13. Jared

13

JARED

J ared drove over to Cora's house after a long day helping out at Big Jim's and a quick shower at home.

"We hardly see you anymore," Mom had said as he headed for the back door. "Are we going to see Cora and Sylvester again soon?"

She said it like she liked the idea of seeing more of them, like she thought it was reasonable that he might be getting serious. He knew he should feel a lick of panic on his insides, but lately he had been feeling like maybe, just maybe Cora was starting to open her heart to him.

"We'll see, Ma," he told her. "I'm working on it."

"I've never known a man to win a woman by milking another man's cows," she teased, her eyes twinkling. "But I hope your case is the exception."

"Me too," Jared said, laughing as he pulled on his coat.

She shook her head and turned back to the cranberry bread she was slicing .

"Don't worry," he told her as he kissed the top of her head on his way out. "You'll always be my favorite girl."

"Wait," she said. "Why don't you take her over some of this? It's still warm."

"I can't say no to that," he said, watching her wrap up a whole loaf in foil.

The fragrant bundle sat on the seat beside him now, and somehow the sight of the simple gift from his mother to the woman he was falling for filled his heart with hope.

He pulled in the drive and was surprised when he got out and made it to the steps without Sylvester bursting out of the front door to greet him and ask how far he had gotten in the book they were reading.

But as he approached, it became clear why no one had noticed his arrival. Light from inside poured out onto the porch and he could hear Leona Lewis's "One More Sleep" playing inside, the fun Christmas tune making him smile.

Jared knew he should knock on the door, but when he spotted movement inside, he stopped for a moment to watch Cora dancing around with Sylvester, both of them laughing their heads off as they moved their arms and spun with abandon to the cheerful music.

Cora's hair was down around her shoulders instead of up in its usual smooth ponytail. Her dark tresses moved like silk as she shimmied and giggled at Sylvester's amazing dance moves.

She looked beautiful, but she was always beautiful in Jared's eyes. What had him frozen in his tracks tonight was that she looked so young .

Jared had noticed many things about Cora, how smart she was, how responsible, and how kind. But tonight, his heart ached for the carefree young woman he saw letting go and enjoying herself with her son.

I wish I could make her feel that way more often, he thought to himself suddenly.

" Jared ," Sylvester called out from the other side of the window.

Quickly he knocked on the door, holding the still-warm loaf of cranberry bread in front of him.

The door opened a moment later. Cora was still smiling and her cheeks were flushed.

"Hi," she said, her expression a little embarrassed.

"Hi," he replied, already lost in her gray eyes.

"What's that?" Sylvester demanded, his eyes fixed on the fragrant foil-wrapped treat Jared had already forgotten he was holding.

"My mom sent me over with a loaf of her homemade cranberry bread," he said.

"Oh, that was so nice of her," Cora said. "Come on in. Shall we have some now?"

" Yes ," Sylvester said, dashing for the kitchen.

"I also brought some popcorn and a copy of the movie Rocky , in case you guys wanted to see it," he offered quietly. "I can grab them out of my truck, but I thought I'd better not offer in front of Sly, in case you didn't want to do all that."

"It sounds wonderful," she said, smiling up at him. "Though I did promise him we'd try to make some more decorations for the tree tonight, so we can let him decide what to do. "

Jared glanced over at the big tree he'd brought over. Cora and Sylvester had been slowly adding decorations, but they were really spread out.

"I can help with that instead," he offered. "Whatever he decides. And I have something else to show him, too."

"Okay, then," Cora said. "Sounds like we need Sylvester to make some decisions."

She moved her hand to her hair self-consciously, as if she was just remembering it was down.

"You look incredible," he said softly, unable to help himself. "I love seeing you have fun."

She froze for a moment, eyes widening, her hand still touching her hair.

"Arthur used to say that," she said finally, relaxing a little and giving him a small smile. "That part about loving to see me have fun."

Jared's heart tugged and he wondered if there had been more opportunities to see her relaxed back then, or if Arthur had noticed what Jared had about her—that she needed more chances to enjoy herself.

" I'm fixing us milk ," Sylvester yelled happily from the kitchen.

"Oh dear," she said, hurrying off to check on him.

Jared headed after her. Sylvester stood on a step stool by the counter. He already had out a jug of milk and three mugs.

"I'm fixing us a drink to go with our cranberry bread," he said proudly.

"That's great, honey," Cora said. "Let us know if you need any help. "

"When you're done, I want to show you something," Jared told him. "But take your time."

They watched the boy slowly angle the big jug of milk and carefully fill the mugs. When he was finished, a big smile flashed across his face.

"Great job," Cora told him right away.

"What did you want to show me?" he asked Jared excitedly.

"Put the milk away first, please," Cora reminded him.

He obeyed right away, which made Jared smile. The two of them had such a great rapport, and the kid really seemed to enjoy having a way to impress her.

