Read A Callahan Carol for Free Online

will get through this. Together, as a family.”
    He swallowed hard. “I know. I just wish we had a little more time. I wish it wasn’t happening now, at Christmas. The kids.
    . . .”
    “The kids will deal,” Torie responded. “After all, they’re Callahans.”
    Arm in arm, Matt and Torie walked to the study where Matt tackled the difficult task of summoning his brothers to Callahan House for a death vigil.
    #
    Mark was making a diaper run to the drugstore when his cell phone rang. Spying his brother’s number, knowing that Matt was on sickbed rotation at Callahan House, his stomach sank to his knees. This wouldn’t be good news.
    It wasn’t.
    He made a quick call to Annabelle. They decided she and the kids would meet him at Branch’s. At the checkout, he handed his cash over with trembling fingers. Moments later, he climbed inside the cab of his pickup and realized his heart was pounding as if he’d just finished a ten-mile run.
    Mark had been angry at Branch for more years than he could remember. He’d resented the way his father had broken up the family after his mother died, and he’d been furious about how Branch reacted when John was shot and kidnapped off the street in Sarajevo. They’d managed to reconcile in recent years but Mark had never been able to douse the last flickers of resentment in his heart.
    He never would have guessed that his father’s pending death would hit him this hard.
    He said as much to Annabelle when she met him at the curb in front of Callahan House. She replied, “He’s your father. You love him. Of course you hate the idea of losing him.”
    His gaze drifted over the Winter Wonderland displays as he considered the change his father’s passing would have on his family and on Brazos Bend. Branch Callahan was an iconic figure.
    He’d fought in Korea and Vietnam, then came home to manage his hardscrabble ranch and bring up the oil that pooled beneath it.
    He’d made a fortune during the oil boom and managed not to lose it all when prices crashed. His wife made sure he tithed to their church and supported worthy causes with his wealth. Recently when Mark took over managing Branch’s finances, he discovered that his father had kept up his charity work through the years, even through the worst of times when Mom died and when John disappeared.
    “For too long I focused on the fact that he wasn’t perfect and made horribly stupid decisions. I couldn’t recognize his pain because my own blinded me to it. As a result, I’ve wasted a lot of time with him. And now . . .” Mark’s eyes settled on the display featuring the large brown boot of the widow who lived in a shoe rhyme. “Now I mourn that time, those years. I mourn what we could have . . . what we should have . . . had.”
    “I know.” Sympathy and concern showed in Annabelle’s big brown eyes. “Nothing is going to fill the hole Branch will leave in this family, but you and your brothers do have a treasure that should ease the pain when you’re ready.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “His letters. Those boxes and boxes of letters he wrote to each of you. He still writes them, you know. At least, he did before this illness.”
    “I’ve never looked at mine.”
    “I know. You haven’t been ready. I think maybe, after this, you will be. Maddie told me Luke has read all of his. She said he said the experience is like having a one-on-one conversation with Branch.”
    “I dunno, Belle. That could be the ultimate frustration. At least now I can bark back at him when he barks at me.”
    “Hey, that doesn’t have to stop. I cannot imagine Branch Callahan leaving the earthly plain entirely. Maybe God will assign guardian angel duties to him and he’ll watch over Tanner or Emma.”
    Mark winced. “That’s making one great big assumption.”
    “Your father is a poster child of repentance, Mark Callahan.” When he shrugged but said nothing more, she added, “I like to think that the good part of what’s happening