A Texas Thanksgiving

“Grandma, it’s a horse—Bessie.”

“Oh? Well, Bessie looks great.”

“Speaking of Bessie—” Evan latched on to the mare’s name “—have you fed your pony?” Okay, it was a stretch since the pony was called Sugar, but he was desperate to have Marge leave before Julia showed up. There was absolutely nothing between Julia and him, but he didn’t want to try and explain that to his mother-in-law. She had been sure his reluctance to date anyone was because he still loved Diane, so she took every opportunity to rewrite what her daughter had done—walking out on him, turning to drugs. Now that she was dead, he didn’t have the heart to straighten her out.

“I did when I got home from church.”

“And you’ve done your other chores in the barn?” Marge hated the barn and wouldn’t go near it. Much too dirty for her.

Paige nodded. “I’m all ready for Ellie’s lesson.”

Oh, great.

Right on cue, Marge’s head swung around toward him, and she gave him the look. “Ellie? Who’s Ellie?”

“My best friend. We go to school together. She’s coming out here this afternoon. Daddy is teaching her to ride.”

Okay, he might be able to get Marge out of here still without bringing Julia’s name into the conversation.

“I didn’t know you gave riding lessons. I have a friend whose granddaughter would love to learn.”

“I don’t usually.” Evan immediately realized his mistake and bit down on the inside of his mouth.

“He’s teaching her because Julia’s teaching Daddy to cook.”

“Julia? Who’s Julia?” Her look knifed through him.

“Ah, she’s…” He searched for a way to make it sound as if he wasn’t betraying Marge or her deceased daughter. “She’s…”

“She’s Ellie’s mom,” Paige chimed in. “She spent the night here last night.”

“What?” Marge’s eyes widened to the size of round platters.

“No. Paige meant Ellie. Ellie spent the night here.” His face felt on fire from embarrassment and Marge’s searing gaze.

Silence descended for a long moment, broken by the sound of footsteps on the front porch and a loud knock at the door. Caught red-handed. He would never hear the end of this.

“They’re here.” Paige clapped and raced to the entrance before Evan could move or think of a way of getting out of the awkward situation.

Chapter Three

T he large woman who stood directly behind Paige as the child opened the front door caused Julia to take a step back. Irritation puckered the lady’s thin lips into a frown, its full force directed at her.

Evan appeared and moved around his daughter, blocking Julia’s view of the unhappy woman. “Come in, y’all.” He took the grocery sack she held and hurried toward the kitchen, hiding the sack against his chest.

Julia advanced inside with Ellie next to her. Immediately, Paige dragged Ellie off toward her bedroom, leaving Julia to face the lady who was still frowning at her.

Evan came back into the room, minus the items she had picked up for their cooking lesson. “Marge, this is Julia Saunders. Ellie’s mother.”

Julia held out her hand to shake, but Marge just looked at her, ignoring the greeting. Julia dropped her arm back to her side and said, “It’s nice meeting you.”

“Marge is Paige’s grandmother.”

Evan’s mother? But there was no way Julia would ask that question out loud.

The large woman turned toward Evan. “May I have a word with you in private?”

“Sure.” Then to Julia he said, “I’ll be right back. Make yourself at home.” After the last sentence, he cringed and darted a glance at Marge.

As the two left, Julia sagged back against the wall near the front door. She felt as though she had interrupted something. Julia wanted to leave.

Instead—because she knew it would upset her daughter if they left early—Julia made her way back to Paige’s room. She didn’t want to overhear any comments between Evan and Marge. The two girls sat on a white-canopy bed with a cotton candy–pink coverlet over it.

Julia leaned against the doorjamb. “Are you ready for your second lesson?”

Ellie peered at her. “Yes! I dreamed about riding last night. I can’t remember what happened, but I woke up happy.”

The slamming of a door rattled Julia. She stiffened, then tried to relax so the two children didn’t think anything was wrong. But they heard the same sound, and both of their foreheads crinkled in question.

Before either of them said anything, Evan came down the hall, arranging his features in a calm expression when he stepped into the girls’ view. “Are you two ready to go ride?”

“Yes!” they shouted in unison.

Ellie leaped from the bed and hurried toward the hallway. Paige moved at a slower pace and paused by her father.

“Is Grandma all right? I thought she might stay and see us ride.”

“She needed to go home to Uncle Bert, so she couldn’t.”

“I wish she would watch me ride sometime.”

“She will, princess.”

Smiling now, Paige rushed after Ellie.

“Obviously, I came at a bad time,” Julia said, trailing after the two girls.

Evan asked, “Did they hear Marge leaving?”

“’Fraid so.”

He winced. “That’s what I thought. My mother-in-law didn’t understand why I wanted to learn to cook. She is perfectly content to fix our meals forever and she made that crystal clear to me.”

“So, that wasn’t your mother?”

“No! My mother died when I was a child. My father now lives in Dallas.”

“Why wouldn’t she want you to learn to cook?”