LITMIR.BIZ

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a smacking sound against Jake’s chest.

      Ali tucked Joanie’s favorite blanket over them, unable to ignore the resemblance between father and daughter. The whole town would know now who had fathered her child. But for once, Ali didn’t care. Her only concern was giving Joanie a father.

      And giving Jake the will to live.

      Jake could hear her voice again. He tried so hard to wake up, but something seemed to be holding him down. If he could only open his eyes. But it was so hard…to move. Then he felt Ali’s hand on him, soothing him, telling him he would be okay. But he knew he wouldn’t be okay until he was awake.

      Suddenly there was someone else. A baby! His baby. He could smell her powdery fragrance, hear the soft sound of her voice. When he felt the tiny weight against him, it was pure heaven….

      Please, God. Let me live. Let me see my daughter.

      Ali closed the door to her compact car and started toward the house, careful not to wake Joanie. Her boots made a crunching sound in the three inches of snow piled on either side of the cleared walkway. She stopped on the top porch step of the big brick home with the gabled roof. The house had been in the Pierce family for three generations.

      The streetlights glowed overhead, illuminating the quiet residential area. It was nearly nine o’clock, and everyone had been home and eaten supper hours ago. She’d always loved living on Mulberry Street. As a child, she’d felt safe in the small community where everyone knew everyone else. Never had she been afraid to go out and play in the park with her childhood friends.

      Now what would the townspeople think of her when they discovered that her child had been fathered by Webster’s favorite son? That Ali had lain with Jake the very night her sister—Jake’s bride-to-be—had left him standing at the altar?

      That was the reason Ali had chosen to live in St. Cloud during her pregnancy, letting everyone think Joanie’s father was someone she had gone to college with. The town was only sixty miles away, but even that short distance had kept so many questions at bay—questions that her grandmother had had to face without having answers. Now it was time to tell the truth.

      Clutching the railing, Ali climbed the steps to the big house she’d lived in since her mother abandoned Darcie and her. Their mother had decided that seven-year-old twins were just too much to handle, and didn’t fit in to her “free-spirit” life-style. Their father didn’t want to handle them, either, so Grandma and Grandpa Pierce got custody.

      Upon learning she was pregnant, one of the things Ali had vowed was that no matter what, Joanie was going to have a stable home. No moving around the country looking for a better life or another man to latch on to. Webster, Minnesota, was going to be a permanent home for these two Pierce women. Which meant that Jake Hawkins probably wouldn’t be around for long. Ali had known that for as long as she had known Jake. He had always wanted out of this town.

      He had a wanderlust that drove him to other places—more exciting places. For as long as she’d known Jake, he wanted to go somewhere else. Somewhere that had more to offer than a small town in Minnesota. Ali doubted that even his child would keep Jake in Webster.

      Ali unlocked the front door, went inside the large entry and was greeted by her grandmother.

      Smiling, the tall, graceful woman pulled her sweater together and folded her arms across her chest when the icy breeze hit her. “Gracious, child. What are you doing with the baby out in this weather? It’s nearly zero out there.”

      “It’s not that cold.” Ali opened the closet door and hung up her coat.

      “Not if you’re an Eskimo or a polar bear.” Gran June looked at her great-granddaughter. “I can see this little one is unaffected by the cold, too.”

      Ali unhooked the baby carrier, careful not to wake her daughter. “What can I say—she’s a winter baby.”

      Ali studied her grandmother. At sixty-eight, June Pierce was still a handsome woman. Her fair skin was flawless, except for a spattering of freckles across her nose. Her hair, once rust colored, was now completely white. The mild stroke she’d suffered last year hadn’t seemed to leave any lasting effects. But that didn’t keep Ali from worrying about her. Every day Joanie was getting bigger and more active. How soon before Gran June wouldn’t be able to care for her anymore? How could Ali keep working? She couldn’t afford child care.

      Her grandmother smiled. “I worry about you driving in the snow.”

      “I’m a big girl, Gran,” she said.

      “I guess I’ll always think of you and Darcie as my little girls.” There was sadness in her voice. “Now I have this precious one.”

      Ali’s throat felt raw. She went to her grandmother and placed a kiss on her cheek, careful not to disturb the baby. “Oh, Gran, you have been so good to me and Joanie. I love you.”

      “I love you, too,” her grandmother answered with her arm across Ali’s shoulder. “And as long as I live, you can count on my being here for you two.”

      I hope you’ll always feel that way, Ali prayed silently. She pulled back. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

      Gran June frowned. “Sure, honey. Is there a problem?”

      Ali hesitated. “No, just something I should have told you long ago. Come with me while I put Joanie to bed.”

      Ali climbed the winding dark oak staircase to the second floor. The hardwood floors of the old house creaked as they made their way down the hall toward Joanie’s room.

      Ali opened the door and went inside the pink-colored nursery. An animal lamp on the dresser cast a soft glow in the room. Ali went to the dressing table and removed her daughter’s jacket and hat. Already the little one was in her pj’s, and she’d just had a diaper change before leaving the hospital. Ali placed Joanie in the crib and gently patted her back until the baby reached for her favorite blanket and quickly dozed off.

      “It’s amazing how she manages to fall asleep without so much as a fuss,” Gran June said. “You were like that. Now, Darcie would let you know how she hated bedtime.”

      For a long time, they both stood by the crib and watched Joanie sleep until finally Ali spoke. “I took Joanie to the hospital tonight to see Jake.”

      Gran June took Ali by the arm, and they walked out of the nursery. She didn’t say another word until they were downstairs in the kitchen.

      “I had a feeling that’s where you went,” Gran said. “A baby should know her father.”

      Ali stared in shock. “You knew Jake was…Joanie’s father?”

      Seeing her grandmother’s nod, Ali collapsed into a chair at the table.

      “I didn’t at first,” Gran June verified. She went to the stove, picked up the kettle and filled two mugs with hot water, then dropped tea bags into the cups and returned to the table.

      “You didn’t come home the night Darcie left Jake at the church. When Joanie was born with all that dark hair, I figured out what must have happened.” Gran sat down. “I knew you were never promiscuous. I also knew how much you loved Jake Hawkins.”

      Ali gasped. “Was it that obvious?”

      “No, honey.” The older woman reached across the table and took Ali’s hand. “But as much as Jake hung out at this house, I could see how you looked at him, and how you’d hang on his every word.” She smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with having a crush on a boy.”

      “Yeah, sure, especially when he’s your twin sister’s boyfriend.”

      “I’m not condoning what you did, Ali. But Darcie did leave Jake on their wedding day. Jake wasn’t anyone’s boyfriend that night. I was just worried that he talked you into something—”

      “No! Jake was never out of line. I was naive, but I knew what I was

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