LITMIR.BIZ

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      She studied his expression. Even at seven or eight, a lot of kids had figured out how to tell adults what they wanted to hear, instead of the truth. But Jason seemed genuinely dismayed at the result of his actions.

      She took a deep breath. Let me make the right decision. Please.

      “Okay, Jason. If you promise you won’t do it again, I promise I won’t tell.”

      His relieved smile was the first one she’d seen from him. Like his father, she thought again. A smile that rare made you want to forgive anything, just to see it.

      Jason didn’t seem to have inherited any qualities from his mother. Did he miss her and wonder why she’d disappeared? Maybe by now he’d made peace with his loss.

      She watched as he gulped the lemonade. Guilt seemed to have made him thirsty. Finally he set the glass down, looking at it, not at her.

      “Is Maida really going to come back?”

      The question startled her. “Sure she is. Why do you think she wouldn’t?”

      “I heard Daddy talking.” He fixed her with an intent gaze. “He told me she just needed to rest a while, but I heard him tell somebody on the phone that she was in the hospital. Is she going to stay there?”

      Never lie to a child; that was one of her bedrock beliefs as a teacher. If something was going to hurt, going to be unpleasant, a child had the same right as an adult to prepare for it.

      “Only for a little while,” she said carefully, remembering Alex’s determination to shield his son. “She had to go into the hospital to have her hip fixed.”

      His face clouded. “I don’t want her to stay there. Can’t Dr. Brett just give her some medicine?”

      The bereft tone touched her. “I know you don’t want her to be away, but medicine won’t fix what’s wrong. She had to have an operation, and they gave her a brand-new joint. Now she has to stay at the hospital and do exercises until she’s better.”

      “Like my dad does for his leg?”

      “Sort of like that.” She seemed to see Alex again in the workout clothes he’d worn that morning, and her mouth went dry. “Then when she’s well, she’ll be able to come back.”

      His gaze met hers, and she read a challenge in it. “You didn’t come back. Not for a long time.”

      It was like a blow to the heart. Jason was talking about when she’d been his nanny. Maybe, underneath the words, he was thinking about his mother, too.

      She longed to put her hand over his where it lay on the table, but he was such a prickly child that she was afraid of making him withdraw. She prayed for the right words.

      “I want you to listen, Jason, because I’m telling you the truth. Maida loves you. If she could have skipped the operation to stay with you, she would have. She’s going to come back, and in the meantime, you’ll be okay.”

      “Are you going to stay?” His lips trembled. “Are you? I know I said I wanted you to go away, but I didn’t mean it. I want you to stay.”

      Guilt gripped her throat in a vise so tight she couldn’t speak. She’d asked God to show her what to do. Was this His answer, in the voice of a troubled little boy?

      She cleared her throat. “I’m not sure, Jason. But I’m going to talk to your daddy about it.”

      “When?” Urgency filled his voice. “When?”

      Somehow, whatever it took, she had to convince Alex to let her stay. She stood. “Right now.”

      Alex had been trying to concentrate on work for the past half-hour, but all he could think about was how he’d manage the coming weeks. His business, his family, his home were too intertwined to separate.

      He didn’t have any illusions that it would be easy to replace Maida. First of all, no one could really replace her. She was the closest thing to a mother Jason had.

      Tension radiated down his spine. Jason had had enough losses in his young life. It was up to his father to protect him from any more.

      It was also up to his father to provide for his future. If this deal with Dieter Industries didn’t go through, and soon, the Caine company would be on the verge of collapse. Their hand-crafted furniture would go the way of the lumber mills founded by his great-grandfather. Probably not even his private fortune could save it. Several hundred people would be out of work, thanks to Caine Industries’s failure.

      He didn’t have the luxury of time. Dieter was sending someone over within weeks. Alex had to be ready, or they all lost.

      He glanced up at the portrait of his father that hung over the library’s tile fireplace. Jonathan Caine stared sternly from the heavy gold frame, as if he mentally weighed and measured everyone he saw and found them wanting. He would no more understand the firm’s current crisis than he’d be able to admit that his mistakes had led to it.

      His father’s stroke and death, coming when he heard the news of the crash, had seemed the knockout blow. But Alex had found out, once he took over, just how badly off the company was. And he’d realized there were still blows to come. He’d spent the past two years trying to solve the company’s problems, and he still didn’t know if he could succeed.

      This was getting him nowhere. Alex walked to the floor-length window and looked down at the town—his town. He knew every inch of its steep narrow streets, folded into the cleft of the mountains. Sometimes he thought he knew every soul in town.

      Caines had taken care of Bedford Creek since the first Caine, a railroad baron, had built his mansion on the hill in the decade after the Civil War. Bedford Creek had two economic bases: its scenic beauty and Caine Industries. If the corporation went under, how would the town survive? How would he?

      The rap on the door was tentative. Then it came again, stronger this time. He crossed the room with impatient steps and opened the door.

      “Paula.” That jolt to his solar plexus each time he saw her ought to be getting familiar by now. “I’m sorry, but this isn’t a good time.”

      “This is important.”

      What was one more disruption to his day? He wasn’t getting anything accomplished, anyway. He stepped back, gesturing her in.

      “Is something wrong?”

      She swung to face him. “Have you made a decision about hiring someone to replace my aunt?”

      He motioned to a chair, but she shook her head, planting herself in the center of the oriental carpet and looking at him.

      “Not yet,” he admitted. “Summer is tourist season in Bedford Creek. Everyone who wants a job is probably already working.”

      He couldn’t deny the fact that Maida had been right about one thing. Paula could be the answer to his problems. But the uncomfortable ending to her previous stay, his own mixed feelings for her, made that impossible. He couldn’t seem to get past that.

      “You have to have someone Jason can get along with.” She hesitated. “I couldn’t help thinking that he’s changed.”

      He stiffened. “My son is fine.” Fine, he repeated silently.

      “He seems to believe you’re disappointed in his school work.”

      Her clear, candid gaze bored into him. “He misunderstood,” he said shortly. “Jason is very bright.” He glared at her, daring her to disagree.

      “Yes, of course he is. But that doesn’t mean school is easy for him.”

      “Paula, I don’t want to discuss my son with you. Jason is fine. Now, is there anything else?”

      She looked at him for what felt like a long moment, and he couldn’t tell what was going on behind her usually expressive face. Then her eyes

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