Page 66 of Soldier's Chrismas Hope
“I’m so sorry, River,” Nora said, realizing that he’d been doing just that for them every day. “Now we’re here, and you’re forced into being with us all day long. It isn’t right?—”
“No,” he said firmly, stopping her from going on. “I don’t feel that way around you and the kids. At all.”
His dark eyes met hers at last, and she knew he was telling the truth.
“I want you to stay,” he said softly.
Her breath caught in her throat, and for a momentshe let herself believe that his words were more than just an invitation to give the children a special holiday.
“Aunt Nora?” a little voice said from the staircase. “I’m thirsty.”
“Come on down, Pixie,” Nora called to her, hopping up right away and feeling silly for letting her imagination run away with her. “Let’s fix you a glass of milk.”
There was no way they could ever think about just staying on the farm after the holidays.
Could they?
18
NORA
Nora woke up shivering at dawn the next morning. She slipped out of bed, sucking in a breath as her bare feet hit the wooden floor, and tiptoed over to the window.
Snow was still coming down now, though more slowly. In the gray morning light, the snow was so deep that it had softened the contrast between the cornfields and lawn, so that the whole farm looked like a single ocean of white.
She hugged herself, a smile tugging at her lips. She felt almost like a child again, looking out at the storm and feeling snug and cozy here in the farmhouse.
Thank goodness River isn’t sleeping in that cottage anymore.
She pictured the snow falling into the living room again and shook her head in disbelief. It was a miracle he’d forgotten his phone. He might have frozen to death out there.
She shivered again at the thought.
If I’m cold, the kids and the kittens might be cold too,she reminded herself, forcing her eyes away from the winter wonderland out the window. But she stopped to check her daily inspiration calendar.
Everything happens for a reason.
It was exactly the kind of quote that broke her heart and made a tendril of anger bloom in her chest when she thought about Pixie and John-John losing their mother and her own loss of the life she had known. What could possibly be the reason for that?
“That one isn’t my favorite, Alma,” she whispered to her sister as she headed to the bathroom.
If Alma were here, she would probably laugh at her.
Nora showered and dressed as quickly as she could, and then slipped into the kids’ room, carrying her own thick comforter with her.
They were snuggled close under the nest of blankets she’d made for them last night, and their little faces were so peaceful. Looking at them like this, you could almost forget that they had ever known sadness.
Nora tucked her own blanket around them gently, deciding it couldn’t hurt to add one more layer of comfort. They would be sleepy after yesterday, and today might be a boring day for them if they were stuck inside, so sleeping as late as possible might be a good thing. She certainly wasn’t taking them out in the snow if it kept coming down like this.
Slipping down the stairs, she steeled herself for what she might find.
But all five kittens were still safely in their crate. Most of them were sleeping, curled around each other. But the raven-colored boy opened his yellow eyes and blinked lazily at her as she stepped into the room.
“Good morning,” she murmured to him.
There was a note on the table under the pepper shaker, fluttering in the draft from the window like it was waving at her.
Nora,
