Debbie Macomber: 1225 Christmas Tree Lane

“Oh, dear.”

“I don’t dare let my brothers know.”

Mary Jo had mentioned them earlier.

“How many brothers?”

“Three, all of them older. I’d hoped David would be here with his parents, but I knew the odds that he’d told the truth weren’t good.”

Grace nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“I think I told you my brothers want to make David marry me—or at least pay for all the lies he’s told. They decided they were going to come and confront him, and if not David, then his family.”

Grace could only imagine how distressing it would be for Ben and Charlotte to return from the vacation of a lifetime to find Mary Jo’s three angry brothers waiting for them. On Christmas Day, yet.

“That’s why it’s important I talk to Ben and Charlotte first,” Mary Jo concluded.

“I think you should,” Grace said.

“Except…”

“Yes?” she prompted.

“Except it looks like I’ll have to go back to Seattle this afternoon.”

“Why?”

“I called all the places on the sheet you gave me and there aren’t any vacancies.”

“Nowhere? Not in the entire town? What about the Comfort Inn?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“You mean everything’s already reserved?”

“Yes. There’s no room at the Inn.”

4

“Linc,” Mel shouted from the kitchen. Three Wyse Men Automotive had closed early due to the holiday.

“In a minute,” Linc shouted back. “Where’s Mary Jo?” He’d already searched half the house and hadn’t found her. He knew she’d taken the day off. Had she gone to the store, perhaps? Or to visit her friend Chloe?

“If you come to the kitchen you’ll find out!”

Linc followed his brother’s voice and with Ned at his heels, entered the kitchen. As soon as Mel saw him, his brother thrust a sheet of paper into his hands. “Here. This was behind the coffeemaker. Must’ve fallen off.”

Before he’d read two words, Linc’s face started to heat up. His stubborn, strong-willed, hardheaded, obstinate little sister had gone to Cedar Cove. Without her family, because she felt she knew best. Tossing the note to the ground, Linc clenched both his fists. “Of all the stupid, idiotic things to do.”

“What?” Ned asked.

“Mary Jo’s decided to go to Cedar Cove on her own,” Mel said.

“By herself?”

“Isn’t that what I said?” Mel snapped.

“It’s true,” Linc informed his youngest brother. “I can’t believe she’d do anything this crazy.”

“We drove her to it.” Ned sank into a kitchen chair and splayed his fingers through his thick dark hair.

“What do you mean?” Mel challenged.

“Explain yourself,” Linc ordered.

“Don’t you see?” Ned gazed up at them. “All that talk about confronting David and forcing him to do the honorable thing. The man hasn’t got an honorable bone in his body. What were we thinking?”

“What we were thinking,” Linc said irritably, “is that David Rhodes is going to pay for what he did to our little sister.” He looked his brothers in the eye and made sure they understood.

When their parents were killed, Mary Jo had only been seventeen. Linc, as the oldest, had been made her legal guardian, since there was no other family in the area. At the time, the responsibility had weighed heavily on his shoulders. He’d gone to his two brothers and asked for their help in raising their little sister. Or at least finishing the job their parents had begun.

Both brothers had been equally committed to taking care of Mary Jo. Everything had gone smoothly, too. Mary Jo had graduated from high school the following May, and all three brothers had attended the ceremony. They’d even thrown her a party.

That autumn he’d gone with Mary Jo to the community college and signed her up for classes. She hadn’t taken kindly to his accompanying her, but Linc wasn’t about to let her walk around campus on her own. Not at first, anyway. Cute little girl like her? With all those lecherous college guys who couldn’t keep their hands to themselves? Oh, yeah, he knew what eighteen-year-old boys were like. And he’d insisted she choose solid, practical courses, not that fluffy fun stuff they taught now.

All the brothers were proud of how well Mary Jo had done in her studies. They’d all disapproved when she’d dropped out of school and gone to work at that insurance company. More than once Linc had to bite his tongue. He’d told her no good would come of this job.

The problem with Mary Jo was that she was too eager to move. She no longer wanted to live in the family home. For the last year, she’d talked incessantly about getting her own place.

Linc didn’t understand that either. This was their home. Linc saw to it that Mary Jo wasn’t stuck with all the cleaning, cooking and laundry. They all did their part of the upkeep—maybe not quite to her standards but well enough. That wasn’t the reason she was so determined to live somewhere else.

No, Mary Jo had an intense desire for independence. From them.

Okay, maybe they’d gone overboard when it came to dating. Frankly, Linc didn’t think there was a man this side of Mars who was good enough for his little sister. Mary Jo was special.

Then Mary Jo had met David Rhodes. Linc had never found out exactly when that had happened. Not once in the six months that she’d been dating him had she mentioned this guy. What Linc had noticed was how happy Mary Jo seemed all of a sudden—and then, just as suddenly, she’d been depressed. That was when her mood swings started. She’d be happy and then sad and then happy again. It made no sense until he learned there was a man involved.

Even now that Mary Jo was pregnant with this man’s baby, Linc still hadn’t met him. In retrospect, that was probably for the best because Linc would take real pleasure in ripping his face off.

“What are we going to do now?” Mel asked.

His younger brothers were clearly worried.

Linc’s hand was already in his pants pocket, fingering his truck keys. “What can we do other than follow her to Cedar Cove?”

“Let’s talk this through,” Ned suggested, coming to his feet.

“What’s there to talk about?” Mel asked. “Mary Jo’s going to have a baby. She’s alone and pregnant and we all know Rhodes isn’t in Cedar Cove. He’s lied to her from the beginning. There’s no way he’s telling her the truth now.”

“Yes, but…”

Linc looked squarely into his youngest brother’s eyes.

“What do you think Mom and Dad would have us do?” he asked, allowing time between each word to make sure the message sank in.

Ned sighed. “They’d want us to find her.”

“Exactly my point.” Linc headed for the back door.

“Wait a minute.” Ned raised his hand.

“Now what?” Mel cried out impatiently.

“Mary Jo left because she’s mad.”

“Well, let her be mad. By the time we arrive, she’ll be singing a different tune. My guess is she’ll be mighty glad to see us.”

“Maybe,” Ned agreed. “But say she isn’t. Then what?”

Linc frowned. “We’ll bring her home anyway.”

“She might not want to come.”

“She’ll come.” Linc wasn’t about to leave his little sister with strangers over Christmas.

“If we make demands, she’ll only be more determined to stay,” Ned told them.

“Do you have any other bright ideas?” Mel asked.

Ned ignored the sarcasm. “Bring her gifts,” he said.

“Why?” Linc didn’t understand what he meant. They all had gifts for her and the baby that she could open Christmas morning, the way she was supposed to.

“She needs to know we love her and welcome the baby.”