The Home She Wished For by Kimberly Cates

Author:Kimberly Cates
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE CHILDREN’S ROOM looked like an earthquake had struck, crayons and scraps of colored paper littering the craft table, empty cartons of milk and three kinds of cookie crumbs scattered across the blanket where the preschool crowd had just finished snacks. A parade of tissue paper monster faces peeped out from under the giant construction paper bed Finn had created on a bulletin board to highlight her first selection for story hour—an adorable lap book revealing the truth every child knew—that there were monsters under the bed. But the story’s goal had been accomplished. The monsters appeared to be a distinctly friendlier variety than those described by the kids at the opening of story hour.

She waved to her pint-size audience as their parents herded them home, the kids’ favorite pajamas rumpled, their dolls or teddy bears or stuffed dogs bumping along behind them as they dragged them across the floor.

If teacher’s institute day had been a disaster, bedtime story hour had turned out to be a delightful surprise. The best time of her week, Finn thought, tired but satisfied. Nothing like a flock of sturdy three-and four-year-olds to build up your confidence, adoring you from the moment you opened your mouth to read.

It would have been perfect if the giant bed hadn’t reminded her of a certain log cabin and monsters she’d glimpsed in the silvery blue depths of Cade’s eyes. He’d changed the night Emma fell in the river. The wall he’d built around himself was crumbling. He was feeling things he’d been resisting, imagining the rest of his life in ways he’d never intended to, weaving Emma into the fabric of his own forever.

Finn replayed that night when they’d come so close to losing Emma over and over in her mind, remembering the stark vulnerability in his face as he’d told Emma he wanted her for keeps….

Sometimes, now, Finn caught him looking at her with new intensity and glimpsed emotions she couldn’t exactly put her finger on. He was grateful for her help with his niece, Finn kept telling herself. Desperate and determined as he was to help Emma, he’d been forced to depend on Finn in a way she sensed was foreign to this proud, independent, emotionally wounded man. But what would it be like for Finn to hear him say the words he’d said to Emma to her?

What would it mean to Finn to hear Cade McDaniel claim that he wanted her…for keeps.

Finn caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she imagined a life with Cade McDaniel. She had no business thinking about her love life here with a giant stuffed Winnie the Pooh peering down at her. Not to mention the little blond boy busily trying to feed his construction paper monster to a shark hand puppet in the corner—no mother in sight.

He seemed occupied at the moment, so she grabbed the garbage can and headed over to start cleanup duty when she heard someone come up behind her. Figuring someone must have

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