Read Online Angels in the Snow by Rexanne Becnel - Free Book Online Page A

“They’re all delicious. You should try them someday.”
    â€œYour brother is weird,” Jennifer muttered to Lucy once he was gone.
    â€œThey are delicious.” The younger girl defended her absent brother. “At least the way Moonbeam makes them, they are.”
    Judith pushed the overstuffed couch nearer the fireplace and positioned two easy chairs next to it, smiling to herself. Jennifer and her well-dressed preteen princess friends were as far removed from the Moonbeams of the world as it was possible to be. Jennifer’s disbelief and disgust wasn’t surprising; Judith felt nearly the same. Still, it would be interesting to see how Jennifer and Alex got along with these children whose upbringing was obviously so unlike their own. Hopefully they would manage all right.
    Judith watched Alex and Robbie turtle-walk into the big living room with the dining table suspended between them. Judging only by their looks, the two shaggy-haired boys appeared cut from the same mold. Both were skinny and dark haired, although Alex was a couple of years older and almost a head taller.
    â€œWhere are you from?” she asked Marilyn as they unrolled the thick rug Joe had brought down from one of the bedrooms.
    â€œWe live near Edgard, but we’d been down at Reed City. There’s a big crafts fair there every year right before Christmas. It’s the last bazaar we attend before the winter lull.”
    â€œYou sell things at fairs and bazaars?”
    The slightly younger woman pushed her heavy dark hair behind her ear. “I’m a weaver. Joe is a wood craftsman and painter. We follow the fairs and festivals,” she added with a faint edge of challenge in her voice.
    â€œOh.” Judith combed the fringed edges of the Oriental carpet with her fingers. There was an unexpected wholesomeness about this family. And even though following crafts fairs was an odd existence, completely unlike her own, part of her understood its appeal. These people had done what every child dreamed of doing: they’d run away with the circus, more or less.
    â€œDo you always bring the children with you?” she asked, truly interested. She sensed the slow relaxation of Marilyn’s tension.
    â€œAlways. We’re a family. We stick together. I was a teacher before I turned to weaving, so when we’re on the road, I homeschool them. Once we get home, I’ll probably have them write their own versions of this latest adventure.” She smiled. “It’s always enlightening to see the same event from three very different viewpoints.”
    â€œSurely Josie is too young to write.”
    â€œShe draws pictures, then tells me what captions to write for them. But it won’t be long before she’s writing them herself.”
    A cold rush of air announced Charles’s return.
    â€œDamn, it’s frigid out there!” He crossed to the fireplace slapping his hands against his arms while he backed as near the roaring flames as he dared.
    Marilyn had a fresh mug of coffee for him before he could ask for one. “Any luck?”
    â€œNo. At least not with my phone.” A last violent shiver shook him. He removed his gloves with stiff fingers, and gratefully took the mug she offered. “I guess the weather is affecting the cellular system.”
    â€œWas the radio out, too?” Judith asked.
    â€œNo. I got a couple of stations, enough to hear that the storm has taken out a lot of power lines. For the time being, it looks like we’re completely cut off.”
    Judith met her husband’s eyes, and the worry she saw there upset her more than anything else. They could manage without electricity so long as firewood was plentiful. They had shelter. They had food. She’d considered this a major inconvenience. But she suddenly recognized the seriousness of their predicament. They could be trapped here for days—or even weeks. There were no other homes nearby.