Building a Family (New Friends Street) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

USA Today best-selling author of over 40 books, Lyn Cote writes award-winning contemporary and historical romance. Her brand is "Strong Women, Brave Stories." Visit her website/blog at http://www.LynCote.com and sign up for her newsletter. Also look for her on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Under the intense June sun, Pete Beck parked his new blue pickup under a shady maple on New Friends Street in Hope, Wisconsin. "Here we are," he announced to his two teenaged passengers. Ignoring the negative vibes rippling from them, he slid out and folded his seat forward to help his exuberant four-year-old daughter Cassie out of her booster seat.

Under a blue, blue sky, he swung little Cassie up into his arms and kissed her cheek with a loud raspberry. She shrieked, "Daddy!" and giggled. The two teens climbed down from the truck and trailed after him, their hands shoved into their pockets. Pete experienced a flash of sympathy for the two teens. Maturing from a boy to a man wasn't ever easy.

Before he could stop her, Cassie squirmed and broke out of his arms, running ahead. "Cassie!" he called. "Wait!" He raced after her. He caught up to her just as she halted in front of a tall African-American man holding a little girl about the same age as Cassie.

"Hi." Cassie waved up at the little girl. "Pretty. In your hair." Cassie pointed to the bright beads braided into the dark hair.

"You need to say thank you," the man said, letting his daughter down to join Cassie.

"Thank you," his little girl parroted, pointing at Cassie. "You got sunshine in your hair."

"I do?" Cassie looked upward at her own hair.

"Some people call her hair strawberry-blond," a soft woman's voice said from behind Pete.

He turned and saw Eleanor Washburn approaching him. She looked different than she had that bleak day back in March when they'd met. More relaxed. Even kind of pretty.

"I'm Kevan Paxton," the African-American man said, offering Pete his hand.

Pete shook it. "You're the family that's getting this Habitat house, right?"

Kevan grinned. "Yes, we're the lucky family"

"I'm Cassie," Pete's daughter said to Kevan's little girl. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tiesha. My mama's gonna have a baby." The little girl rested her head on her mother's rounded abdomen.

"I gotta big brother. He's at Little League with my grandma."

The adults, who'd paused to listen to this exchange, chuckled.

"I'm happy you came," Eleanor said, holding her hand out to Pete. "Kevan, this is Pete Beck, the building-trades teacher at the local high school. And I see he's brought along two of his students."

Pete took Eleanor's hand, surprised to feel calluses on her palm. That shouldn't surprise me. This is the third Habitat house project she's directed.

The two teens, one on either side of him, nodded, then mumbled something. Both refused to make eye contact. Kids. They thought they knew it all, yet they had so much to learn.

Eleanor glanced at her watch. "It's time for me to get the dedication started. Kevan, will you bring your family forward so I can introduce you?" She smiled at Pete and patted Cassie's head, then turned and walked toward an area already excavated for the foundation.

Pete couldn't help watching her go, assessing her.

"She's why we didn't want to come," Luis, one of the teens, said under his breath, near Pete's ear. "We been in trouble, you know? She defended us in juvenile court so she knows what we did. I mean, it was just stupid stuff, but we got in trouble for it." Luis lowered his voice more, as if not wanting Cassie to hear. "That lady's down on us, man."

"All in your imagination." Pete reached down to take Cassie's hand. But she was running again. He hurried after her. How could little legs move that fast?

Eleanor took her place at the front of the crowd. A bee buzzed past her nose. She began her welcome. "Good morning!" she called out, holding up her hands.

The crowd quieted and turned toward her.

"I'm so glad you've come to the dedication of the final Habitat house to be built here on New Friends Street." She smiled with all her might, hoping her zeal would prove contagious. "I'd like you to meet our Habitat family." She motioned with her hand. "Kevan, will you please come forward and bring your family with you?"

Kevan grasped his wife's hand and led his family to Eleanor, Cassie tagging along. "My pleasure, Ms. Washburn." He faced the crowd, exuding happiness. "I'm

Kevan Paxton. This little sweetheart is our four-year-old daughter." His little girl favored Kevan. "And this is my wife, my strength." With hair neatly beaded into corn rows, his wife looked happy, healthyand very round. "As you might notice, another little Paxton is due to arrive in August."

Laughter punctuated the well-wishes called out.

Eleanor noted that the two little girls were holding hands. The sight of such innocent sweetness touched her deeply. "Thank you, Kevan," Eleanor said. "And thank you for your service in Iraq"

Spontaneous applause and whistling broke out. When the applause ebbed, she started to speak about Habitat for Humanity. Kevan and his family moved away to stand beside Pete.

Then someone yanked her pant leg.

Eleanor glanced down to see Pete Beck's pretty little girl with her strawberry-blond hair. Cassie lifted her arms to Eleanor. The gesture was unmistakable; Eleanor's response was automatic. She swung the child into her armsand felt herself swept up in brand-new sensations. She couldn't recall ever holding a child. The desire to have a child of her own coursed through her with startling force.

The little girl wrapped her arms around Eleanor's neck and hugged her. Then she leaned back and, nose to nose with Eleanor, said, "You're pretty."

More chuckles bubbled up from the crowd.

Eleanor couldn't speak. The child's innocent, impulsive gesture had wrapped around her vocal cords. And she loved the child's soft weight and chubbiness and strawberry-shampoo-scented hair.I want a little girl of my own, Lord.

Pete hurried forward, his arms outstretched. "I'm sorry. Cassie, you're interrupting Ms Washburn."

Cassie clung to her as Eleanor studied Pete's face. He looked chagrined. This loosened Eleanor's throat. "No harm done, Mr. Beck. She's no trouble." She looked at Cassie. "You can stay if you'll be quiet. You see, I need to talk to these people."

"I'll be quiet," Cassie vowed, her teeth denting her lower lip.

"You're sure?" Pete asked.

After both Eleanor and Cassie nodded, he returned to where he'd been standing with the two teens. Cassie's presence added a new zest to Eleanor's mood as she put her enthusiasm about the two previous Habitat houses into words.

The recipient of the first of these houses, Rosa Chambers, hurried over from Eleanor's yard a bit tardy and waved at her from the back of the crowd. All the while Eleanor talked, Pete's gaze never strayed from her face. Her face warmed not with the sun but from his attention. Could he be afraid that his daughter might say or do something embarrassing? She smiled at him, hoping he'd relax.

At the end of her talk, she urged, "Now, I need everyone who's interested in volunteering to give their contact info to our volunteer, Rosa Chambers, the recipient of our first Habitat house built last year."

She motioned to Rosa whoas plannedhad gone over to a lawn chair in the shade of an oak tree and now sat with an open laptop. The crowd broke up. Some volunteers proceeded directly to Rosa; others stopped to chat. Pete and the two teens gravitated toward Eleanor. They hung back till the few people who'd stopped to exchange words with her moved away.

Cassie hugged Eleanor's...