A Season of Hope (Ribbons of Love Book 1) Read online




  Season of Hope

  By AJ Matthews

  Copyright © 2015 by Nancy Colbert Hardy

  Cover Art by Colbert Creative Design LLC

  Formatting by Olivia Howe from Beautiful Promotions

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  To my own special little boy, Brendan—the inspiration for Tyler, and the inspiration for my life. I love you, Big Bird!

  Brenda—Brendan’s namesake, a cool aunt, sharp-eyed proofreader, and the best friend I could ask for. Even if you are a big dork.

  And for my very own “Eric,” my husband Jay. Thank you for taking a chance on us fourteen years ago. You’ve changed our lives in immeasurable ways, and given me two other tiny blonde reasons for waking up and loving life everyday!

  To learn more about autism and ways you can help in the community, visit http://www.autism-society.org/get-involved/.

  Chapter 1

  Winnona Garringer never expected to fall in love today—or get her face licked.

  But that’s what happened when she visited her nephew Tyler at his school. They kicked off their holiday celebration today, and it included a special visit from the dog training center owned by Darden, North Carolina’s local hero, a former soldier who’d done a couple tours in Afghanistan and come home a few years ago to set up shop.

  Tyler's teacher told Winn how some kids in her class responded well to the dogs’ visits, and the two students with assistance dogs of their own were making phenomenal strides.

  Winn stood in the school's red, green, and gold-bedecked gymnasium, a heavy mantle of grief settling over her shoulders. She’d dreaded the holidays ever since the horrific accident that injured both Winn and her twin brother Gus last year, turning his place into a twisted shrine to Christmas for months after. Winn had moved in to take care of Tyler and sort out all the legalities of caring for a special needs child and coordinating Gus’s long-term care once he awakened from the coma. They weren’t close to their parents, their father gone from their lives for fifteen years, and their mother, suffering from untreated depression, struggled to take care of herself most of the time. So the responsibility fell on Winn, the biggest of all being Tyler’s care.

  The boy petted the gorgeous German shepherd with the silly reindeer ears atop his head, then glanced up at Winn and grinned. Her heart skipped a beat. Tyler hadn’t smiled much in the past year. The reward was worth the painful memories she had to endure.

  Tyler, who had autism, had grown more withdrawn since the accident, and as his temporary guardian she wanted nothing more than for him to be happy. That this dog made Tyler grin convinced Winn he needed one of his own.

  Winn walked over to the dog and reached down. The dog shook his head, the bells on his antlers jingling merrily. He then offered a soft paw. Winn leaned down, shook his paw, and then the wetness of his tongue scraped her cheek. It was love at first lick, and Winn giggled.

  A throaty chuckle caught her attention. Winn turned to find a dark-haired man standing in the corner of the gym, stroking his fingers over his neatly trimmed beard. Oddly, her fingers itched to find out if the growth was rough, or as soft as the thick hair on his head appeared.

  “Tuck must like you a lot. He’s usually not so ill-mannered.” The man’s rough-hewn voice was a perfect match to his rugged good looks. “He gets flustered around the pretty ladies.”

  Winn caught his brown eyes scanning her, and her stomach tightened. Something about him made her nervous, but not in a bad way. Because he was the most attractive man Winn had laid eyes on in ages.

  Like Wile E. Coyote hit on the head with an anvil, she was dizzy and swore birds and stars orbited her head.

  She pushed her unruly hair behind her ears, swallowed audibly, and then cleared her throat. She tried to ignore the way his faded jeans encased his solid-looking legs and how his dark, long-sleeved tee shirt hinted at the muscles beneath. She fought the urge to reach over and pluck the dog hair off of his shirt, to find out if he felt as good as he looked.

  Like the dog before, he extended his hand to Winn. “Eric Donnelly. You must be Tyler’s aunt.”

  “Y-yes. Winnona Garringer.” She took his hand in hers, and her stomach lurched.

  “A pleasure to meet you, ma'am.”

  A greater pleasure than it should be. She shook his hand vigorously and reveled in his inviting, woodsy scent. “I can’t thank you enough for bringing the dogs to school. Tyler hasn't been this happy since…”

  Winn pulled her hand from his strong grip.

  She still couldn’t talk about that night. Instead, she rubbed her arm, fingers massaging the surgical scar running the length of her forearm as she pasted on a weary smile. “He hasn’t seemed this happy in a long time.”

  “Glad to hear,” Eric drawled, a slight accent curling around his words. “Sometimes these kids don’t have a lot to be happy about.”

  He glanced around the room, and her eyes followed to the kids, a few in wheelchairs, others wearing braces or using walkers, and others rocking side to side or flicking their fingers, like Tyler.

  “Life’s a struggle for them.” Eric cleared his throat. “And I try to bring whatever joy I can.”

  He beamed as one of the little girls in a wheel chair shrieked with joy, his deep-set dimples framing an irresistible grin.

  Winn was shocked at how he affected her. With so much on her mind in the past year, men and relationships were on the far-back burner. Something about this guy made her feel things though. Maybe it was his intense connection with these special kids.

