A Family By Christmas
Author
Brenda Novak
Reads
16.3K
Chapters
25
After facing the difficult reality of her marriage, Jaclyn Wentworth leaves her cheating ex-husband and settles in Reno with her three children. Struggling with her new beginning, Jaclyn runs into Cole Perrini, former high school bad boy, now successful in his business and also kind enough to give her a job in his company. Cole is opposite to Jaclyn's ex-husband in every way, but working closely together during the charming Christmas season makes Jaclyn realize this might be exactly what her family needs. As the attraction between them grows, Cole and Jaclyn struggle to keep their relationship professional. Will both open their hearts to this second chance and finally choose each other?
PROLOGUE
THIS WAS IT, the absolute last straw. Jackie Wentworth couldnât take any more.
Numb, she sat in her new Suburban, the engine idling, as she stared in sickened wonder at her husbandâs Dodge Ram with its identifying rodeo bumper stickers. Sheâd spent hours looking for him, worried when sheâd returned home from her friendâs place in Utah a day early to find their bed, their entire section of his parentsâ home, empty. Even though it was the middle of the night, sheâd driven past his friendsâ houses, his two sistersâ houses and gone all the way out to Sand Mountain, his favorite weekend haunt.
But sheâd been fooling herself, of course. His dune buggy, or âsand rail,â was still in the garage. She just couldnât bring herself to believe the worst, at least not at first, not after all the counseling sessions and promises and hard-won confessions theyâd been throughâand finally, finally the forgiveness sheâd managed to wring from her own heart. But here he was, back to his old tricks.
What a waste. Jackie closed her eyes, hoping sheâd see something different when she opened them again. But the scene was just the same. Her husbandâs truck sat in the dimly lit parking lot of Maxineâs, one of the legalized houses of prostitution that stood neighborless in the barren desert just outside Feld, Nevada.
Behind her, Mackenzie and Alex were wearing their pajamas and fighting over the pretzels Jackie had bought to keep them occupied. Alyssa, the baby of the family at two years old, wailed miserably in her car seat. It was nearly three in the morning. Jackie couldnât blame them for feeling put out. But she heard the noise they made as though it came from somewhere far away. Her ears were ringing too loudly, her heart thumping too hard, to hear anything clearly.
Opening her door, just in case she was going to be sick, Jackie put her head between her legs and took long, deep breaths. Itâs okay. Youâre okay, she told herself.
But she wasnât okay. She didnât know if sheâd ever be okay again. She only knew sheâd leave Terry. Sheâd take the children with her if she had to crawl on her hands and knees and carry the three of them on her back. And this time she wouldnât let anything undermine her determination.
âMommy? Whatâs wrong with you? You look like youâre gonna throw up.â
âMom, Alex is touching me.â
âShut up. Youâre such a pain.â
âYou shut up. Youâre the one who started it.â
Jackie couldnât answer. She straightened, thinking of the movie classic Gone with the Wind. She pictured Scarlett OâHara crying and angry and shaking her fist at the sky, swearing sheâd never go hungry again, and finally understood the depth of that kind of resolve. Because she felt the same way.
âAs God is my witness, I will never let myself become so dependent on another human being again,â she muttered.
âMommy? Why are you talking to yourself? Whatâs wrong with you?â
âJust leave her alone. Canât you see sheâs sick?â
Alyssa cried louder. âOut, out, out!â she chanted.
âYes, sweetheart.â Jackie turned, dry-eyed, to face the three of them. âWeâre getting out. Soon.â Out of Feld. Out of Nevada. Out of her loveless marriage.
Her words did nothing to placate the baby. Alyssa had no concept of soon, except that it wasnât now, but Jackie felt infinitely better. Terry thought he had her where he wanted her. Since the car accident that had killed her parents six years earlier, she had no family to speak of. Sheâd spent what money sheâd inherited attempting to leave him once before. And sheâd married him right out of high school, so she had no college education, no marketable job skillsâand three young children to care for.
What would she ever do without him? How would she make it? They lived with his parents on his fatherâs ranch. Terry knew heâd inherit the whole operation someday, but they had no real money, not of their own. Her husband hung out with the same guys heâd known in high school, partied nearly as hard and cheated on his wife. And every time he got himself into a scrape, he ran to Daddy.
Her life had turned out so differently from what sheâd planned. Sheâd married Terry Wentworth because she believed in his potential, the sweetness in him. Sheâd wanted to see him rise to that potential. But at eighteen she probably wasnât the best judge of character. Since then, sheâd realized he was too lazy and too weak to fight the influence of having everything handed to him on a silver platter. He had no determination, no ambition, because no problem was too big for Daddy to solve.
Except this one, Jackie promised. Burt Wentworth was a formidable foe, but if he gave her trouble over the divorceâand she knew he wouldâsheâd fight him.
She thought of marching into Maxineâs to tell Terry so, then decided against it. Why embarrass him? Let him have his fun. Reality would intrude soon enough. But she couldnât leave without letting him know she knew what he was up to. Otherwise heâd claim sheâd seen someone elseâs truck in the dark. Heâd lie and cry and play the martyr. And she was done with all that.
Backing the Suburban out of the lot and parking it where the children could no longer see Terryâs truck, she surreptitiously retrieved the large hunting knife they kept in the glove box, got out and methodically slashed all four of Terryâs tires. The wheezing sound of escaping air followed her back to the Suburban. By now the baby was quiet, and her older children had stopped fighting, too busy turning in their seats, trying to see where sheâd gone.
âWhat did you do?â Alex asked, as she climbed back in.
Jackie discreetly put the knife away and started the car again. âI just left Daddy a message,â she said.
