Love Inspired January 2024 Box Set--2 of 2 by Jocelyn McClay

Author:Jocelyn McClay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Bruce had photographed some of the most astonishing things in the world, but these felt like the most important. He seemed to know the consequences of this shoot down to his bones. The need to get this right drove so hard through him that he had to keep reminding himself to calm down and stay steady. Joe and Jack would take their cues from him, and Willa’s spirit would depend on her sons. If that wasn’t enough pressure, Bruce was pretty sure this would be his only chance—his only opportunity to capture the perfect shot to redeem a host of things for this family.

You’ve got this. No sweat, right? he told himself. Less dangerous than an avalanche. Fewer threats than a minefield.

Prettier than the Alps at sunrise, some unruly corner of his mind added before he could think better of it.

Willa Scottson was, in fact, quickly turning into one of the most beautiful women he had ever known. Not in the standard way a man of his short and casual relationships usually noticed. She had a deep and hard-won allure. He kept thinking of all the “gold refined in the fire” scriptures, which really wasn’t like him. She barely spoke of any kind of faith, but he could see it buried under all the pain. He could see that in all the families, but it called to him especially in Willa. He yearned to be able to show it to her.

That was a tall order for an already crucial photo shoot. Help me, he pleaded to God. Show me how I capture that on film. If there’s any way I can restore even a bit of the hope she thinks she’s lost, You know I want to do that.

Knowing that standing around being photographed always resulted in stiff, studio-ish portraits, Bruce had found a small tree out behind the house. When he told the boys to climb it, they scrambled up like a pair of monkeys.

“Be careful, boys,” Willa cautioned. Bruce had intentionally chosen a very low tree, but mothers always worry. In truth, Joe and Jack were barely four feet off the ground.

“Sit there,” he coached the boys, pointing to a thick low branch, “and let your mom stand between you.”

Willa settled some more once the boys were within reach. He snapped a few shots of the boys enjoying looking down on their mother and the lovely tilt of her head, as she looked up to each of her sons in turn. The filter of sunlight through the leaves caught the extraordinary green of all their eyes and sent flashes of gold through the boys’ mops of red hair. By all accounts, it was a well-framed shot—the kind you’d put on a Christmas card. Nice, but today had to go far beyond nice.

“Joe, tell your mom a silly joke.” Boys that age had to know loads of those, right?

Joe told a goofy joke about a turtle and some cheese, and all of them broke into giggles. Giggles became

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