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 out. She no longer wanted to live in the family home. For the past 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 she’d met David Rhodes. Linc had never found out precisely when that had happened. Not once in the six months 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?” 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 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 said 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. 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.”
“Of course we welcome the baby,” Linc said. “He’s our flesh and blood, our nephew.“
“Hang on a minute.” Mel looked pensive. “Ned has a point.”
It wasn’t often that Mel agreed with Ned. “What do you mean?” “Mary Jo’s pregnant, right?”
That question didn’t require a response.
“And everyone knows how unreasonable women can get when they’re in, uh, a delicate condition.”
Linc scratched his head. “Mary Jo was like that long before she got pregnant.”
“True, but she’s been even more unreasonable lately, don’t you think? ”
Mel wasn’t wrong there.
“Maybe we should bring her a gift just so she’ll know how concerned we are about her and the baby. How much we care. We want her with us for Christmas, don’t we?”
“What woman doesn’t like gifts?” Linc said, thinking out loud.
“Yup,” Ned said, smiling at Mel. “It couldn’t hurt.”
Linc conceded. “Okay, then, we’ll each bring her a gift.”
They returned to their individual bedrooms, planning to meet in the kitchen five minutes later. Linc had gone online a few weeks ago and ordered a miniature football, basketball and soccer ball for his yet-to-be-born nephew. He couldn’t speak for the others, but he suspected they too had chosen gifts that were geared toward sports. At first he figured he’d bring the football, but then he reconsidered. He’d been after Mary Jo to save money and in an effort to encourage her, he’d purchased a gold coin that he planned to present on her birthday in February. Perfect. He pocketed the coin and hurried to the kitchen.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” Mel echoed.
“Me, too,” Ned confirmed.
The three brothers hurried out to the four-door pickup Linc drove. Mel automatically climbed into the front passenger seat and Ned sat directly behind him.
“You got your gift?” Linc asked Mel.
“Yeah. I’m bringing her perfume.”
“Good idea,” Linc said approvingly. “Where’d you get it?”
“I actually bought it for Annie, but I’ll get her something else….”
“Ned?” Linc asked.
“Incense,” his youngest brother mumbled.
“You brought her what?“
“Incense. She likes that stuff. It was gonna be part of her Christmas gift anyway.”
“Okay.” Linc shook his head rather than ask any further questions. Whatever his brothers chose to bring Mary Jo was up to them.
He turned his key in the ignition, then rested his arm over the back of the seat and angled his head so he could see behind him as he reversed out of the driveway. He’d reached the stop sign at the end of the block before it occurred to him to ask.
“Which way?”
“North,”