Owen's Best Intentions (Smoky Mountains, Tn. #2) by Anna Adams

Author:Anna Adams [Adams, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Romance, Women's Fiction, Forever Love, Christian, Inspirational, Spirituality, Love Inspired, Bachelor, Single Woman, Hearts Desire, Clean & Wholesome, Ex-Boyfriend, Family Life, Secret Son, Young Child, Vermont, Four Years, Traumatic Past, Tennessee Hometown, Second Change, Changes, Smoky Mountains
Publisher: Harlequin Heartwarming
Published: 2015-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

BEN UNDID HIS seat belt and jumped out of the truck the second Lilah turned off the engine. She caught up with him.

“I know you’re mad at me, buddy, but I’m still the mom, and I’m supposed to keep you safe.”

“I wasn’t scared, Mommy.”

“I don’t want you to be scared. I just want you to think twice.” Lilah winced. He was only four years old. “Let’s go inside, and you can take a shower.”

“Now? Do I have to go to bed?”

She shook her head. “You’re shivering, and a shower will help warm you up. And then it’ll be time for dinner.”

Chad met them at the door of the inn, his features slackening with relief when he saw she had Ben.

“Where were you?” he asked his nephew. “I turned around and you were gone.”

Lilah was struck dumb. He’d turned his back on her son.

“Just for a second, Lilah. Really.”

She directed Ben toward the stairs. “Chad, can you wait down here? I’d like to speak to you.”

“I figured you would.”

“Good. See you in a few minutes.”

Lilah took Ben upstairs and turned on a warm shower he didn’t want to take. She pointed at the curtain. “In you go, buddy.”

He sighed, with exaggerated grief. “Okay, Mommy.”

Poor kid. She probably could be a bit overwhelming, but she knew what could happen. One second the world was right. The next, her little boy could find himself in hell.

Just as she had.

Chad was waiting downstairs in his mother’s kitchen with a cup of coffee for her when she’d finished helping Ben and settled him in the living room with one of his books. She hesitated for a moment. Chad was also a kid. But she had to make her point. It was too important. What if the same thing happened when she wasn’t around? “While you were working out with bags of goat feed,” she said, “Ben ran down to the stream with the goats. They could have hurt him. He could have fallen into the water, and he could have ended up with hypothermia.”

Chad had the good grace to look ashamed. “I’m sorry. I suddenly got this great idea that I could use the feed bags for a better CrossFit workout than the tires I’ve been using. They’re heavy, and they—”

She nodded, trying to contain her anger. “You had one job.”

Chad bristled. “I have to train for football if I’m going to get a scholarship, and my mom expected me to put the goat feed away.”

“Why are you so determined to pretend this is okay? If you had other things to do, all you had to say was that you couldn’t look after Ben.”

The kitchen door opened. Suzannah entered with an armload of freshly washed linens. “What’s going on with you two?”

“The monster mom thinks I let her down with the Ben-man,” Chad said, and Lilah prayed that the Gage arrogance would never rub off on her son.

“I can barely speak to you right now,” she said. “In fact, I should cool down before I say something I can’t take back.

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