Love's Embers (Canon City Series) Read Online Free PDF

happy.”
    “Gran, I know. I’m sorry I’ve been in a snit.” She looked at her and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I don’t know how you put up with me sometimes.”
    Aurora walked over and leaned on the desk. She reached her hand out and when she held Lark’s, she squeezed it tight. “I wish you’d let me know what happened. In June, you just stopped talking to me and I’ve been worried sick. Now with Charlie’s back...”
    “It has nothing to do with Charlie. He just showed up at the wrong time and it brought up some bad memories.” Lark stood up and wrapped her arm through Aurora’s.
    “That mail you received from the doctor’s office...Lark, you’re not sick or something?”
    “No.” Lark laughed. “Ironically, that was good news. I’m healthy as a horse with no bugs or anything.”
    “That’s good.” She held onto Lark’s arm.
    “Gran, I’ll try not to fly off the handle anymore. I’ve got two really difficult decisions to make and once I get those figured out, I should calm down.”
    “It would be nice to see you smile again. I’ve missed that. Is Thomas still pushing for you to move to Denver?”
    “Yeah.” Lark sighed and wiped her eyes. “The last time I talked to him, he made noises about how I should sell out my half of the business. We had a pretty good argument.” She pulled free of Aurora’s arm and sat back in her chair. “He’s being very obstinate about it.”
    “That doesn’t surprise me. He does tend to act very snotty sometimes. I hope he’ll make you happy, sweetheart.” She saw Lark trying to look at her with a blank expression, but could read the pain and confusion in her eyes.
    “Well, that’s a good thought. I’m tired and going to bed, Gran.” Lark stood again and kissed her cheek. “Love you.”
    Aurora saw the note on Lark’s desk and turned it to look at it. “Sweetheart, what is this?”
    Lark turned and she showed her the note. “It’s nothing, Gran,” she said and tried to pull it out of her hand. They locked eyes and she could tell Lark was sad. “Charlie sent me that when he was in Pueblo detention.”
    Aurora read the note. “Oh my Lord, no wonder you were so upset. Lark, why didn’t you tell me about this note?”
    “You always cared so much for him. I didn’t want it to break your heart, too.”
    She could see Lark’s eyes start to tear up again. She looked at the note and shook her head. “What was he thinking? Didn’t he know that we wouldn’t care where he was and no matter what he was a part of our family?”
    “I don’t know. Tonight I asked him what the problem was, but he didn’t say a word. I still don’t know what I did to make him write that note.” Lark sniffed and wiped her eyes again.
    “Let’s get a good night’s sleep. Things will be brighter tomorrow.” Aurora said and set the note back onto the desk.
    Chapter Five

    The next morning, after Lark and Gran ate breakfast and drank a couple of cups of coffee, they got the decorations out of a storage closet and began to get the Christmas tree set up.
    They spent a couple of hours at work on it to make it look just right. While Lark packed up the boxes, Gran went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
    Lark tried all morning to be as cheerful as possible. She thought the tree looked wonderful and for a moment forgot all her bad memories. She loved Christmas and putting the tree up with Gran was a tradition she didn’t want to ever lose.
    She turned into the kitchen and saw Gran stir a pan of soup on the stove. “I can’t believe it’s one o’clock.”
    Gran turned to her and smiled. “Didn’t we say last year we were going to put the lights away a little more neatly, so they’d be easier to unwind onto the tree?”
    “I think we’ve said that for the last twenty Christmases.” Lark sat at the table and saw the photo album. She pushed it aside and did her best to ignore it.
    There was a knock at the back door and when Lark looked up she saw Charlie. In an