Teacher's Christmas Cowboy (Trinity Falls Sweet Romance - Icicle Christmas #5)

While most grandparents would sweep the boy off for a day of fun, Ginny seemed to know instinctively that taking Sylvester to a new place without his mother would be exceptionally hard on Cora—especially if it was a place like a farm where there could be allergy triggers.

Cora was glad to be going with them, but she still felt honor-bound not to do or say anything today that would impact Ginny’s enjoyment, or make her regret her generous decision to include the whole family.

I won’t get in the way of their fun, Cora coached herself as she heard Sylvester’s footsteps on the stairs. I’ll just keep an eye on him.

She knew she could be an uptight sort of person, always worrying, especially when it came to her Sylvester. But his asthma was truly frightening, so she was okay being a stick in the mud if it kept him safe. It was just her way.

Losing Arthur didn’t help either, the little voice in the back of her head whispered.

But she tried hard not to think about that.

“Are you excited to see Grandma Davies?” she asked when Sylvester poked his head into the kitchen.”

“Very,” he told her, nodding his head up and down with a big smile on his face.

“I’ll scramble you up an egg,” she told him, thinking he might as well have something sensible in his belly before their outing, which was sure to include some sweet treats.

“I’ll make the toast,” Sylvester said, delighted that he could prepare part of the meal himself. “Did you know that Long John Silver was based on a real person?”

“I didn’t know that,” Cora said. “A pirate?”

“A poet,” Sylvester said. “And he only had one leg because he had a disease and they had to cut it off, but everyone said he was super strong. Miss Sullivan told me.”

Cora smiled. Maggie Sullivan was Sylvester’s new second grade teacher. Cora had met with her earlier in the week to talk with her about Sylvester.

Maggie had taken notes about his asthma, but been so much more interested in hearing that he was a voracious reader. The two of them had chatted for a long time and Cora felt really good about Sylvester spending his days with Maggie.

And now Maggie had taken the trouble to tell him about someone who had suffered a health concern like he did, but who had inspired a famously swashbuckling book character. It made Cora’s heart ache with joyful gratitude.

The eggs in the pan went a little blurry in front of her eyes at the thought. But the sound of the toaster popping up had her blinking the tears away before her son could see them.

“I can’t wait to go to the farm,” Sylvester said, as he spread jam on their toast. “Do you think Jared will be there?”

“Oh, that’s not his farm,” Cora told him. “It belongs to a different family. But I’ll bet he’d be glad to talk to you about what you see today, the next time he’s here.”

“Okay,” Sylvester said, looking a little disappointed. “Maybe he knows the other farmers.”

“I’ll bet he does,” Cora said. “Trinity Falls is pretty small, and he’s lived here all his life.”

“Just like Dad,” Sylvester said. “Until he went away to college.”

“Exactly like that,” Cora said.

“Did Jared go to college?” Sylvester asked suddenly.

This was a tricky question. Cora very much wanted her son to have every opportunity and she hoped he would go to college, if she could swing it. In the city, most people who could afford to go went. But things were different here. And besides, she didn’t want him to be a snob, or think that everyone had to go to college to have a happy life.

“I’m not sure,” she said carefully. “But from what he says about the family farm, it’s very successful. So even if he didn’t go to college to learn how to run it, he learned about farming from someone. I’ll bet if you asked him how he learned to farm, he would love to tell you all about it.”

“Okay,” Sylvester said, nodding to himself. “I’ll ask him about it.”

“Let’s eat,” she said, sliding scrambled eggs onto their plates.

A few hours later, Cora was very glad she’d managed to get eggs and toast into Sylvester before they left.

Right now, they were sitting at a picnic table where he had just finished a candied apple and a funnel cake, which Ginny and Cora were picking at too.

“Life is short,” Ginny declared. “Sometimes you have to eat dessert for lunch.”