For The Love Of Jason

Chapter 1

"What are you going to do now,  child?"                                          

Christina Belcuri’s tear-filled eyes went wide at Mabel’s question. Mabel Jenkins was the matronly postmaster for the small town of McAllister, and as usual, she had known precisely what to do to bring Christina back to her senses. On this day, when Christina thought that she might drown in her own grief and helplessness, Mabel’s abrupt words were just what she needed.

Pulling herself together, she glanced down at the small bundle that slept in her arms, oblivious to all but a pair of loving arms, a dry diaper and a bottle of milk when the time was right. Three-month-old Jason Raven, it seemed, was to be her responsibility now. Never mind that somewhere out there he had a father and grandmother -- neither of whom seemed overly concerned with the matter. Despite the fact that Christina had sent a certified letter to the address that Jeannie Raven’s address book had listed as her mother’s, neither Georgiana Stanton, nor the mysterious Mr. Raven who had 18 months previous claimed Jeannie as his bride had put in an appearance at Jeannie’s funeral.

"I sup-suppose," Christina said tentatively, "that I’ll be caring for Jason now."

"Supposing isn’t good enough, girl. A child needs more sincerity than supposing." Mabel’s tone threatened to bring fresh tears to Christina’s eyes, but she straightened her shoulders and spoke more firmly.

" But I am sincere, Mabel. I’ll take care of Jason just like he was my own. I’ll love him just like Aunt Elise loved me, and like Jeannie’s aunt Cara loved her."

"I know you will," Mabel’s voice softened as she placed a plump hand on Christina’s shoulder. "I know. " Then turning her gaze to the pink casket that had been partially lowered into the ground, she went on, shaking her head, "Such a shame. That one was too young and too beautiful die. And she had so much to live for." At that Mabel’s eyes rested on Jason.

Then turning again toward Christina, a frown crossed the woman’s stern features. "I’m not surprised at the mother. But still no word on the father?" Her tone of voice suggested that there was more behind the questions. But Christina was too exhausted to do more than to answer it at face value.

Christina sighed. "No. When Jeannie showed up on my doorstep a year ago, she was a mess. You know that Mabel. She didn’t want to talk about her husband. I didn’t even find out that they’d only been married for seven months until she found out she was pregnant. Even then she wouldn’t tell me his name. All she would say was that Georgiana was evil, and that he wasn’t to blame. And that she wouldn’t let him suffer for what she had done."

Mabel sighed along with her. "A body can understand why Cara told the child that her mother was dead. Shame that she had to find out different after Cara passed."

"Yeah, she said that, too," Christina confided. Privately however, she couldn’t understand why Cara Meridon, the woman who had raised Jeannie would lie to her niece, telling her that her mother was dead. Or why a mother would go along with the game, never visiting or even writing her child.

"She probably found out the truth after that woman got her hands on the money Cara left the girl."

Christina looked up in surprise. Jeannie hadn’t told her much about what had happened during the six years she had been away from McAllister. All that Christina knew was that the only person she’d called best friend and ‘sister’ had changed dramatically in that time.

Having both grown up in a small town environment under the care of Aunts, they’d become fast friends, even to the point of declaring one another family. A year after graduating high school, Jeannie’s aunt Cara died suddenly. Those had been difficult days for the both of them, then news had come that Jeannie’s mother, Georgiana Stanton was alive and well and living on the West Coast. Jeannie had been ecstatic to learn that she might have a ‘real’ family. Shortly after, she decided to finish college on the West Coast nearer her newfound family.