He trotted back to Jared, an expectant expression on his face.

"Look," Jared said, pulling the paper from his pocket.

It hit him that Sylvester was just a little boy, and he was probably hoping Jared had a toy in his pocket, or maybe a book. This piece of paper wouldn't mean as much to him as it did to Jared.

But when Jared placed it in the boy's hands, he looked down at it a moment, then his eyes shot back to Jared's filled with joy and astonishment.

"You did it," he said. "You did it."

"What is that?" Cora asked.

"It's the sign-up sheet for helpers over at Big Jim's," Jared explained. "Sly and I got a lot of it filled out while we were at the feed shop, but Sal let me know this afternoon that enough other people have volunteered to fill the rest of the times. Even Levi Williams signed up, and he hasn't worked a farm in years."

"I can't believe it," Sly said happily .

"I'll drop it off with Big Jim tomorrow when I go over," Jared told him. "I think he'll get a kick out of seeing how many of his neighbors want to help out."

"How did you do this?" Cora asked, looking up from the sheet she held in her hand.

"He stood on a chair," Sly said instantly. "Everyone looked at him like, wow. A nd it was so cool."

"Thanks, Rocky," Jared said with a smile. "But it had nothing to do with me. It was all about Big Jim and how much everyone loves him and wants to make sure his family has everything they need."

Sly gave his mom a hug and Jared realized she had tears in her eyes.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Just happy for little Jimmy," she said.

"Should we celebrate?" he asked.

She smiled and nodded, and he swore her cheeks got a little pink.

"Sylvester, you have a choice to make for tonight," she told him. "Jared brought over popcorn and a movie."

"The first Rocky movie," Jared put in.

"The first Rocky movie," she said, nodding.

Sly was already jumping up and down a little.

" Or ," Cora said, "he can help you make decorations for the Christmas tree."

Sylvester looked torn and for a moment, Jared swore he could see the gears turning in his head.

"I guess we have all year to watch Rocky ," he said at last. "But we want our tree to have more decorations now."

"Great decision," Jared told him right away, filing away the excellent excuse to come over again. "I can come back to watch the movie with you anytime. Are you ready to make decorations?"

"I'll get started on snacks," Cora said, smiling fondly at Sylvester and then turning her beautiful gray eyes to Jared.

It hit him suddenly that he was here even though he wasn't working on the house, and she seemed really happy about it.

Is this a real friendship now?

Jared thought it was. But deep down, he hoped it was more than friendship that might be blossoming between them.

The evening passed peacefully. Jared sat at the table with Sly, teaching him how to make the simple paper ornaments his mother had taught him to do when he was a kid.

Cora brought them each a thick slice of warm cranberry bread and sat down to help. Together, the three of them made snowflakes and handprints and even a few yards of delicate chain from a stack of colored paper in Sly's desk.

Christmas music still played on the radio and at one point when he looked up, Jared spotted some snowflakes drifting down outside.

"Looks like Christmas is coming," he said, nodding to the window.

"It's snowing ," Sly yelled out, delighted .

Jared and Cora watched as he scampered to the front window and gazed out, amazed.

"It probably won't stick," Jared warned him. "The real snow won't come until January. But it's pretty, isn't it?"

"It's just like in Narnia," Sly said dreamily.

Jared looked to Cora, wondering where Narnia was. He'd thought they were from Virginia, and there certainly wasn't much snow down that way.

"Tell me you've read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ," she said, her eyebrows lifting.

"Uh, I wasn't much of a reader until your son got hold of me," he admitted.

"We'll read that one next," Sly said, dashing back to Jared. "But it's a series, so you have to be patient if you want to find out the end of the story."

"I'm a patient man," Jared said, his eyes sliding to Cora of their own accord.

Her cheeks blushed pink and her eyes darted quickly back to the paper snowflake she was working on, her scissors snipping delicately.

"I think it's just about time for bed," she told Sly quietly. "Go brush your teeth and get ready, and I'll be up to read to you in ten minutes."

"I want Jared to read to me," Sly said firmly.

Cora looked to Jared, clearly a little surprised at the request, even though it wasn't the first time.

"I'd love to," he said immediately.

"Come on," Sly said. "You help me pick out my pajamas."

Cora nodded, so Jared allowed himself to be led upstairs and away from the scene at the table that he wanted so much to allow himself to believe was the very beginning of flirtation.

Sylvester picked out pajamas with Santa Claus faces on them and Jared watched as he carefully brushed his teeth, locking eyes with himself in the mirror with such intensity that it was all Jared could do not to chuckle.

"We're in the middle of a book right now," Sly announced as he crawled into bed. "But you should read the first chapter to me. Then you'll see if you want to read this one too."

