A Cedar Cove Christmas Read Free Page A

stupid. She should’ve checked the phone book immediately. That was certainly what her brothers would do.
    “Here,” Shaw said, flipping the directory around so she could read the listings. As it happened, there was a B. Rhodes, a Kevin Rhodes and three others—and Mary Jo had no way of knowing which of these people were related to David. The only thing to do was to call every one of them and find out.
    “Would you mind if I borrowed this for a few minutes?” she asked.
    “Sure, go ahead. Tell me if there’s anything I can do to help.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Consider it a random act of kindness.”
    “Not so random.” Mary Jo smiled as she brought the phone book back to her table. She rummaged for her cell phone; she hadn’t remembered to charge it before she left and was relieved to see that she had nearly a full battery. She dialed the number for B. Rhodes and waited through several rings before a greeting came on, telling her that Ben and Charlotte weren’t available and inviting her to leave a message. She didn’t. She actually spoke to the next Rhodes, who sounded young and didn’t know anyone named David. Of the last three, the first had a disconnected phone line and the other two didn’t answer.
    Mary Jo had assumed it would be easy to find David in a town as small as Cedar Cove. Walking down Harbor Street, she’d seen a sign for Roy McAfee, a private investigator. She hadn’t expected to need one, and even if she could afford to pay someone else to track down David Rhodes, it wasn’t likely that Mr. McAfee would accept a case this close to Christmas.
    “Any luck?” Shaw asked.
    “None.” Without knowing the name of David’s father, she couldn’t figure out what her next step should be. There were three, possibly four, potential candidates, since she’d managed to rule out just one. Her only consolation was the fact that if she was having trouble, so would her brothers.
    “I can think of one person who might be able to help you,” Shaw said thoughtfully.
    “Who?”
    “Grace Harding. She’s the head librarian and she knows practically everyone in town. I’m not sure if she’s working this morning but it wouldn’t do any harm to go there and see.”
    “The library is where?” Being on foot and pregnant definitely imposed some limitations, especially now that it had started to snow.
    “How’d you get here?” Shaw asked.
    “Foot ferry.”
    He grinned. “Then you walked right past it when you got off. It’s the concrete building with the large mural on the front. You won’t have any trouble finding it.”
    Mary Jo had noticed two such murals. She supposed it wouldn’t be difficult to distinguish which one was the library. Eager to talk to Grace Harding, she left the remainder of her drink behind. She put the wool hat back on her head and pulled on her gloves. It was cold and the few snowflakes that had begun to drift down seemed persistent, like a harbinger of more to come. The Seattle area rarely experienced a white Christmas, and under other circumstances Mary Jo would’ve been thrilled at the prospect of snow.
    As Shaw had predicted, she didn’t have a problem locating the library. The mural of a frontier family was striking, and the library doors were decorated with Christmas wreaths. When she stepped inside, she saw dozens of cut-out snowflakes suspended from the ceiling in the children’s area, as well as a display of seasonal picture books, some of which—like A Snowy Day— she remembered from her own childhood. A large Christmas tree with book-size wrapped gifts underneath stood just inside the small lobby. One look told Mary Jo this was a much-used and much-loved place.
    She welcomed the warmth, both emotional and physical. There was a woman at the counter, which held a sign stating that the library would close at noon. Glancing at the clock on the wall, Mary Jo was surprised to see that it was already ten-forty-five.
    She approached the front counter. “Excuse me. Are