A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins Page A

woman, Reed?”
    His eyes emotionless, he grasped her hand and shook it. “Have a safe trip, Miss Winters.”
    He gently herded the twins back into the store, leaving Loreli to watch their departure wistfully.
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    â€œUncle Jake, were you mean to Loreli?” Dede asked Jake on the ride back home.
    Surprised by Dede’s uncharacteristic boldness, he glanced her way and replied, “I don’t think so.”
    As if she needed further explanation, Bebe asked him, “Why can’t Loreli be our mama?”
    He didn’t hesitate. “She’s not a proper lady.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œWell, she’s a gambler for one.”
    Dede asked, “What’s a gambler?”
    â€œA person who plays cards for a living. That’s not a job a woman should have.”
    Bebe said, “Our teacher, Mr. Hazel, told Aggie the same thing when she said she wanted to be a doctor. He told her that’s not a job a woman’s supposed to have. Is that what you mean, Uncle Jake?”
    Uncle Jake stammered, “Well no, I mean—I don’t know what I mean.”
    Bebe declared, “Well, Aggie’s Auntie Kiss said that that kind of thinking is called prejudice, and that a woman can be anything she wants, ’specially if she’s good at it. Is that true, Uncle Jake?”
    Jake twisted in his own trap. “I suppose it is prejudice in a way, pumpkin.”
    Dede looked surprised. “That’s what Loreli calls us. Are you going to start calling us that too?”
    Jake swallowed hard. Good lord! Where had that come from? Better yet, what was wrong with him? He’d nevercalled the girls by pet names before, ever. He added yet another failing mark to Loreli’s slate. “No. I guess I picked it up being around Loreli today.”
    Smiling, the girls settled back against the seats. They remained silent for the rest of the ride home.
    When he stopped the team beside the house, the girls left the wagon without a word. He remembered how his heart had panged upon hearing Bebe’s brave declaration that they didn’t mind growing up without a mama. Watching them slowly and silently entering the house made the pang return. He was the only one who could give them the thing they wanted most, and he was at his wits end as to how.
    After putting the girls to bed, Jake went out to the barn to check on his overnight patients: a sow that had gorged itself on so much of its owner’s rhubarb it could barely waddle, and a sheepdog who’d tangled with a wolf and lost badly. Upon finding his guests settled in, he walked back around to the front of the house. It had become his habit to sit on the porch and let the night breeze ease away the worries of the day.
    Tonight, however, he was brought up short by the sight of Bebe seated on the edge of the porch in the moonlight. Her brown ankles were visible beneath the hem of her flannel nightgown as she slowly brushed her toes against the grass.
    Jake joked gently. “Didn’t I put you to bed hours ago?”
    She looked his way and solemnly nodded. “Yes.”
    Concerned he stepped up on the porch. “Not feeling well?”
    â€œI feel fine. I came out to pray to mama. Aunt Leslie told me that when mothers go to heaven, God makes theminto stars so they can look down at night and make sure their children are having good dreams.”
    He smiled softly. Leslie had been a friend of his sister’s who’d taken the girls in for a short time after Bonnie’s death. “Which star is your mother?”
    â€œDede and I decided it’s that big one right there, because it’s always in the sky.”
    She was pointing at the North Star. “You may be right, Be.”
    â€œI miss her, Uncle,” Bebe said softly.
    Her sadness mingled with his own. “We all do.”
    Bebe confessed, “I asked her to ask God to send us another mama. Dede needs one so much….”
    Her