Looking for a Hero by Patti Berg

Author:Patti Berg [Berg, Patti]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781417710232
Publisher: Avon
Published: 1998-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Too oft is a smile

But the hypocrite’s wile,

To mask detestation, or fear;

Give me the soft sigh,

Whilst the soultelling eye

Is dimm’d, for a time, with a Tear…

LORD BYRON, THE TEAR

Kate stood on the front porch, waving good-bye to Bubba and his mother as the battered VW bug sputtered away from the curb. Wrapping an arm around a newel post, she breathed in the sweet fragrance of gardenia and jasmine, of fresh-mown lawn and damp earth, and was overcome by the sudden and unexpected feeling that something good, something special, was going to happen tonight.

Behind her the screen door slammed, and Casey skipped out to the porch, tucking her hand into her mom’s. “Do you think Mr. Farrell’s going to stay this time?” she asked, looking up at Kate with wide blue eyes that were the very picture of Joe’s.

“I don’t know, Case,” she answered truthfully, wishing she could offer a positive answer. She looked away from her daughter to the faint gray puffs dotting the sky, where a mere fifteen minutes before there’d been only swirling sheets of black, thunder, lightning, and rain. Dark blue sky peeked out from behind the clouds, and one lone star twinkled, a sure sign that night was on its way.

“There’s a wishing star way over there,” Kate said, and Casey’s eyes followed the direction of Kate’s pointed finger. “Why don’t you make a wish?”

“I wish…I wish…” Casey giggled, bringing a smile to Kate’s face. “I wish Mr. Farrell was my daddy.”

The smile faded, as Kate knelt down beside her little girl and pulled her close. “I’m not in love with Mr. Farrell, Case.”

“But I am.”

“I know you are, but that’s a different kind of love. I’d have to marry Mr. Farrell for him to be your daddy, and people should be in love—really, truly in love—when they get married.”

“The way you loved my daddy?”

Kate nodded, a hint of sadness squeezing lightly at her heart. “That’s right. The way I loved your daddy.”

Across the street Kate heard the squeak of a wooden plank on Evalena’s porch, and her aunt’s high-pitched voice. “Yoo-hoo!”

Evalena bustled down the stairs, her slippers scuffling across the walk and over the wet asphalt road. Her muumuu fluttered around her, an empty basket swung at her side, and she was red-faced and winded by the time she reached Kate’s house. “I have the most wonderful news,” Evalena said, clapping a hand to her breast and taking a deep breath. “I’ve met a new man. The most devilishly handsome thing to ever wander up St. George Street. And A-l husband material, too.”

“Are you going to get married again?” Casey asked.

“Oh, dear me, no, although Mr. Lancaster is a delightful fellow, so delightful that I invited him over for dinner tonight.”

Kate turned her head upward, rapidly counting puffy clouds in an effort to avoid what she sensed was Evie’s latest matchmaking scheme, but all to no avail.

Evalena waddled up the stairs and sidled up close to her.

“I’ve made my prize-winning shrimp casserole and a double-chocolate brownie torte for dinner.

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