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Before Will could say anything else, Goldie arrived at their booth, carrying two chicken pot pies She set thee pieces of coconut cream pie "Make sure you save room for this," she told them

"I’d like to re to disapprove

"I know," Goldie returned gruffly "It’s on the house Think of me as your very own elf Merry Christmas"

"Merry Christmas to you, Goldie the Elf"

Will reached for his fork and s to be a merry Christ, despite--or ritted his teeth It was after two, and the traffic through Tacoma was bu," he muttered sarcastically

Mel’s eyebrows shot up and he turned to look at Ned in the backseat

"What?" Linc barked

"It is a holiday," Ned re!"

"Okay, okay"

"You’re going to exit up here," Mel said, pointing to the exit ra closer, and once they found Mary Jo he intended to give her a piece of hisoff like this, not when her baby was due in teeks It just wasn’t safe

His jaw tightened as he realized it wasn’t Mary Jo who annoyed him as much as David Rhodes If Linc could just have five minutes alone with that jerk…

"I’ll bet he’s married," Linc said to himself That would explain a lot Ahe could to hide the fact that he had a wife He’d strung Mary Jo along, fed her a bunch of lies and then left her to deal with the consequences all on her own Well, that wasn’t going to happen No, sir Not while Linc was alive David Rhodes was going to acknowledge his responsibilities and live up to the at him curiously

"David Rhodes," he said "Who else?"

The exit was fast approaching and, while they still had twenty o, traffic would thin out once he was off the Interstate

"He’s not," Ned said blithely from the backseat

"Isn’t what?" Linc delanced over his shoulder "How do you know?"

"Mary Jo told me"

Ned and Mary Jo were close, and he was more apt to take a statement like that at face value

"He probably lied about that along with everything else," Mel said, voicing Linc’s own thoughts

"He didn’t," Ned insisted

"How can you be so sure?"

"I checked him out on the Internet," Ned continued with the same certainty "It’s a matter of public record David Rhodes lives in California and he’s been es and divorces are listed with California’s Department of Records"

Funny Ned had only mentioned this now Maybe he had other information that would be helpful

"You mean to say he’s been marriedto what I read, he’s been married twice I doubt Mary Jo knows about the second ti and Linc wished he’d heard it earlier "Did you find out anything else while you were doing this background search?" he asked He eased onto the off rahas far less crowded

"His first ex-wife, who now lives in Florida, has had proble child support"

Linc shook his head "Does that surprise anyone?"

"Nope," Mel said

"How irl"

"Does Mary Jo know this?" Mel asked "About hi a deadbeat?"

"I didn’t tell her," Ned ad, "I couldn’t see any reason to upset her more than she already is"

"Good idea," Mel said He leaned forward and looked up at the darkening sky "Snow’s starting again The radio said there’s going to be at least three inches"

"Snow," Linc muttered

"Snow," Ned repeated excitedly "That’ll reed quickly "Yeah, we’ll have a white Christmas"

"Are either of you little kids?" Linc snapped His nerves were frayed and he’d appreciate it if his brothers took a uess I’h

Considering Linc’s current frame of mind, it was a brave admission With a slow breath, Linc made a concerted effort to relax He orried about Mary Jo; he couldn’t help it He’d wanted the best for her and felt that he’d failed both his sister and his parents

To some extent he blamed himself for what had happened Maybe he’d been too strict with her after she turned eighteen But to his way of thinking, she was under his protection as long as she lived in the family home

Not once had she introduced him to David Rhodes Linc was convinced that if he’d met the otherDavid for a phony

"What are you gonna say e find her?" Ned asked