  Eric ruffled Tyler’s thick blond locks, and Winn held her breath, shocked when Tyler didn’t flinch or yell. Whenever anyone touched him, even his family, he’d usually protest unless he’d initiated the contacted.

  Eric bent down as another student tugged on his hand.

  “Hey buddy, how are you?” He chuckled as the little dark-haired boy threw his arms around Eric’s neck. “Are you going to visit Santa soon and give him your wish list?”

  The little boy didn’t say anything, but instead rubbed his hands on his cheeks and made a high-pitched squealing sound before bouncing away to pet the golden retriever a few feet away.

  The children all faced unique challenges, and Eric seemed to know so much about them. She was in awe. “You’re a natural with these kids.”

  “I love it. My boys and girls—the dogs—look forward to this trip every month during the school year.” As if on cue, Tuck licked Eric’s hand and lay at his feet. “I wish I could give a dog to each of these families. They’re all so deserving.”

  He gazed warmly at the kids again, and Winn melted a bit.

  She wanted to know more. “How did you…”

  A teacher’s voice rang out, cutting her off. “Okay kids, it’s time to say goodbye to Mr. Donnelly and the dogs.”

  A few groans erupted from the little ones at the teacher’s announcement, but all of them began circling the dogs and Eric to bid farewell.

  “Santa will bring the dogs to the Thanksgiving parade Thursday,” he assured a freckle-faced girl when she whimpered a little and hugged Tuck. “I promise.”

  The sincerity in his eyes told Winn that Eric was a guy who made good on his word.

  He glanced up a
t her, eyebrow cocked and a glint of interest in his brown-gold eyes. “Will you be at the parade? With Tyler?”

  Winn tried to talk, but her dry throat prevented speech. She smiled, nodded, and turned around to steer Tyler back to his class. Winn glanced over her shoulder, reluctantly admiring Eric as he worked to clean up his gear and usher the animals outside.

  ***

  Winn settled Tyler into his class, and as she rounded the corner for the exit, she ran into a wall that hadn’t been there before.

  A warm, masculine-smelling wall.

  Eric.

  His hands circled her wrists to catch her as she fell back, and a jolt of electricity rocked her back on her heels.

  He set her back, letting go of her arms as quickly as he’d grabbed them.

  Winn’s skin tingled sharply where his work-roughened hands had gently held her. She was oddly disappointed he’d let go so quickly.

  “Hey.” His deep voice made that single syllable sound sexy.

  Butterfly wings fluttered furiously in her stomach. “H-h-hey,” Winn croaked.

  “Hey.” He chuckled, probably realizing he’d already said that. “I was coming to find you.”

  Really?

  “R-really? Did you need something?” Winn mentally kicked herself for stuttering.

  He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to her. “If you have any questions. Tyler seems taken with the dogs. Has he ever had one?”

  Winn found her voice. “No. It’s been a chaotic year for us. No time to train or care for one.”

  Especially since the accident.

  Eric nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “I understand. If it’s something you’d consider, give me a call. I’m happy to meet up and answer any questions for you. I won’t take up any more of your time, Ms. Garringer. Have a lovely day.”

  He extended his hand, and she placed hers in it, the sparks between them igniting a fire deep within. She was wading into unfamiliar territory. She was drained, the burden of her responsibilities weighing on her like plate mail armor, and at the same time shielding her from having to feel.

  But this felt good. Too good.

  Eric’s soft-spoken Southern charm stabbed through her defenses.

  “Thanks, Mr. Donnelly. I might take you up on your offer.” Winn slipped the business card into her purse, her smile as weak as her knees.

  In return, Eric grinned, the laugh lines around his eyes faintly dissected by pale scars that mapped out the pain he endured in his time at war, or so Winn surmised.

  She turned to leave. Calling him might not be the best idea.

  Though it sure was tempting.

  ***

  “What’s with the goofy face?” Eric’s friend and colleague Tony asked as Eric returned to the gym to clean up their gear. “Oh, never mind. You were talking to the red-hot redhead. She's real purtty.”

  “Whatever, man. She’s Tyler’s aunt. We talked about the dogs and the kids.” Despite his protest, though, Eric struggled to hide his admiration. Winnona was pretty, and her cobalt-blue eyes sparkled when she talked about her nephew, expressing the deep joy Tyler brought to her life. She clearly loved the boy, and that she’d taken on the challenge of raising a child with autism—one who wasn’t hers—spoke volumes about her strength. He’d heard good things about her.

  In the middle-of-nowhere Darden, North Carolina, there wasn’t much else to do but talk, and people here loved to chatter.

  When a pretty young woman brought a special-needs child to town for the boy to attend the Clark Special School, tongues started wagging.

  Where was her husband? Wait, no ring, so she probably wasn’t married. She had a son. No, turned out the boy is her nephew, and she became his guardian after his father was injured in a car accident. Where was his momma? That question remained unanswered, and frankly, it was nobody’s business but Winnona's and her family’s.

  The rumor mill, however, couldn’t be stopped, despite his best efforts to ignore the talk.

  The town busybodies didn’t push gossip on him anymore. After he’d returned home after ten years in the army, a few unfortunate folks pressed him for too much information about his sister Lizzie's death and his time at war. He’d snapped—maybe too harshly—at them.

