Page 7 of Christmas in the Shadows

Tex couldn’t deny his words. Growing up in foster care wasn’t easy. Trauma played a huge role in each of their lives, causing them all to act out in different ways.

Tex had devoted his time to working out. To playing on the football team, which Gilbert had loved. He’d been the coach back then also.

But most of the other boys didn’t operate the same way Tex did. Some of them snuck out at night. Some did drugs. Others met up with girls. One of them had been responsible for some vandalism in town. Another had been arrested for stealing.

Despite all that, most of them had turned out surprisingly well. On occasion, Tex looked his foster brothers up online. He’d seen that Patrick was a doctor, Wyatt an attorney, Aiden an engineer, and Tex had even heard Pete Lawson was running for state senate.

“We can talk more later.” Gilbert raised the wooden spoon he used to cook the sizzling ground beef. “But right now I’ve got to get this spaghetti done. My neighbor will be over in an hour and a half—and so will Anna.”

Chelsea’s image flashed through Tex’s mind again. He had so many questions about her still living here. If she was married or had kids. How her parents were.

But he didn’t want to ask Gilbert for the answers.

No, he wanted to ask Chelsea herself.

She’d been lying earlier about why she was in Gilbert’s house. She’d clearly been looking for something. And she’d acted spooked.

Tex tried to think it through.

There was more to her story.

One way or another, he would find out what.

Chelsea had come up with a million excuses why she couldn’t go to dinner tonight at Gilbert’s place.

For starters, she couldn’t stand Gilbert and feared he might be up to something.

Then there was the fact she’d been caught snooping in his house. She didn’t trust the situation enough to think those details hadn’t been shared.

But perhaps the biggest reasonnotto go was also the biggest reasontogo.

Because Tex would be there.

On one hand, seeing him again today had been thrilling. Chelsea wanted to know what his life had been like in the twelve years since they’d last spoken.

But on the other hand, he’d left without saying a word and hadn’t tried to stay in touch. He clearly wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. He had shown her his true colors.

Just like her mom. Her biological mom.

She’d left when Chelsea was only six months old. Said that mom life wasn’t for her. Chelsea hadn’t seen her since then and had no memories of the woman.

Thankfully, her dad had remarried when Chelsea was two. Connie was a wonderful woman who’d adopted Chelsea and taken her in as her own. Sometimes, Chelsea even forgot the woman hadn’t been the one to give birth to her.

She’d been truly blessed.

But she subconsciously remembered what it was like to know her birth mom hadn’t wanted her.

Maybe that was one more reason why she and Tex had bonded so quickly. They’d both known rejection at a young age.

Some people bad-mouthed Tex—bad-mouthed all the boys who came to stay at Gilbert’s. But Chelsea had always known that people were wrong about Tex. She’d stood up for him when others had started rumors or put him down because of his tough background.

She’d come to his defense when no one else had.

But apparently,she’dbeen the one who was wrong, and everyone else was right.

As “Jingle Bells” played in the background, she stared at the salad on the kitchen counter in front of her and let out a sigh.

She might as well go. If nothing else, maybe she could find out more information about Gilbert.

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