Page 24 of Mistletoe and Mischief

“Just one. A girl.”

“Does Mary Jo know this?” Mel asked. “About him being a deadbeat?”

“I didn’t tell her,” Ned admitted, adding, “I couldn’t see any reason to upset her more than she already is.”

“Good idea,” Mel said. He leaned forward and looked up at the darkening sky. “Snow’s starting again. The radio said there’s going to be at least three inches.”

“Snow,” Linc muttered.

“Snow,” Ned repeated excitedly. “That’ll make a lot of little kids happy.”

Mel agreed quickly. “Yeah, we’ll have a white Christmas.”

“Are either ofyoulittle kids?” Linc snapped. His nerves were frayed and he’d appreciate it if his brothers took a more mature outlook.

“I guess I’m still a kid at heart,” Ned said, exhaling a sigh.

Considering Linc’s current frame of mind, it was a brave admission. With a slow breath, Linc made a concerted effort to relax. He was worried about Mary Jo; he couldn’t help it. He’d wanted the best for her and felt that he’d failed both his sister and his parents.

To some extent he blamed himself for what had happened. Maybe he’d been too strict with her after she turned eighteen. But to his way of thinking, she was under his protection as long as she lived in the family home.

Not once had she introduced him to David Rhodes. Linc was convinced that if he’d met the other man, it would’ve taken him all of two seconds to peg David for a phony.

“What are you gonna say when we find her?” Ned asked.

Linc hadn’t worked out the specifics. “Let’s not worry about that now. Main thing is, we’re going to put her in the truck and bring her home.”

“What if she doesn’t want to come with us?”

Linc hadn’t considered this. “Why wouldn’t she? We’re her family and it’s Christmas Eve. Mary Jo belongs with us. Anyway, that baby could show up any time.”

Mel seemed distinctly queasy at the prospect.

Thinking back, Linc realized he should have recognized the signs a lot earlier than he had. In fact, he hadn’t recognized them at all; she’dtoldhim and after that, of course, the signs were easy to see.

Not until the day Mary Jo rushed past him in the hallway and practically shoved him into the wall so she could get to the toilet in time to throw up did he have the slightest suspicion that anything was wrong. Even then he’d assumed she had a bad case of the flu.

Boy, had he been wrong. She had the flu, all right, only it was the nine-month variety.

It just hadn’t occurred to him that she’d do something so dumb. An affair with the guy was bad enough, but to take that kind of chance...

Frowning, Linc glanced in his rearview mirror at his youngest brother. He was beginning to wonder about Ned. He’d never seemed as shocked as he or Mel had, and Mary Jo had always confided in him.

“How long have you known?” he casually asked.

Ned met Linc’s gaze in the rearview mirror, his expression trapped. “Known what?”

“That Mary Jo was going to have a baby.”

Ned looked away quickly and shrugged.

“She told you as soon as she found out, didn’t she?”

Ned cleared his throat. “She might have.”

“How early was that?” Linc asked, unwilling to let his brother sidestep the question.

“Early,” Ned admitted. “I knew before David.”

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