A Christmas Miracle for Daisy (Taming of the Sheenans Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

god-momma,” she emphasized.
    He smiled crookedly, pushing back a lock of silky dark brown hair from her face. It was strange how this little person could make him feel so much. He’d been accused of being cold and detached by his girlfriends at various points in the relationship. You’re selfish, Cormac. You’re the Ice Man, cold and heartless. But Daisy brought out the protector in him. Daisy made him care.
    “Daisy’s god-momma,” he repeated, still enchanted by the way she’d speak of herself in the third person. She did it less and less now, but as a toddler it was her favorite way to communicate. Daisy wants this. Daisy needs that.
    Daisy needs…
    His smile slipped, aware that Daisy needed so much in her life…so much more than just him. The incident at her school had proven that.
    She didn’t need a mother and a father rolled up in an independent bachelor. She needed a mother and a father. Two parents. She needed sisters and brothers. Cousins. Family.
    “God-momma Whitney,” Daisy added, clasping his chin firmly to keep his attention.
    “You remember her name.”
    “Yes.” Daisy’s frown deepened. “Have I met her?”
    “Many times when you were a baby and still living in Denver. Whitney and your mommy were best friends.”
    “Where is Denver?”
    “It’s in a state called Colorado. You have to fly to get there.”
    “Is that why she doesn’t come see me? It’s too long a flight?”
    His chest, already tight, squeezed into a hard knot. His conscience warred with him. “Would you want to see her?”
    The little girl hesitated. “Does she like me?”
    Again his conscience smote him. “Yes.” His voice dropped, roughening. “Whitney loves you.”
    “Then why won’t she see me?”
    He didn’t know how to explain to a four-year-old the complicated situation. He didn’t know how to unravel the messy tangled threads that tied him to Whitney. That tied them to Daisy. But then, he didn’t even know how to explain to himself how something that had once been so good, became so bad. “We just live really far apart. But maybe once we’re in Montana…maybe we can try to get you two together then.”
    “Is Montana where Mack and Molly live?”
    “Yes. And it’s where we’re going to be living in just a couple weeks.” He kissed the top of her head. “You know your mom was from Montana. I think she’d love it that you’re going to be raised there, too.”
    “And Momma Whitney?”
    “I think she’d like it, too.”
    *
    Cormac couldn’t sleep that night. His bed was large, the mattress new and ridiculously comfortable, his sheets and duvet equally luxurious and soft. His bedroom windows were open, welcoming the fresh sea air, carried in from the breeze off the Pacific Ocean. And yet he was restless. His mind wouldn’t shut off.
    Frustrated, he yanked his pillow out from beneath his head and smashed it into a different shape. It was past midnight and he craved sleep—craved escape—but his thoughts raced, his conscience working away at him. Guilt. Sorrow. Regret.
    Daisy was asking for Whitney again. She clearly missed Whitney, or at the very least, wondered about her.
    It wasn’t the first time Daisy had asked about Whitney. Whitney came up every three or four months, usually whenever Whitney sent a gift or if Daisy played with the toy sent by Whitney.
    Now he found himself wondering if Whitney was supposed to be in her life.
    Not true.
    He did know.
    Whitney had been a huge part of Daisy’s life before April and Daryl died. She should have remained a huge part of her life even with them gone. But the logistics had been hellacious. Whitney there in Denver. He here in California. And the grief over the accident, as well as the constant guilt…
    He’d escaped the accident. Whitney hadn’t. She’d still been in the limo when it was struck by the truck. In hindsight it was a blessing she’d been thrown from the limo, because it’s what allowed her to survive. Daryl and April had