Her Secret, His Child: A Little Secret by Tara Quinn (rosie project .txt) 📕

last silent prayer that Ashley wouldn't be disappointed with the talking she got.

The nice man was back. Ashley smiled at him when he came into the room with Mommy. Just to see if he'd smile back. She couldn't remember for sure if he'd smiled at her before.

He did smile. Really big. And she knew then he

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hadn't smiled at her before or she would've remembered. She liked big smiles.

"Who's he?" she asked Mommy. He had a birthday month and he smiled and Mommy let him in their house, so he was good. Even if he did think she was only two. Two was baby, but maybe he didn't know that.

"My name's Kyle Radcliff."

The man answered instead of Mommy. Ashley giggled. He had a funny name. It reminded her of the story Mommy read her about the doggie that saved a kitten from falling down down down a cliff.

"Ash?"

Mommy sat down at the table.

"You remember when you were asking me about your daddy?"

Mommy's eyes were all serious. They scared Ashley so much she could hardly concentrate on Mommy's words.

Mommy was watching her, not talking anymore, so Ashley nodded.

"Well, he found us, sweetie."

Mommy's mouth started to move funny, in kind of a wobbly way.

"Your daddy found us."

Ashley stared at Mommy's lips for long enough that she wasn't sure what words Mommy had said.

So when Mommy started to talk again Ashley listened carefully.

"Your daddy found us, honey."

Her daddy! "Daddy!" she hollered, jumping up

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till she almost fell out of her chair. She'd known her daddy would come someday. She'd known it!

The nice man moved closer to the table. Ashley was so happy she wanted him to be happy, too. "You know my daddy?" she asked him.

He came right up to Ashley's chair and bent way down until he was shorter than she was. "I'm your daddy, Ashley," he said, so soft she didn't think she'd heard all his words, either. Besides, she was too busy looking at the picture of herself in his glasses. She hoped her daddy had good glasses like that.

"Did you hear me, sweetie?" he asked her, his eyebrows coming together.

Hoping he wasn't going to be mad, Ashley did what Mommy always said was right. She told the truth. Shaking her head, she whispered, "No."

"I said I am your daddy."

Ashley froze. Her whole body felt like wiggling and she had to go potty really bad and she was afraid if she made a noise the nice man would disappear, just like in her dreams when her daddy came. She stared at him and stared at him and he didn't go away. He smiled, instead.

"You…you're my daddy?" she finally got brave enough to ask, but then covered her ears really quick in case he changed his mind.

It didn't matter that she couldn't hear him. He nodded yes.

Ashley wanted him to hug her up really big, just like Kayla's daddy did when he came home. She'd just known that when God finally heard her and

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brought her a daddy, he'd hug her up big like that. But he didn't, and that made her afraid.

' 'Do you love me like Kayla''s daddy loves her?''

Daddy's eyes got really big and Ashley felt all better inside.

"Oh, yes, sweetheart. Maybe even more."

Of course more, Ashley thought. Just like God gave her the best mommy, He'd given her the best daddy, too. She just knew it.

And because he was a new daddy and maybe didn't know all about it yet, Ashley wrapped her arms around his big old neck to teach him what daddies did. He was really smart, because he picked her right up and squeezed her so tight she just about couldn't breathe.

Ashley was so excited she did a horrible, horrible thing. She wet her pants. And started to cry.

Daddy didn't get mad, though. He just hugged her more. And then helped her play with the queen and king and their boat the whole time Ashley was in her bath getting cleaned. He made up the best stories Ashley had ever heard.

She listened to every word, except when she took a time-out to thank God for hearing her and sending such a good daddy. Even if it took Him a while.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Karen was so envious she wanted to die. Yet she couldn't help smiling every time she thought of Jamie's good fortune. She'd been a little hurt that Jamie hadn't told her right away that the new English professor was Ashley's father, but she understood, too. Kyle Radcliff had the right to know first.

And now they were living a fairy-tale ending. One Karen couldn't even hope to emulate. She still hadn't told Dennis about the baby. He probably just thought she was getting fat, becoming a dull, frumpy housewife. For all she knew, he could already be falling out of love with her. And how could she blame him? What did she have that could possibly hold him?

Holding her man was not a problem Jamie would ever experience. Not only was Kyle obviously besotted with her, she was beautiful, smart, successful. She was a fantastic mother, a loyal friend.

The only thing Jamie had in common with Karen these days, besides their daughters, was something Karen couldn't figure out. Jamie wasn't happy. As a matter of fact, there were times Karen would swear that Jamie needed a friend even more than she did.

Which made no sense at all.

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Spring was teasing Larkspur Grove. March brought days that began with tantalizing sunshine and warmth, to be followed only hours later by a severe snowstorm. Three times that month Jamie sent Ashley to school wearing only a sweater and had to pack her winter coat in the car to bring her home.

The weather seemed to reflect her relationship with Kyle. Though, in all honesty, she had to admit the fault was hers. She was as inconsistent as the month of March, wanting to believe that what she'd once been didn't matter, that the woman she'd become was the only woman Kyle