  When the plane hit the Pentagon, where Lizzie, eight years older than him, had worked, Eric struggled. Got in trouble. His father sent him to military school, and as soon as he graduated, he enlisted. It wasn’t long before he was shipped to the mountains of Afghanistan, where he could exact revenge against the people he held responsible for his sister's death.

  Instead of vengeance, he experienced more heartache amid the blood and brain matter he found himself mired in halfway around the world.

  Now he’d come full-circle, returning to Darden and the family home four years ago to open his therapy dog training center, after his parents retired to Florida. He loved his work, but was sad Lizzie wasn’t around for the good he was doing in their community.

  He took pride, though, in continuing her life's dream of working with the less fortunate. Eric liked to believe Lizzie would be proud of him, too.

  “Hey man, what’s with the long face now? I thought you were happy, thinking about gettin' with the hottie!” Tony chided.

  Eric laughed. Tony might be a little crude, but he was Eric’s oldest and most loyal friend, and could often read Eric’s mind.

  The idea of curling up with a lovely woman like Winnona Garringer, inhaling the spicy vanilla scent of her, appealed to him. She’d toyed with her hair and swallowed nervously while talking to him. She was attracted to him too.

  Eric shook his head. She just might be shy and anxious when meeting new people. He was afraid to speculate she might actually like him because that would mean the possibility of growing close to someone.

  He wasn’t in any condition to handle losing someone, anyone, ever again.

  Those terrorists in the plane who killed Lizzie, and the al-Qaeda and Taliban soldiers who slaughtered some of his closest friends a decade ago, made sure of that.

  ***

  Winn needed to finish her write-up for her tutoring job before they went out. The clock on her computer read 11:30.

  The parade began at 1:00.

  They had to leave in an hour. Winn flushed at the idea of seeing Eric again. She wasn’t going for him, she reminded herself. Tyler flipped every time he spotted a dog over the past few days because they reminded him of Eric’s German shepherd, Tuck. Tyler's infectious joy was like sunshine, a salve to her bruised soul. She wanted him to smile again. She wanted to be happy again, too.

  Winn cracked her knuckles and took a sip of rich, dark hot cocoa, the sweet scent invigorating her. She resumed typing, adding comments through teary eyes. The rapid clack of the keys under her fingers echoed the pounding of her heart. The student had survived an unbelievable tragedy and had triumphed as well.

  I did it for my kids, the student had written. Without them, I would have given up.

  Although Tyler was not Winn’s son, she could relate. A thick fog of misery had enveloped her as she’d lay in the hospital bed for a few days, the flicker and buzz of fluorescent lights hypnotizing her into capitulation. She’d wanted to simply fade away.

  But she’d been awakened one morning by the soft touch of little hands rubbing her cheeks. Tyler’s hands. Winn then decided to battle through her own pain.

  Tyler needed her.

  Winn needed him, too.

  She sniffed again, wiping her nose and blotting her eyes. No matter how much concealer she smoothed on she wouldn't be able to cover up the blotches mottling her face now.

  Perfect. She certainly didn't want to give the impression she was a blubbering, emotional wreck. Or for Eric to think she was ugly.

  Especially since he was third-degree-burn hot.

  Winn pulled back her hair with an elastic band then splashed cool water on her face. She dotted on concealer, applied a little foundation, and brushed her thick, wavy hair out. Assessi
ng herself in the mirror, she surmised she would do. Especially since she was just going for Tyler to see the dogs at the parade.

  Winn left the bathroom to find Tyler. She stepped into the hall, and the blast of a toy train whistle greeted her.

  Tyler was in his room playing with toy trains on the table Gus had built for him. Poor kid. She missed her brother, but at least she understood why he hadn’t come home yet. Before the move, they’d visited Gus every week, but they hadn’t gone since they’d moved. Gus was now in rehab for his spinal cord injuries in Durham, and it was a four hour round-trip from Darden.

  It was a miracle Gus would be ready to come home at the beginning of the New Year.

  Some would call it a Christmas miracle.

  Winn scoffed. Gus was still in a wheelchair, but could take care of a lot of his own needs now and was sick of being cooped up in a hospital room. He’d found this house, fitted with a ramp, wider doorways, no carpeting, and an adaptive shower added by the previous occupants, near the school he wanted Tyler to attend. The school had called in July with Tyler’s acceptance. After that, Gus talked Winn into the move in less than ten minutes.

  Since it was her fault Gus might never walk again, she would’ve agreed to almost anything.

  Shaking off the guilt, she walked into Tyler’s room, signing to him “see dogs.” He responded by turning off his trains and putting his shoes on. She usually struggled to convince him to put away his favorite thing. His immediate compliance showed his excitement at visiting with his new furry friends.

  He was so motivated, he surprisingly took Winn by the hand and led her to the closet for their coats and the car keys. She was so encouraged by this “new” Tyler, when the “old” one hated to be touched and never wanted to go anywhere except school and home.

  A burst of frigid air nearly knocked her over as Tyler yanked open the front door and bounced to the car in his orange coat, Tigger to her Pooh, the nickname Gus had called her since childhood.