He had to admire her in so many ways. And in private—she was about to become a lot more important to him.
He leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs. Stella was going to have his baby. The thought still shocked him. He wanted this baby to be part of his life. He had lost one child. He didn’t want to lose this one. And Stella was the mother of his child. He needed to forget shock and do something nice for her right now. Neither of them were in love, but they liked being together. As he thought about it, he was startled to realize she was the first woman he had truly enjoyed being with since his wife.
That was good enough to build a relationship as far as he was concerned, and Stella was a solid, super person who was appealing and intelligent. She deserved better from him. He glanced at his watch, told Cole he was going to run an errand and left the club to head to the shops in town. He intended to do something for Stella soon. Even if he couldn’t give her love, he could help her and be there for her.
* * *
Stella decided to start with Paige. They agreed to meet briefly in the small café in the Cozy Inn midmorning over coffee. Stella arrived first and waved when she saw Paige step into the wide doorway. Dressed in jeans, a navy sweater, Western boots and a denim jacket, she crossed the room and sat at the small table across from Stella.
“What’s up?”
“Thanks for taking time out of your busy day. I want to ask you a favor. I’m concerned about how hard Christmas will be on the people who lost so much in the storm,” she said. “Christmas—any holiday—is a tough time when you’ve lost loved ones, your home, everything. I know you suffered a devastating loss, so if it upsets you to deal with this, Paige, say so and bow out. I’ll understand.”
“No. The holiday is going to be hard for a lot of people.”
“Well, there are some people here who can’t afford to have any kind of Christmas after all they lost. It’s another hurt on top of a hurt. This is about the people who can’t afford to get presents for their kids, for their families, who’ll be alone and don’t have much, that sort of thing.”
“They should have help. What did you have in mind?”
“A Christmas drive with gifts and maybe monetary donations for them so they can buy things.”
“Stella, I think that’s grand. Thank goodness we can afford to do things at Christmas. But you’re right about some of these people who have been hurt in every sort of way including financially. I think a Christmas drive to get presents would be wonderful. I’m so glad you thought about that.”
“Well, what I really want— I need a cochair and you would be perfect if you’d do it. I know you’re busy—”
Shaking her auburn hair away from her face, Paige smiled. “Stop there. I think it’s a good cause so, yes, I’ll cochair this project.”
“That’s so awesome,” Stella said, smiling at her friend. “I can always count on you. I’m going to call some others to be on our committee.”
“If you need my help, I can ask some friends for you.”
“Here’s my list. I’ve already sent a text to Lark and I left a message. I’ll call Megan and my friend Edie.”
“I can talk to Beth and Julie. I know Amanda Battle and I think she would help.”
“I have my lists. We’ll have a Christmas tree in the temporary town hall or I can get some of the merchants to take tags and hang them in their windows. We can make little paper ornaments and hang them on merchant’s Christmas trees. Each ornament will match up with a person who will receive a gift. The recipients can choose an ornament and take it home. They’ll match up with our master list, so we can tell who gets what present and we won’t have to use names. So, for instance, the ornament could read, ‘Boy—eight years old’ plus a number to match our list and suggested gift ideas. We’ll need to have gifts for the adults, too.”