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Jingle Bell Babies

“Jesse?” Lori emerged from the kitchen and Jesse’s thoughts scattered in a dozen different directions. Dressed in loose-fitting grey sweatpants and a yellow T-shirt, she’d taken the braid out of her russet hair and it skimmed her shoulders like a glossy curtain. How Lori managed to look as fresh and perky as she had when he’d seen her earlier that day was a complete mystery. In contrast, Jesse knew he looked as if he’d been forced through his grandmother’s antique wringer washer. Backward. “I thought you’d be asleep by now.” Jesse couldn’t help it that the words came out low and gritty, sifted through the gravel that suddenly filled his throat. “You didn’t come in for supper.” Jesse searched Lori’s eyes, looking for signs of resentment as he braced himself for what would happen next. Lori would plead temporary insanity for giving up an eight-hour workday for a job with an absentee employer who required her presence 24/7. And expected her to cook, too. And then didn’t show up for supper. “I had to help a nervous mama deliver a calf.” It was the truth, but as far as excuses went, Jesse figured Lori wouldn’t accept it as a legitimate one. Cows dropped calves all the time without assistance, but when that first-time mama had bellowed and rolled confused, mournful eyes in his direction, Jesse didn’t have the heart to abandon her. “I can understand that.” Lori quickly corrected the statement with a soft laugh. “Oh, not the calf part. The nervous mama part.” The sound of her laughter blew holes in Jesse’s defenses. Which explained why a few seconds later he found himself standing in the kitchen. A different kitchen that the one he’d been in that morning. Lori hadn’t simply straightened up the kitchen; she’d transformed it. Jesse instantly recognized the lace tablecloth over the scarred surface of the oak table as one that his mother had used for company. Jesse’s father had dabbled in woodworking and surprised her with the table as a gift for their tenth wedding anniversary. The tornado had snapped off two of the legs, but Jesse couldn’t bring himself to add it to the pile of debris. Instead, he’d hammered it back together and returned it to its rightful place in the center of the room. His gaze lingered for a moment on the candle that served as a centerpiece before moving to Lori, who stood at the counter dishing up something from the Crock-Pot. “My favorite thing about one-pot cooking is that the food doesn’t dry out, even if you can’t get to it right away.” To Jesse’s astonishment, Lori handed the plate to him. The tantalizing aroma of roast beef, red potatoes and baby carrots made him forget all about the bowl of peanuts on his desk. He stood rooted to the floor until he felt the touch of Lori’s hand under his elbow, guiding him to the table. She clucked her tongue. “Sit down before you fall down, cowboy.”

(Copyright 2009 Kathryn Springer/ Steeple Hill Love Inspired)