Yuletide Hearts Read Online Free Page A

he continued to do well, they’d be able to reverse the procedure mid-winter. And while his appetite waned occasionally, she couldn’t deny that good old-fashioned hard work was the best appetite builder known to man, and that getting back to work was in her father’s long-term best interest.
    The General dashed off the porch to greet Jake, his fur blending to grays in pursuit, the flash of white tail fringe the kind of welcome any boy would love.
    â€œBut the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.”
    The words of the ninth Psalm flooded her, their comfort magnified in simplicity.
    Callie liked things simple. She loved the feel of crewing on a house, walking scaffolding, climbing ladders, working a rooftop. Her father had affectionately called her his “right-hand man” from the time she was big enough to eye a square alongside him, and they’d laughed at the expression.
    But you stopped laughing when Dustin walked out, citing your lack of femininity as a total turnoff.
    Jake’s dad had tossed her over for the former Livingston County Miss New York entrant, a petite gal who’d promptly given him two daughters in their suburban home in Rhode Island, neither of whom Jake had ever met. Dustin made it abundantly clear that his first family was an anomaly in an otherwise perfect life, therefore best forgotten.
    Jake’s entrance stopped her maudlin musings. She stood, smiled, grabbed him in a quick hug, then examined the papers he waved her way. “Another hundred on your math test?”
    His grin said more than words ever could.
    â€œAnd a plus on your homework sheets.” She ruffled his hair, nodded toward a plate of cookies and the refrigerator. “Grab a snack, there are fresh apples in the crisper. I’m heading out front to get more of that mold washed off.”
    â€œCan we work on my science project tonight?”
    â€œAbsolutely.” Halting her work on their home’s western exposure for dinner, dark and homework left her little time to make progress, but Jake’s enthusiasm over schoolwork out-ranked everything. His excitement came after years of grueling practice, nights when he hated her, mornings spent crying, not wanting to get on the bus because school proved too difficult.
    â€œSuccess is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
    Churchill’s words uplifted her, World War II a favorite study topic for Jake, and having served in Iraq, Callie understood war rigors firsthand. While hyped battles might gain more press, small battles, fought daily, wore down the enemy, except when the enemy came from within.
    She pushed that thought aside, refusing to revisit old feelings that should have abated long past. Sure, she’d been dumped. Callie was adult enough to handle that. But Dustin dumped Jake, too, and despite prayer and her best efforts, what did she long to do?
    Give her ex the quick kick he deserved for abandoning a God-given miracle. The first gift of Christmas. A child.
    But Callie refused to dwell on Dustin Burdick’s shortcomings, although that proved harder at holiday time. She was home, safe and sound, with a beautiful son, a warm house and good friends. What more could she need?
    The sound of a generator drew her gaze across the street. A light winked on in the model home, the only home near completion, and she caught sight of Matt Cavanaugh trekking back and forth from his truck to the pretty Cape Cod house, lugging things inside.
    She pulled her attention back to the task at hand and climbed the ladder with her bucket and thick, green scrubbie, determined to get as much done as she could despite the chill, waning light.
    Determination. Valor. Perseverance. She had the heart of a lioness and the grit of a soldier, two things vital to soothe the scarred soul of the woman within.

Chapter Three
    M att recognized Hank Marek’s name and answered