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She’d never forgive herself if something happened to her cousin’s daughter. Keely had promised Juliette she’d take care of Felicity until she was once again free to do so herself.
Who knew when that would be? Six years, nine, the full twelve? It was up to the Colorado Department of Corrections and contingent on Juliette’s good behavior.
For a brief second, Keely stood rooted to the spot by a deep, painful ache in her chest. Her cousin had made a terrible mistake. She deserved forgiveness. Yet Keely couldn’t help wondering why Juliette hadn’t come to her for help, or gone to any of their other family members. Including Keely’s twin brother, Beau, who was dripping in money from his days as a world-class professional skier.
By letting pride rule her actions, her cousin had not only lost her freedom. She’d lost the chance to raise her daughter. As a result, Keely would be responsible for Felicity during the child’s most formative years.
Lord, help me to be a good influence. Give me the wisdom to guide Felicity from child to young adult.
Releasing a sigh, Keely took one last deep breath and entered the bedroom.
Felicity lay resting on her side, eyes shut, her hands clasped together beneath her chin. She looked so sweet, so innocent. Keely had to swallow several times to release the lump lodged in her throat.
Nothing had prepared her for this melting of her heart, this wondrous, piercing mix of fear, resolve and deep devotion for a child she’d only met three times before Saturday. She hadn’t expected to care this much, this fast. Maybe she was capable of loving again after all. For the past year, she’d wondered.
As if Felicity sensed her presence, her eyes slowly blinked open.
“Hey, kiddo.” Pasting on a smile, Keely moved deeper in the room. “How are you feeling?”
“Better, I guess.” The words came out raspy. “I’m thirsty.”
“I bet you are.” Keely sat on the edge of the bed and retrieved the cup of water she’d brought to her little cousin earlier. With her free hand she helped the girl sit up and take a few sips.
When she’d had enough, Felicity collapsed back on the bed with a sigh.
Letting out her own whoosh of air, Keely set the cup aside and brushed back a tangle of blond hair from the pretty face that was a tiny copy of her mother’s. “Here’s hoping by tomorrow you’ll be good as new.”
“I don’t think I’ll be better by morning.” Felicity stared at Keely in open terror. “I mean, you know, not completely. Not good enough to go to school.”
Keely bit her lower lip. Ethan had been right. Felicity’s stomachache had been brought on by stress or, more specifically, by worry over starting another school, her third in the same number of months.
Poor kid. She’d experienced a lot of upheaval since her mother was caught embezzling money from her employer. Sent to live with her grandmother during the trial, then with Keely once the verdict was carried out and the paperwork for legal guardianship was complete, Felicity had undergone too much inconsistency in her young life. A little coddling was in order.
“I’ve been thinking about that.” Keely cleared her suddenly thick throat. “It’s late and you haven’t had much sleep. Let’s push your start date back a few days.”
“You really mean it? I don’t have to go to school tomorrow?”
“No school tomorrow.”
Felicity’s entire face lit up, her O’Toole heritage already evident in her pretty, petite features. According to family lore, their ancestors had been world-famous Shakespearean actors known for their extraordinary beauty and charm as much as their talent.
Keely hadn’t caught the acting bug, but she’d traded on her looks for about a second and a half when she first arrived in New York City right out of high school. It had taken all of three weeks to realize her talents were better suited for the business office of the modeling agency, rather than the runway.
She’d really loved her job as a booking agent but was happy to be home after a ten-year absence. She had her brother here in Village Green. Her lifelong best friend Olivia Scott, now Olivia Mitchell, also lived in town, and Keely had a little girl right here in her home, depending on her.
“Keely?”
“Hmm?”
A moment of silence passed, and then came a very small, very sad sigh. “Do you think my mom misses me?”
Even knowing this conversation was coming, Keely still felt a pang of dread. What if her words instilled fear rather than calm? “Of course she misses you.”
“Do you think she’s lonely without me?”
“Your mother loves you,” Keely said truthfully, if somewhat evasively. “We’ll visit her next month. In the meantime you can write to her.”
Although Juliette would eventually be able to see her daughter weekly, she wasn’t allowed visitations during the first month of her incarceration.
The holiday season was going to be difficult for Felicity. Since her father had signed over custody before her birth, Juliette was the only parent the child had ever known. Keely was determined to give her sweet cousin the best Christmas of her life. It wouldn’t take away Felicity’s pain or sense of loss, but it would certainly offer her a lovely distraction.
