Dream Keeper Read Online Free Page B

and swirling in the boxer’s brown eyes. “But ma’am, I do love her. I bought her this to show her how much.” He pulled a jeweler’s box from his pocket and flipped it open. Glittering against dark velvet, the diamond shone like a small star and Rissa sighed.
    Rising, she walked around her chair to stand behind her new client. “Jimmy, you’re going to have to do more than just show her the pretty ring. You’re going to have to do music and candlelight, and get down on one knee. If she’s old-fashioned, you’re going to have to go see her father and ask for her hand in marriage. You’re going to have to share finances and life insurance, and make a home for her if you want a wife. You’re going to have to promise this girl a lifetime of love, for better or for worse, even if it ticks your mama off—and then you’re going to have to be a man of your word. You’re going to have to commit all that you are to her and make her see it.”
    “Aww, that’s lame.”
    Rissa’s nut brown eyes narrowed and the corner of her mouth ticked. “You’ve been your mother’s boy all your life. You want to be this woman’s man, you’re going to have to man up.”
    “So lame.”
    He jumped when Rissa swatted the back of his head. “That’s why she won’t marry you, boy.”
    “Ow.” Jimmy slid a slow hand over the smarting spot her palm left behind. He looked at her, started to speak, then thought better of it.
    Seating herself, Rissa looked into his face. “Now Jimmy, I’ve gotten you the contract you wanted because that’s my job. I’ve gotten you the endorsements you wanted—hell, baby, you’re going to be an action figure. And now you want a wife. I’ve told you what to do, it’ll work, and you’d better treat her right because I am not going to do a press cleanup for you. Clear?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “And your mama? Buy her something nice for Christmas. You can afford it. Then introduce her new daughter-in-law as the woman you love and intend to spend your life with.”
    The boxer looked queasy. “She’s not going to like it…” Rissa’s lips pushed together, a charming pout, but James read seriousness in the look she gave him. “Maybe I could just…”
    “Boy, don’t make me slap you again.” Rissa leaned forward with narrowed eyes and Jimmy reflexively sat a little farther back in his chair. “Man up. Don’t debate it, just do it. Tell your mother where your life is headed, because once you get to the part about the pretty grandbabies, I can assure you, she’ll get over it.”
    “Pretty babies,” he muttered, then brightened. “They will be pretty, won’t they? Like Sierra and maybe a little like Mom. She’d like that.”
    Rissa turned palms to the sky and looked wise.
    “Merry Christmas, Miz Traylor. And thanks.” Standing, he dug deep into the pocket of his jacket and slid a small red ribboned box across the small table. “This is for you. Thanks for, you know, everything.” He turned and hurried from her office.
    Shaking her head, she watched him leave with the ring in his other pocket. “He’s going to be fine,” she promised herself.
    Lost in thought, Rissa almost missed the ring of her cellphone. Shifting professional gears, she put James Clarence out of her thoughts. Flipping the phone open, she barely got her name out.
    “Merry Christmas, the test is back,” Joyce Ashton fairly sang. “Back and positive.”
    “Positive? Really?”
    “Did I stutter?”
    Clapping a hand over her phone, Rissa squeezed her eyes shut and blew out hard. Reaching for composure, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “I’m really pregnant.”
    “Yep. I want to talk to you about it, but it’s a definite positive.”
    “Holy…” Without thinking, Rissa clicked the call off. “Finally,” she breathed. Folding the phone between her palms, she squinted, thinking. “Now, who can I tell?”
    Forgetting her earlier list, her thoughts raced, checking and discarding. Call my