Free A Mummy for Christmas by Clare Revell Page B

your say so, I wanted to check the validity of…” He broke off.
    Carly’s heart fell as Stan’s eyes glistened. The man looked positively broken. “I don’t know what I want to do,” she whispered. “A DNA test might be an idea.”
    He nodded slowly and reluctantly. “OK.”
    Carly reached out and touched his cheek. “It’ll be OK.”
    “No, it isn’t. Never will be,” he managed.
    She turned his face to hers and leaned in. “It will be.” She kissed him and then pulled back.
    Stan looked at her for a moment, then pulled her close and kissed her thoroughly, taking her breath away.
    Her heart pounded, the strength of her response adding to the turmoil inside her. “I should go before things get any more complicated than they already are.”
    He nodded. “OK.”
    “I need to talk to my mother; straighten things out. Would you come with me? I’m less likely to kill her that way.”
    “Where does she live?”
    “Cardiff. She moved there about four years ago.”
    Stan rubbed the back of his neck. “I have a flight to Cardiff in the morning. Have her meet us at the airport sometime after ten. I’ll have a couple of hours before I have to be back on duty at one. I’ll get you on my flight. But you’ll need to be here at quarter to seven.” He glanced at the clock. “Or you can sleep in the spare room as it’s almost eleven now.”
    “Is it?” She stifled a yawn. “I hadn’t realized it was so late.”
    “Nor had I.”
    “OK, then, thank you.”
    After loaning her a shirt to sleep in, Stan led her upstairs to the guest room, pointing out the bathroom. “I’ll put towels in there for you. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”
    “Night.” She paused in the doorway, watching as he peeked in on Haley-Jo before he headed into his own room and closed the door. She held the shirt to her nose, breathing in his scent, and shivered.
    Carly shut the door and sat on the bed. There was a message on her phone from the nursing home saying her mother would like to see her tomorrow. Carly returned the call and said she’d be at the airport at ten if her mother could meet her there.
    She closed the phone and laid it down. A Bible lay on the side table. She picked it up, running her hands over the cover. Opening it, she found the parable of the prodigal son bookmarked. She read it slowly, the realization that Stan was right dawning on her.
    God had been there all along. He’d never let go of her. Just like the son in the story, she’d gone her own way, letting the past cling to her. But God was running down the road towards her and all she had to do was turn back to Him.

9
    Stan had just finished his first coffee of the day, when Haley-Jo burst into the kitchen, tugging her uniform jumper over her head. At least he wasn’t going to have a fight to get her out of bed, but she didn’t look happy. “Morning, sweetheart. How are you?”
    “Did you and Carly have a sleepover last night? Or is she just here really, really early? I saw her come out of the bathroom.”
    “She slept in the spare bedroom, thank you very much.” Stan’s cheeks heated. Nothing got past this child.
    “Yes, I did,” Carly said from the doorway. She looked pale and drawn. Bags under her eyes indicated the lack of sleep. “It was really late by the time we finished talking last night, and as I’m on the same flight to Cardiff as your dad, we figured it made sense for us to go to the airport together.”
    “Why?”
    “Why am I going?” Carly took the cup of coffee from Stan. “Thank you. I’m going to see my mother. I haven’t spoken to her in eight years.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I haven’t.”
    “Why?”
    “Haley-Jo, that’s enough,” Stan said, wanting to end this now before she asked anything more personal.
    “Why?”
    Carly rolled her eyes. “Good grief you ask why an awful lot.”
    “It’s her favorite question,” Stan said. “And it’s incredibly annoying. The only way to deal with it is to tell