“I know having your mom gone is really hard, but I’m here for you now, and always.”
Choking out a sob, Felicity flung herself into Keely’s arms.
With a fierceness that grabbed her by the throat, she pulled the child close and once again silently promised to make this Christmas season one the girl would remember for years to come. “Oh, sweetie, I’m going to take really good care of you, I promise.”
Felicity clung for several, long seconds. Keely gently rocked the child back and forth. Once she felt Felicity relax, she eased her back onto the bed. It was hard not to look at her without seeing Juliette. Mother and daughter had the same cornflower-blue eyes, attractive dimples and exotic tilt to their features.
“Will you read to me before I go to sleep?”
“I would love that.” Keely sorted through the stack of books she’d placed on the bedside table this afternoon.
“Do we want one of the American Girls, or should I read from—” she picked up the book at the bottom of the pile “—My Friend Flicka?”
Keely couldn’t help smiling as one of the mysteries from earlier in the evening was now solved. You can call me Flicka, Felicity had told Ethan.
Her dimples flashing prettily, the child pointed to the book in Keely’s hand. “That one, please.”
“My Friend Flicka it is.” Still smiling, Keely opened the book and began reading about a boy and his horse. Her mind was only partly on the words, mostly on Felicity.
She was a sweet child with an inherently kind nature. Not too many years in the future, she would steal young boys’ hearts without even trying. Keely only hoped Felicity’s life took a happier route than Juliette’s.
Now that she was Felicity’s legal guardian, Keely would ensure that her little cousin made wise choices. Keely would start the process by loving her, and creating a stable home and, of course, raising her in the church. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
With the verse from Proverbs convicting her, she turned the page and continued reading. By the time she made it to the end of the first chapter, Felicity was sound asleep.
Keely spent the rest of the night on the phone clearing her calendar and ensuring that her managers were okay running the restaurant a few more days without her. Then she texted her brother and asked him to check in periodically during the afternoon and evening shifts. With his ski shop, the Slippery Slope, next door to the restaurant, it shouldn’t be a problem.
The next morning, Keely woke feeling better about her role as a surrogate mother to her cousin’s daughter. Maybe, just maybe, she’d get it right with Felicity.
Please, Lord, let it be so.
* * *
Just after sunrise, the child herself came into the kitchen when Keely was sipping her first cup of coffee for the day.
“Hey there.” She set her steaming mug on the counter. “I was just about to run upstairs and check on you.”
Rubbing at her eyes, Felicity smiled around a jaw-cracking yawn. “I’m hungry.”
Which answered Keely’s next question. Obviously, the child was feeling better this morning. “How do pancakes sound?”
“Yummy.”
While Keely mixed up the batter, she and Felicity discussed their favorite foods, which led to the popular chocolate-versus-vanilla debate. Chocolate won, of course.
She made a mental note to stop by her best friend’s brand-new chocolate shop with Felicity in tow. If they went in one afternoon this week, perhaps her cousin could meet Olivia’s twin daughters, Megan and Molly, who were Felicity’s same age and attended Village Green Elementary. It was an excellent way to help the child make new friends in a safe, comfortable environment.
By the time Keely set a full plate in front of her, she knew she’d made the right decision to keep Felicity home for the day.
She was just about to dig into her own stack of pancakes when a knock sounded on the back door.
Thinking she knew exactly who was standing outside her house, Keely chewed on her bottom lip. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face Ethan again, not before she’d consumed at least two more cups of coffee. The animosity between them she could handle. It was familiar, comfortable, but this sudden getting along, even if only for a child’s sake? Well, that confused and intimidated her.
Another knock came, louder and more insistent.
“Aren’t you going to see who it is?”
The question spurred Keely into action. “Be right back.”
She felt a catch in her throat when she opened the door to a very different man than the one she’d interacted with last night. He’d ditched the casual T-shirt, jeans and—sadly—the scruff. He now wore a pair of dark blue dress pants and a crisp white button-down. He was also rocking a beat-up leather jacket and aviator sunglasses.
Keely sucked in a breath, wondering why her pulse sped up whenever the man came within five feet of her.
Not much got to her. In truth, very little got to her. But a clean-shaven Ethan Scott decked out in professional attire and really cool shades?
Oh yeah, that got to her.
