, Sierra, a wildlife veterinarian, peeked over her father’s shoulder.
Boyd wore a dark blazer atop a crisp white shirt, gray dress slacks over alligator boots and a bolo tie with a large turquoise stone. His thick white hair was mostly hidden beneath a wide rancher’s hat.
He handed Joy a bouquet of red roses and a murmur ran through the electrified crowd. His mother buried her nose in the flowers and her face suddenly transformed, her features smoothing, her expression opening. For an instant, he didn’t recognize her. It was like looking at a stranger…or someone he’d forgotten, he hadn’t seen her in so long.
It reminded him of how she used to look at his father.
Did she care for Boyd? Love him?
A knot formed in the pit of his stomach. No opportunistic Loveland, seeking to fix his financial woes, would court his vulnerable mother. James wouldn’t stand for it.
Sofia dropped a hand on his tensing bicep. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“The stupid thing was inviting them in the first place.” He clapped a hand to his forehead. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Yes, you did.” Hurt weighed down her quiet voice.
Boyd bowed, then extended a hand to Joy. Just as the pair reached the dance floor, the music zipped off. Justin’s teeth appeared in a grizzly-bear snarl.
“Play the music!” hollered one of the Loveland brothers. Daryl, James supposed, the only mouthy one in the taciturn bunch.
The Lovelands were known in the community as stubborn, grudge-holding, silent types, men of action, not words. Whenever anyone needed a hand, the Lovelands showed up. They didn’t have much to donate beyond their time, but they gave it generously; he’d admit that much.
“Just like a Loveland,” Justin taunted, stalking from behind the DJ table. His eyes glittered. “Coming here and acting like you own the place when you can’t even afford yours.”
“You take that back, you son of a—” Daryl strode forward and then a scuffle broke out, a flurry of shoves followed by swinging fists. It happened so fast, James barely had time to reach the melee, Jack hot on his heels.
Before he arrived, Daryl took an uppercut to the jaw from Justin, stumbled, then crashed into a decorated tree. The tinkling sound of breaking ornaments could just be heard over the shouting and cussing.
Jared ducked to avoid Maverick’s massive fist, then pummeled the Goliath in the stomach. Unaffected, steel-man Maverick put Jared in a headlock and the two twirled around like enraged bulls, knocking over the cookie table. Its contents slid to the floor in a shower of crumbling bits.
Jewel leaped on Maverick’s back. “Let him go!” she shouted, boxing his ears until Maverick crashed to his knees and released her dazed brother. Jewel raised a heavy boot, her face hard-boiled and bright red. Before she could stomp Maverick, Heath Loveland grabbed her from behind and carried her, howling and thrashing, from the violent tussle.
Travis, a county sheriff, brought his phone to his ear as James and Jack waded into the melee.
“Knock it off,” growled Jack, bodily separating Justin and Daryl.
Jewel managed to free herself from Heath, then headbutted her captor hard enough to make him careen into the punch bowl. Glass and red sprayed onto the shocked guests.
“And stay down!” she yelled, bloodthirsty, fist cocked, at a wide-eyed Heath.
James helped a staggering Jared to his feet and was rewarded with a solid hit to the nose from Maverick. Well. At least he spared Jared’s pretty face.
“Jewel! Boys!” His mother waded into the ruckus. “Stop! This is unacceptable.”
“And I’m taking everyone down to the county jail,” Travis shouted as he pocketed his cell phone. A siren sounded in the distance, followed by another, shocking them all into silence.
“I’ll help,” Jack added, grim. As a Denver deputy sheriff and the older brother of a wild bunch of siblings, he didn’t look the least bit ruffled, despite the white beard now dangling from one ear.
Within minutes, officers processed the scene and led most of the Lovelands and Cades out to squad cars. The horrified guests hurried away, thanking a red-faced Joy for an “entertaining” evening. James surveyed the party ruins. A tornado couldn’t have done more damage. Cookie pieces and sticky punch coated the floor. A crystal bowl that’d been in his family for generations lay in glittering shards. Haphazardly leaning or fallen Christmas trees partially blocked the exit.
Everything. Everything he’d worked, striven, sacrificed for—all his efforts to protect his family—had fallen apart at Sofia’s hands tonight. They were humiliated in front of their neighbors and friends. He shouldn’t have trusted Sofia so completely. Had been a fool to believe he could cede control to someone else, especially an outsider.
“I’m sorry, Joy,” he heard Boyd say as he led her outdoors. Javi scampered after them.
A soft hand fell on his arm. “Let them be, James.”
He shook loose. “You had no call to do this.”
“James…” she pleaded but he pivoted and stalked away, fuming.
“We’ll talk when I get back from the station,” he bit out over his shoulder, then exited, nearly bumping into the teenager he’d spied with Sofia earlier.
“Cool party,” the youth observed with an anarchist’s grin.
James didn’t break stride or dignify the cheeky comment. Brushing by Joy and Boyd, he hopped in his truck and gunned it down the long drive.
He needed as far from here—and Sofia—as he could get.