High-Calibre Christmas

Virginia had never known what it was like to love a child so much that you could turn your back on everything and everyone else, including your other children.

Or love a child so much that when you lost him you would lock yourself away for twenty-seven years as her mother had done.

Virginia had never known that kind of love. Not for the child she thought she’d lost or for the man she’d thought she loved enough to have a child with him.

But like her mother, she’d let the past keep her isolated in other ways from the world.

And now to find out that her child hadn’t died. That her son was alive and well and in town ….

She had to see him, she thought as she dressed for the funerals of Marie and Audie Dennison. She knew no one in town would expect her to attend. She didn’t know Marie or her brother.

But she wanted to see her son.

THE WEATHER CHANGED THE night before the funeral. Jace woke to dull skies and a wind that whipped the bare branches on the cottonwoods outside the guest bedroom.

He’d grown up in this house, knew every creak and groan, but now it felt too quiet. Not that he believed in ghosts, but he now had the strange feeling that he wasn’t alone here.

That kind of thinking made him all too aware that he wasn’t himself. He’d actually thought Ava Carris had followed him to Whitehorse.

He showered and went downstairs to put on the coffee. From the refrigerator he took out the quart of orange juice he’d bought at the store, unscrewed the cap and took a long drink. As he put it back in the fridge, he saw a pickup coming up the road.

He didn’t recognize it, but then why should he? He’d been gone so long no one drove the same rigs they had. To his surprise, Kayley Mitchell climbed out and walked toward the house.

Glancing down, he realized that he was wearing only jeans, his chest and feet bare. He thought about making a run upstairs to get a shirt, but she was already at the door. What did she want? He swore. He was about to find out.

Moving toward the door in anticipation of her knock, he heard her put something down, then turn and go back down the steps. He started to open the door, but she was already sliding behind the wheel of her truck.

He stared after her as she drove off, wondering why she hadn’t bothered to knock. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to see him. Jace was thankful for that. It would have been awkward, to say the least.

Still, it seemed odd, and he waited until her pickup turned onto the highway at the end of the drive and disappeared before he opened the door to see what she’d left.

A note was taped to the foil covering the casserole dish lying just outside the door.

This used to be your favorite. I hope it still is. Kayley

One whiff of the casserole brought with it a wave of memories that threatened to drown him. Kayley used to make this all the time for him back when they were engaged. She’d gotten the recipe from his mother. Marie, he corrected with a scowl as he brought the dish inside and closed the front door.

It wasn’t long before more people began to arrive with food. Fortunately, he’d gotten dressed after Kayley left. He’d forgotten how the community came together when there was a death.

“A lot of people loved your mother,” a neighbor told him when she dropped off chicken and dumpings and a pan of brownies.

“Marie will be missed,” the woman said, her voice breaking.

Jace couldn’t help feeling touched by their love and generosity. But what was he supposed to do with all this food? They must think he was staying around for a while. The thought made him reach for the phone book.

He dialed a local Realtor, a girl named Clare whom he’d gone to school with, and had her list the two houses and the land. “I’ll also need to sell off the livestock, so maybe you know someone I could talk to about that?”

She did. But she wasn’t encouraging about selling the place quickly. “I’m afraid not much is selling right now,” Clare told him.

“Just get me what you can,” he said and hung up as another neighbor drove up. He went out to help her carry in fried chicken and potato salad.

At least he wouldn’t go hungry.

AT THE CEMETERY, WIND whipped what leaves hadn’t already blown away. They scattered across the neatly mowed yellowed grass, making a rustling sound as the bare cottonwood limbs groaned overhead.

The air smelled of fall as Jace climbed out of his pickup. It was a scent like no other he’d experienced since he’d left here and added to the nostalgic melancholy he’d been feeling since his return.

A crowd had already gathered around the grave sites. He was thankful that he’d opted for a graveside ceremony only. He knew he couldn’t have taken being closed in by all the people crammed in the mortuary building.

He couldn’t believe he was burying his mother and uncle. He didn’t give a damn what anyone said, but he would always think of Marie as his mother. He didn’t care if the sheriff had DNA proof. He sure as hell wasn’t a Winchester, nor would he ever be one.

As he started toward the two covered holes that had been dug in the ground after the earth had been heated enough to dig, Jace tried not to think about any of it. All he had to do was get through this day.

He thought of his mother. She’d finally gotten him home. He felt his eyes burn, his heart aching. If only he could have gotten home in time to see her just once more before she died.

He had no doubt what she would have wanted to tell him. The thought broke his heart. He knew he wouldn’t have handled her deathbed confession well and was thankful it hadn’t happened.

It had been enough of a shock to hear it from the sheriff. This way, he would never know just how much Marie had known about the baby switch or if she’d had a part in it. And she would never know how angry he was with her and his uncle for keeping this secret from him all these years.

As the caskets were removed from the hearses, he watched his uncle’s being lifted and thought of Audie. Everyone always said he would have done anything for his older sister. Well, he’d proved that, Jace thought.

The attendants were removing his mother’s casket when he felt himself stop walking before reaching the crowd.