Her Christmas Chance by Rachelle Ayala

Author:Rachelle Ayala
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rachelle Ayala

Sitting around the dinner table that evening, Chance studied each one of the Tallahan family. He’d never had an intact family, and he didn’t know who his real father was. The years he’d lived with Lucky’s father were the best years of his life. But his mother had to go and ruin it by leaving Louie Lenigan for a wealthy banker. Not that he didn’t like his new stepfather. He’d given him his own room in their mansion and paid for his football gear, even treated him like his own son—especially when he’d won the all-city quarterback trophy.

“Pass the potatoes.”

“Here, try the parsnip salad.”

“Dark meat or breast?”

“You lumped up the gravy.”

Normal family conversation around the dinner table never happened while he was growing up.

Chance accepted the plate of crushed and browned Yukon gold potatoes sprinkled with parsley and served himself and Bella.

“Care for some wine or a beer?” Nate asked from across the table.

“Beer, whatever you have,” Chance replied.

There was something about Nate that he didn’t trust. Call it instinct or gut, but despite his outwardly good-natured manner, he wore a hardened scowl whenever he thought no one was looking.

Fianna, on the other hand, was the perpetual cheerleader. She was overly enthusiastic, peppy, and friendly. That also didn’t sit well with Chance because she clapped and cheered every one of Bella’s accomplishments as if she were a precocious two-year-old.

Bella didn’t seem to mind, or possibly she was used to it. It could be that Fianna was drawing attention to Bella and Tally because of her own insecurities. She was pleasantly plump, but the way women were, they always believed that being rail thin was the way to a man’s heart.

How little did they know.

Chance accepted the beer from Nate and set the bottle on the table.

“And here’s Bella’s sippy cup,” Nate said. “Did you want to share some of the beer with her?”

Bella seemed to shrink at her brother’s snide remark. “I’m not having anything to drink right now.”

Of course, she would be embarrassed about the sippy cup. No wonder she always had one of those Camelbak Eddy water bottles with the straw and the suction tip.

Chance gave Nate a hard glare. “If Bella wanted beer, she would have asked.”

“Just taking care of my little sister.” Nate shrugged.

Meanwhile, Tally was sitting next to Bella cutting up her turkey into tiny bits.

Chance was torn between volunteering to cut Bella’s meat and pretending he didn’t notice. He wasn’t sure how she felt about all the hovering and care her family foisted on her.

Their mother and father sat at opposite ends of the long table—very traditional, and everyone was supposed to pay attention to the conversation, which revolved around Mr. Tallahan asking questions and the children answering, with other members of the family piping in.

After Mr. Tallahan said grace, he raised a glass and waited until he had everyone’s attention. “Since Christmas is closing in, I’d like to raise a toast to Bella and Tally, our precious twin treasures.”

“Hear, hear,” Fianna said. “My little sisters are growing up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.