B.J. Daniels - High-Calibre Christmas

“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.

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