1 Even though she was listening to Christmas carols on her iPod, Mary Jo Wyse could hear her brothers arguing. How could she not? Individually, the three of them had voices that were usually described as booming; together they sounded like an entire football stadium full of fans. All three worked as mechanics in the family-owned car repair business and stood well over six feet. Their size alone was intimidating. Add to that their voices, and they’d put the fear of God into the most hardened criminal. “It’s nearly Christmas,” Linc was saying. He was the oldest and, if possible, loudest of the bunch. “Mary Jo said he’d call her before now,” Mel said. Ned, her youngest brother, remained suspiciously quiet. He was the sensitive one. Translated, that meant he’d apologize after he broke David Rhodes’s fingers for getting his little sister pregnant and then abandoning her. “We’ve got to do something,” Linc insisted. The determination in his voice gave her pause. Mary Jo’s situation was complicated enough without the involvement of her loving but meddlesome older brothers. However, it wasn’t their fault that she was about to have a baby and the father was nowhere in sight. “I say we find David Rhodes and string him up until he agrees to marry our sister.” Mary Jo gasped. She couldn’t help it. Knowing Linc,