A Home for Christmas by Julia Ridgmont

Author:Julia Ridgmont [Ridgmont, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Leah swiveled around so fast, her head spun. “Oh,” she said, standing. “Blake. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.”

He hiked a brow. “Obviously.” As he took a step closer in the dim light of the room, he appeared a little more rugged, with a five o’clock shadow covering his face. His eyes, usually so open and welcoming, were narrowed, and the rigid set of his jaw made her take a step back as well. The back of her knees came up against the bed.

“Papa, Miss Leah was just telling me the bestest story!” Trixie chimed.

Leah glanced behind her, noting the girl’s happy face. It had taken some work to cajole Trixie into smiling. Leah’s answering smile slid right off her face, however, when Blake said tightly, “May I have a word with you, please?”

She swallowed. He didn’t appear very happy with her at all. “Yes, of course.”

Leah sedately followed Blake out of the bedroom, passing him at the door where he waited and then shut it with a click. Now she felt his eyes boring into her back as they went into the living room. As soon as they were out of earshot, he said, “Sit down for a moment, please.”

She took one end of the sofa while he took the other. Situating herself on the edge, keeping her back straight, and folding her hands primly in her lap, she inwardly cringed when she noticed that his tight expression hadn’t changed.

He began in a strained voice, “Why are you repeating such drivel to my daughter?”

Drivel?

“It’s a fairtytale,” she said haltingly. “At least, I think it is. I’ve heard it plenty of times before.”

“Yes, I realize that,” he said with a sharp nod. “One of those useless tales that came from the Brothers Grimm, if I remember correctly. It has no practical value whatsoever.”

Leah didn’t know what to say to that. The story had been one of her favorites while in the orphanage. Many a night she had lain in her small bed, on a sheet that had turned thin and gray from too many washings, reciting it to herself and imagining in her mind the girl being rescued from her plight by the strange little man. It had taken her worries away for just a moment—oh, but what a glorious moment it had been, right before she fell asleep and dreamt of a land far away with a castle fit for a queen that looked suspiciously like herself.

A noise came from Blake’s throat. Not a growl exactly, but something close.

“I apologize if I have offended you. It wasn’t my intention to do so.” Fear lodged itself into her heart. Having been dismissed from three positions previously, she wondered what he would say or do next.

His intense eyes bore into hers, yet by sheer will, she didn’t flinch. Then he abruptly stood and began pacing. “It’s just that the Bible offers so much more than senseless fairytales,” he said after a long moment. “It is God’s word to us, His children.

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