LITMIR.BIZ

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family you could stay with?”

      “No,” she said. To her dismay, her throat started to close at that single harsh word. For a moment, she missed her mother fiercely. It had been sixteen years since her mother went to work and never came home and it still sometimes seemed like yesterday.

      She could drive to Portland and stay with her father and stepmother but she knew just how that would go. They would be squeezed into a sofa bed in the corner of the family room. Her teenage stepbrothers would resent her presence in what they considered their home and would complain about having to share a bathroom and about Maddie’s chattering. After a week or so, her father—prodded by Paula—would take her aside and quietly tell her he was afraid things weren’t working out.

      She didn’t want to put any of them through that.

      “My father lives out of state,” she said. “He doesn’t really have room for us.”

      In his house or in his life. Though she didn’t add the words, she acknowledged them with a familiar little pang, then forced herself to focus on the positive.

      “I have many friends in Boise and could call several of them in a moment and they would gladly open their homes until I can find a place.”

      Her best friend, Joan, had an extra bedroom and had ushered her off tearfully just that morning—Lord, it seemed like a month ago—after extracting promise after promise that Eliza would come back for frequent visits.

      He didn’t have a chance to answer, as they had approached a massive carved wooden gate. The gate opened smoothly before they reached it—she had no idea how—and he proceeded up a long driveway.

      “It’s like a tunnel,” Maddie exclaimed. Pine trees rose up on either side of the driveway, blocking the view of the house—not that they could have seen much, anyway, through the darkness and the snow that was blowing almost horizontally.

      She could see a glow in the distance that gradually took shape as a rambling log home ablaze with lights. The lodge was set on a hill, angled in such a way that Eliza imagined it would have magnificent lake and mountain views during better weather conditions.

      “Welcome to Snow Angel Cove,” Aidan said as he pulled into a porte cochere in front of the house.

      The moment he opened the driver’s side door, two people hurried out of the house toward the passenger side to open the doors for Eliza and Maddie.

      The woman was lean to the point of being scrawny, with lined, leathery features and black and iron-gray hair pulled into a ponytail. She beamed at Maddie as she took her arm to help her from the car.

      “Hello, my dears. Oh, you’ve had a time of it. Come inside where it’s warm.”

      Maddie, who must have fallen asleep a little in the car without Eliza realizing, gave her a bleary-eyed smile. “I’m Madeline Elizabeth Hayward. I’m almost six years old.”

      “Hi, Madeline. I’m Sue Stockton and this is my husband, Jim.”

      Maddie waved at him and the man solemnly shook her hand. Jim was just as leathery, just as gray, but with a sweet smile and a bit of a paunch.

      She liked them both instantly, though it was one of those snap judgments that had no real basis in reality.

      “You must be Eliza,” Sue said. To her surprise, the other woman wrapped her in a warm hug, as if they were old friends reconnecting after a few years.

      When Eliza confirmed her identity, Sue said, “Don’t dawdle. Come inside. It’s freezing out here.”

      She opened the door wide and ushered them into a massive great room, with a ceiling that had to top thirty feet, dominated by a huge open river rock fireplace and raw timber mantel. The space was big enough to contain at least four couches she could see, in separate seating areas, along with a giant Christmas tree that was currently unadorned.

      Aidan came in behind them with her purse and Maddie’s backpack in one hand and a suitcase in the other. He was followed by Jim, who carried a few more suitcases.

      She wanted to tell them not to bother bringing everything in since they were only staying one night, but she didn’t have the chance before Aidan set her things down on a chair and swept the woman into an affectionate embrace.

      He bent down and kissed her cheek. “Sue, darling, you are more gorgeous every time I see you.”

      The woman blushed and shook her head. “And you’re still a rascal, aren’t you?”

      “Sue and Jim have been with me for many years,” he said to Eliza and Maddie.

      “Almost since the beginning of Caine Tech. What has it been? Twelve? Thirteen years? You bought that little ranch outside San Jose and hired us to look after you and we’ve been doing it ever since.”

      “Something like that. She and Jim retired a few years ago but I managed to talk them out of retirement for a while to help me get things organized here at Snow Angel Cove.”

      Sue gave her another hug. “When he called to tell me he was bringing you here, Aidan told me everything that’s happened to you today. I’m so sorry, honey.”

      She ached in every muscle and under normal circumstances she would have tried to extricate herself from the woman’s hug but she found something so comforting and warm and genuine about it.

      Tears welled up, much to her dismay. “Thank you,” she murmured with a watery smile, trying to wipe them away on the cuff of her sweater before anybody noticed.

      “You probably haven’t had time to eat a thing all afternoon, have you, what with going to the emergency room and all. Well, I hope you’re hungry. I’ve got vegetable beef soup on the stove and fresh rolls just set to come out of the oven.”

      Maddie perked up. “I love fresh rolls!”

      “You and me both, young lady,” Jim said with another of those slow, sweetly charming smiles.

      “We’ll work on bringing in your things while you grab a bite to eat,” Aidan said.

      “I don’t need everything,” she said. “We’ve got boxes and boxes in my car. Just the suitcases you’ve already brought in should be sufficient for one night.”

      “Are you certain? We don’t mind bringing in whatever you think you might need.”

      “Positive. I should be fine.”

      “In that case, I’ll have dinner ready for you quick as a wink,” Sue said.

      Eliza wanted to protest that she wasn’t hungry. What she needed most was a horizontal surface to stretch out on. Maddie needed to eat, though.

      “If you care to wash up, there’s a powder room just down that hallway. First door on the left.”

      “Come on, Maddie.”

      She almost didn’t want to look in the big carved wooden mirror in the lovely little half bath. The damage was as bad as she feared. She had a darkening bruise above her temple and an abrasion on her cheek. Her hair wasn’t as bad as she feared but running a brush through it was an exercise in pain for both her head and her sprained wrist.

      By the time she set Maddie’s hair to rights, she had to stop and lean against the sink for a moment to catch her breath.

      When they returned to the great room, they found Sue, Jim and Aidan seated at a massive dining table on the other side of the pass-through fireplace.

      Maddie quickly climbed into the chair next to her new friend.

      “I like your house,” she told him. “It’s pretty.”

      He smiled. “Why, thank you. This is the first time I’ve seen it since I bought it last August. I’m amazed at all the work that has been done in just a few months.”

      “Only a little paint and some varnish,” Sue said,

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