Wade glumly studied the attention Lucas was receiving. “A lesser man might be jealous at this point.”
“You can come, too, Daddy,” Clay assured him.
“Thanks, pal. I’ll do that. Go get your jacket and your helmet.”
Emily lingered behind with Lucas when Wade and Clay went outside. “It has meant so much to me to have you here today, Lucas.”
“I’ve enjoyed the visit,” he assured her.
“Won’t you reconsider staying for the wedding? It just wouldn’t seem complete without you there.”
“Emily...”
“Just think about it, okay?”
He nodded, feeling like a heel—which didn’t seem quite right, since he was only doing what was best for Emily. Wasn’t he? “I’ll think about it.”
He was rewarded by her quick, bright smile. “At least you didn’t say no.”
“Uncle Lucas! I’m ready. Come watch me.”
Clay’s eager shout drifted through the open front door.
Lucas chuckled and draped his arm around his sister’s shoulders. “Sounds like we’d better get outside.”
RACHEL FOUND NOTHING else of importance in her brother’s things that afternoon. She went through everything in the attic, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. And she didn’t find anything else that had belonged to her father.
She waited until her grandmother rose from a long nap after her lunch with the pastor.
“I’ve been sorting and packing this afternoon,” Rachel said, trying to sound casual about it. “I can’t find any of Dad’s things. Do you know what Mother did with them?”
“Your uncle Sam offered to store them in that metal building behind his house,” her grandmother replied. “You know how your mother was after your father left. She didn’t want anything that belonged to him left around here. Sam said he would put the things away for you and...and Roger.”
Rachel grimaced. She wanted to go through her father’s things, but she didn’t want to have to explain her reasons to her uncle. Sam was such a difficult man.
The doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of a couple of ladies from her grandmother’s church, making a Christmas call on their ailing friend. Rachel visited with them for a little while, serving eggnog all around. Then she excused herself, allowing the long-time friends to visit.
She spent the remainder of the afternoon reading poems from the book Lucas had given her, reliving the morning she’d spent with him—and wondering how she could get to her father’s things without going through her uncle.
WADE AND EMILY went out Christmas evening to take Clay to a “living Nativity” at the First Baptist Church of Honoria. The church had provided the display every Christmas evening for the past thirty years and it had become a popular community tradition.
They asked Lucas to join them for the display and then dinner afterward, but he declined. “We don’t really want everyone gawking at me instead of Mary and Joseph, do we?”
“Why would everyone gawk at you, Uncle Lucas?”
Lucas ruffled the puzzled child’s hair. “Good question, kid. But it used to be one of the town’s favorite sports.”
“We’ll be back early,” Emily told him on her way out the door.
“Take your time. I can entertain myself.”
He watched them drive away, then closed the door and walked into the living room. The multicolored Christmas-tree lights were reflected from every shiny surface in the room. Clay’s toys lay tumbled on the carpet around the base of the tree, along with a few scattered scraps of colored paper that had been overlooked when Wade had walked through with a trash bag earlier.
There’d been laughter in the house that moming, Lucas mused. A child’s squeals of joy. Christmas carols playing from Emily’s stereo. The smells of coffee, bacon, made-from-scratch biscuits. Lucas imagined this had been the cheeriest Christmas this old house had seen in many years—maybe ever. He could envision many more happy Christmases to follow, especially when Wade and Emily had more children, as he was sure they would.
He wanted to be around to see those kids, he realized now. This is what he’d been afraid of—that once his sister was back in his life, he wouldn’t want to let her go again.
And was he really going to be able to walk away from Rachel again—especially after this morning?