Jared smiled and picked up Treasure Island from the bedside table. As always, he felt a little self-conscious about reading out loud at first, but before long, he was lost in the tale of a boy observing an old admiral in an ancient lodging house, and keeping an eye out for a one-legged man.

And before the end of the first chapter, Sly had drifted off.

Jared closed the book and set it on the bedside table, tucking the boy's blanket more firmly around him before heading downstairs to his mother.

"Will you stay for a cup of tea?" Her voice was a little softer than usual as she looked up at him. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure," he told her. "Want me to fix it?"

"We can do it together," she told him with a faint smile.

He followed her to the kitchen, wondering what she wanted to ask him, but pretty certain he already knew.

While he'd gone upstairs with Sly, she'd had the chance to sit down here and think about what was happening between them. She was going to ask him what his intentions were.

And unlike anytime a woman had asked him that question in the past, this time he wasn't sure what he would say.

Tell her the truth, a little voice sang from the depths of his heart. Tell her your intentions are serious, that your intentions are to give her and her boy everything they could ever want.

And suddenly he knew that he would tell her all of that and more. He would do anything to spend his quiet evenings here, talking with Cora and reading to Sylvester—doing all he could to bring peace to their lives as well.

"I wanted to ask about the fishing hole," she said, her gentle voice stopping his train of thought. "Why is it so important to you?"

Everything that had been building in his heart was left on hold as his jangled brain took her question in.

"The fishing hole?" he echoed.

"Yes," she said, her gray eyes serious. "I know there must be some reason you're so interested in it other than catching yourself some supper once in a while."

"I used to come here with my grandfather," he told her, recalibrating his thoughts as he gazed down at the empty mug in his hand. "I have a lot of brothers and sisters, but he would take me—just me, and we would sit on the big rock that juts out over the creek together."

"That sounds really special," she said, nodding.

"It was," he told her. "He didn't just take me to teach me how to fish. It was more than that. I think he knew how much I loved the peace of it, even though I was what the teachers called a high energy kid."

She nodded again, looking like she was trying not to smile.

"We went there when I was a teenager too," he went on. "We would just… talk. He was a good listener and he told me things too, about his own life. Some of my favorite memories are by that creek."

She nodded again, her eyes glistening a little now.

"And it's where I've gone to remember him since he passed," he said gruffly, not wanting his own tears to fall. "I go there and sometimes it's like I can hear him talking to me again in the sound of the water over the stones."

"I'm sorry I didn't know that before I put up the fence," Cora said softly after a moment.

"I'm sorry I didn't know about Sylvester's asthma before I yelled at you for it," Jared replied. "I understand why you don't want him going back there by himself. He's a really special kid."

He stopped himself, feeling he might be overstepping if he told her how much he personally cared about Sylvester's safety.

"He's also pretty good about following directions," she said, smiling up at him. "I think I can trust him to stay out of the woods now that we've been here a little while."

Jared blinked at her, unable to believe what she was saying.

"The time I've spent here," she said, "it's taught me that it's okay to let my guard down a little. After I lost Arthur, I guess… I'm just so scared I'll lose Sylvester too."

Suddenly, tears were spilling from her eyes and he was moving to her without thinking, pulling her into his arms and wishing he could keep the whole world at bay so that she and Sylvester would never experience another moment of fear or pain.

She relaxed against his chest, sobbing silently.

He held her close, breathing in her delicate scent and trying to absorb her pain, wishing he could take it all into himself and leave her feeling as light as air—as light as he felt every time she smiled at him with her gray eyes dancing.

After a few minutes, her sobs subsided.

She pulled back and he released her, keeping his hands resting lightly on her shoulders, in case she needed him again.

"You can put a gate in the fence," she told him, wiping her eyes and then looking up at him, her eyes luminous.

On the surface, she was offering him what he had wanted in the first place, access to the old fishing hole. But he knew instinctively what this really meant.

Maybe she wasn't exactly tearing down all her walls. But she was offering him a chance to forge a path into her heart.

Please don't mess this up, he begged himself inwardly.

"I'll tell you what," he told her carefully. "I'm going to get your house all taken care of first. We'll get bookshelves up in Sly's room, and I'll smooth out all the patches throughout the house and touch up the paint. Then , if you still want me to, I'll put a gate in the fence."

She nodded slowly, her eyes on his.

In spite of all his good intentions, his gaze fell to her mouth, and he felt the sizzle of heat in the air between them and a pull like nothing he had experienced before in his life.

Without meaning to, he slid one hand from her shoulder up to cup her face in his hand, marveling at the softness of her skin.

She tilted her face slightly, as if inviting him to do what he already wanted so badly to do.

He leaned down, ready to seal all his promises with a kiss.

But the high whistle of the tea kettle split the air, breaking the spell between them.

Cora stepped back and turned, laughing nervously, and Jared thrust his hands in his pockets, furious and grateful all at once for the well-timed interruption.