Family Tree by Carol Grace

Author:Carol Grace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

“My dream didn’t come true,” Dylan said, shooting his mother an accusing look as he swung back and forth in the swing on her aunt’s front porch. “You said if I helped, it would. But my daddy still hasn’t come back.”

“I know,” Laura said, leaning against a post on the wide veranda. “But some dreams just don’t come true. No matter how much we want them to. No matter how hard we try. When I was about your age I dreamed of being a rodeo star. I practiced riding my pony bareback, round and round the corral, roping tree stumps, but my dream still didn’t come true.”

“Instead you got to be a post office lady.”

She smiled wryly. It must sound pretty grim to an eight-year-old. At the moment it even sounded grim to her.

“What do you dream of now?” he asked, stopping the swing with the toe of his sneaker and cocking his head at her.

“Right now? I dream of being the postmistress and getting the apartment over the post office for us, with the fenced yard in back. And I’m doing everything I can to make that dream come true. I work hard at my job and…and…well, I’m just waiting to hear.” Okay, maybe it didn’t sound like much of a dream to an eight-year-old, but there were times when you realized that certain dreams weren’t going to come true, like happily-ever-after, and you’d better lower your expectations and substitute something more realistic.

“But when my dream comes true, you won’t need your dream anymore, Mom. You won’t need to work at the post office and we can move back to the ranch,” he said.

She swallowed hard. Was this the time to tell him once again that his daddy wasn’t coming back? No, it wasn’t. If only dreams like his came true. She held her breath, waiting for Dylan to tell her they were going back to the ranch when his dream came true, but he didn’t say that. If he had, she wouldn’t have been able to stand it.

“Brandon said I got to be patient,” he said. “Do you know what that means?”

“Yes, I think I do,” she said. “It means your dream may take a long time to come true. But mine won’t. It’s going to come true very soon. At least I think it will.”

“Do you like him?” her son asked.

“Who?” she asked, startled.

“Brandon.”

“Yes, of course,” she said quickly. What else could she say? How could she not like the man who, in spite of himself, was being good to her son?

“He likes you.”

She flushed, glad her son couldn’t see her face in the dusk. She wanted to ask how he knew, but she didn’t.

“He hasn’t got a wife or a kid. We haven’t got a dad.” He paused and looked her in the eye.

Oh, Lord. How long did it take him to put two and two together. How many other people, like her aunt, were thinking the same thing?

“That’s right,” she said. “But we’ve got each other.

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