Page 45 of Take Me Home for Christmas

“Tell me about your family, Brax,” Beth said.

Oh boy. If she was expecting the discussion to switch to something more lighthearted, I was in trouble. Unless I did what I usually did. “There’s just me and my younger sister,” I said.

Stop there, I warned myself.Like you always do.

Beth was looking at me kindly. Like she somehow intuited that there might be more. “I told you my secrets,” she said. “Now it’s okay if you tell me yours.” She paused. “I don’t mean to joke. Just that you seem like you might be a person who’s been on his own for a long time.”

That took me aback. I must have given her a puzzled look.

“Mia’s told me as much, but I also see the signs.” She closed the photo album and sighed. “My dad died when I was eighteen, and my mom sort of fell apart. That left me in charge of my three siblings. I felt responsible, like I had the world on my shoulders, but I was determined to help them to turn out right. I was tough on them. But I’m proud to say they all turned out to be great human beings. And as for me…sometimes, I longed for someone to turn to myself. But I learned to be strong on my own. Maybe sometimes too independent.” She looked at me long and hard. “Forgive me if I’m being pushy, but I sense that same trait in you. Not that I know you that well, but you seem to minimize the hardship you must have gone through.”

Yeah. This woman saw straight through me. Just like her daughter.

“My mom—had problems,” I found myself saying for the second time ever. “I was placed in foster care from twelve on.”

She set down her mug and made a soft exclamation. “You stayed with your sister, then?”

I shook my head. “No.” Was I really going to spill it all? “A nice family adopted her. I made sure we always stayed in touch.”

She shook her head sadly. “And what happened to you?”

“I aged out of the system, but I made it to college. School saved me, really.” My smarts had given me a new life.

“You need more than intelligence to thrive the way you did.”

I shrugged, embarrassed. It was hard to take the compliment. She didn’t see the scars. “I had a sports scholarship,and then academic ones. That’s how I made it to UW. And I worked a lot of part-time jobs.”

“Like I said, more than smarts. Strength of character.” She smiled. “Will you see your sister over your break?”

“Not enough time off, but I plan to go see her as soon as I can.”

“You came here with Mia instead of seeing your sister.”

I nodded. Mia needed me. That was a no-brainer.

Beth gave me a side hug. A good one, full of warmth and unspoken solidarity. That’s what got me. That she sensed what I needed even more than I did. To be listened to. To acknowledge that I’d survived despite all I’d been through. No one had ever said that to me before.

“I see much more than your survivorship. I see your kind heart,” she said softly. “Just like I see the way you look at my daughter.” She squeezed harder. “From all that Mia’s told me, you treat her like the jewel she is. I’ve never seen her so happy. For a while, I suspected that maybe she was embellishing to keep my spirits up. But now I see for myself that it’s all true.”

I waited for a wave of guilt to cut through me. But it never came.

I just felt…grateful. To be here. With Mia. With this amazing family. With this kind woman who was so willing to take me into her home and give her friendship. I shouldn’t have been surprised, because Mia was the exact same way.

I cleared my throat. “Well, you have a very special daughter, Mrs. D.” I found myself wanting to say so much more. Even ask her if she thought it was possible for someone like me?—

“Call me Beth. And yes. Yes, I do.” She gave me that deep look again. “And she’s found someone who brings out the best in her. As I think she does for you. That’s really what love is all about, isn’t it? It repairs old wounds. It makes us our best selves.And it helps us to move on from the past and create a brand-new future where anything is possible.”

I desperately wanted to believe that. I looked down to find my hands fisted, tense. I’d hung on her every word.

Beth released my arm and stood up. “Well, here I am blathering on. I love chatting with you, but now we have something very important to do.”

That distracted me from my thoughts, but also put me on edge. “What’s that?”

A sparkle appeared in her eyes that made me feel like I was about to be asked to do something waaay out of my comfort zone. “We’re going to make cutout cookies.”

We?“Right now?” flew out of my mouth. It was—well, it was the butt crack of dawn was what it was.

“Yes,” she said cheerily, walking across the kitchen and pulling ingredients out of the cupboards. “We’ll get most of them done before everyone wakes up. Are you up for it?”

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