* * *
Ethan removed his sunglasses, only to realize his mistake the moment his unhindered gaze connected with Keely’s. He should have called instead of coming over to check on Flicka in person. Too late to change his mind now. He was tethered to the spot by a pair of sea-green eyes.
Why had he never noticed how long and full Keely’s lashes were? How had he missed the flawlessness of her complexion?
He tried to look away. He really tried. But then the doctor in him took over and he noted the tiny lines of stress around her mouth, the purple smudges beneath her eyes.
She’d had a rough night.
“Is Flicka still experiencing stomach pains?”
“No, she’s fine. She’s—”
“Dr. Ethan, Dr. Ethan, you’re here!”
Charmed by the enthusiastic greeting, he peered around Keely and smiled at the girl. She was smaller than he’d calculated, skinnier, too, but utterly adorable as she frantically waved a hand over her head.
“Hey, Flicka.”
He’d barely shifted around Keely when the little girl launched herself at him. He caught her and held her close for one beat, two, then slowly set her back on her feet and studied her more closely. “Looks like someone’s feeling better.”
“I am.” She bounced from one foot to the other. “My tummy doesn’t hurt at all, not even a little bit. Are you here for breakfast? Keely made pancakes and they’re really, really good.”
As he sorted through the rapid-fire speech, Ethan’s mind hooked on one word. Pancakes. His favorite. He shot a questioning glance in Keely’s direction. “Is there enough for me?”
“Sure, why not?” Face as grim as her tone, she headed toward the kitchen without another word.
Hardly a warm invitation. But there was one thing Ethan had learned since Keely moved back to town and took over her family’s restaurant: She’d inherited her mother’s gift in the kitchen. He’d take whatever she was serving, with whatever prickly attitude she adopted. Her cooking was that good.
Flicka took his hand and dragged him deeper into the house. “I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again, ever, at least not for a few more days.”
He chuckled. “I’m your neighbor. Our paths will cross often, maybe every day.”
Keely made a soft sound of protest in her throat, barely audible, but Ethan caught it. “Got a problem with that?”
Her pause told its own story. But then she lifted a careless shoulder that didn’t ring true with her tight expression.
“Not at all.” She blessed him with a sugary sweet smile. “I enjoy your company, Dr. Scott.”
They both knew that wasn’t true, but Ethan decided to be an optimist this morning. Maybe he and Keely really could set aside their differences and become friends. Neighbors were supposed to be friendly, weren’t they? Wasn’t that the same as being friends?
Flicka carried the conversation while Ethan dug into a large stack of fluffy pancakes. He hadn’t shared breakfast with a single mother and her daughter in nearly two years.
Technically, he wasn’t doing so now. Flicka wasn’t Keely’s child. Still, he had to focus on his food, and the girl’s excited chatter, rather than the unease he felt. The cozy setting felt too familiar, a taste of the life he’d had and then lost so abruptly. Out of sheer survival, he shut his mind to everything but the plate of food in front of him.
Holding painful memories at bay was hard work. By the time he finished his pancakes he was exhausted. He needed to vacate the premises stat. Unfortunately, he’d only dealt with one of the reasons he’d made the short journey across their adjacent yards. He said goodbye to Flicka, included a promise to stop by soon, then asked Keely to walk him out.
At her challenging stare, he tried not to show his impatience. He wasn’t in the mood for one of their legendary arguments this morning. “I have something I need to run by you.”
“All right, fine.”
Once they were alone on the back stoop, he allowed himself a good long look at his neighbor. What he saw put him immediately on edge. She was especially beautiful in the morning light, her hair several warm shades of red, gold and copper.
She’d tamed the long strands in a sleek ponytail. The simple style highlighted her stunning features. Even with her face free of cosmetics, Ethan could easily picture her on the cover of a fashion magazine.
“What did you want to speak with me about?”
A muscle knotted in his chest at her wary tone. The progress they’d made last night was gone.
“First off,” he began as calmly as possible, “I didn’t come over to mooch breakfast, although I certainly enjoyed every bite. So, thanks.”
“Oh, uh...you’re welcome.”
Her faltering voice told him he’d caught her off guard, as if she didn’t expect a compliment from him, which made Ethan wonder why he didn’t do it more often. There were many things he liked about Keely. Her smile, her eyes, her quick wit, her smile, her...
What had he come over for again?
Thankfully, Keely filled the conversational void. “You were right, by the way.”
