Drake Sisters 02 - The Twilight Before Christmas

hel o to your sisters for me.”
    “I’l do that, Matthew, and you give my best to your parents. It was nice to see you, Danny.” Her cool gaze swept over Jonas. “I’m sure you’l be by the house, Jonas.”
    Jonas shrugged. “I take my job seriously, Kate.”
    Matt watched her ride away, waiting until a curve in the road took her out of sight before turning on the sheriff. “What the hel was that al about?”
    “You know al seven of the Drake women drive me crazy half the time,” Jonas said. “I’ve told you al the trouble they get up to. You’re always gril ing me about them. Wel —” he grinned evil y as he indicated the truck—“Isn’t this the third accident you’ve had with Kate in the vicinity? You should know what I mean.”
    Jonas had grown up with Matt Granite, had gone through school, joined the Army, the Rangers, and fought side by side with him. He knew how Matt felt about Kate. It was no secret. Matt wasn’t very good at hiding his feelings from his family and friends, especial y since Jonas had gotten out of the service two years before Matt and Matt had continual y interrogated him about Kate’s whereabouts and marital status. Matt had been home three years and he’d been waiting for Kate to come home for good, too.
    Danny snickered. “You were there back in his col ege days, Jonas, when he drove Dad’s truck into the creek bed and hung it up on a rock. Wasn’t Kate about three at the time?”
    Matt took a deep breath. He couldn’t kil his brother in front of the sheriff, even if it was Jonas. The time he had wrecked his father’s truck, driving it without permission, Kate had been about fifteen, far too young for a col ege man to be looking at her, and he was stil embarrassed that his brothers and Jonas had known why he’d wrecked the vehicle. Of course he’d known the Drake sisters, everyone in town knew them, but he’d never looked at them. Not in a fascinated, physical, male way. Until he’d seen Kate standing in a creek bed picking blackberries with the sun kissing her hair and her large sea-green eyes looking back at him. The second time he’d wrecked a vehicle had been four years ago. Matt had been home on leave, and he’d been so busy looking at Kate walking on the sidewalk with her sisters, he’d failed to realize he was parked in front of a cement hump and had hung up his mother’s car on it when he’d gone to pul out. Now, ignoring his brother’s jibe, he moved around the truck to inspect the damage. “I think I can get the truck out without a tow.”
    “I see you upset old man Mars.” Jonas pointed to the tomato smears on the rear window.
    “You know Matt, he just had to wish the old man a Merry Christmas.” Danny shoved open the door. “He likes to stir the old geezer up right before the pageant. He does it every year. The time Mom made me play the little drummer boy, Mars broke my drumsticks into ten pieces and threw them on the ground and then jumped up and down on them. Al my brothers got a kick out of that, but I’ve been traumatized ever since. I have nightmares about being stomped by him.”
    Jonas laughed. “Mars is a strange old man, but he’s harmless enough. And he gives away most of his produce to the people who need it. He takes it to some of the single moms in town and some of the elderly couples. And I know he feeds the Ruttermyer boy, the one with Down’s syndrome who works at odd jobs for everyone. He persuaded Donna to give the boy a room right next to her gift shop. I know he helps that boy with his bil s.”
    “Yeah, deep down he’s a good man,” Matt agreed. A slow grin spread over his face. “He just hates Christmas.” He nodded toward the other side of the truck, and the other two men went to the front to scrape away the mud and dirt and push until they separated the bumper from the embankment. “I didn’t appreciate you saying anything to Kate about her and her sisters being different, Jonas.” Matt said it in a low voice, but Jonas and he had been friends since they were boys, and Jonas recognized the warning tone.
    “I’m not going to pretend they’re like everyone else, Matt, not even for you,” Jonas snapped. “The Drakes are special. They have gifts, and they use themselves up for everyone else without a thought for themselves or their own safety. I’m going to watch out for them whether they like or it not. Sarah Drake nearly got herself kil ed a few weeks ago. Hannah and Kate and Abbey were with her