A Forever Kind of Family Read Online Free PDF Page A

she said, “Even over and above the stocking of our freezer, your family has been amazing. Although there were so many people here the day of the funeral, I’m not sure I remember even half of their names.”
    “I’ll make name tags for the next family gathering,” he teased.
    “That would be helpful,” she said, her response perfectly sincere. “But for starters, which one of your bothers has the little boy—Jacob?”
    “Jacob is Daniel’s son—but Daniel is my cousin. Braden and Justin are my brothers.”
    “Justin is the doctor?”
    He nodded.
    “Is he married?”
    “No.”
    “But Braden’s married?”
    He nodded again. “To Dana.”
    “Do they have any kids?”
    “Not yet.”
    “And you have a sister who has a baby girl, right?”
    “Nope—no sisters at all. You’re probably thinking of Lauryn, who is another cousin.”
    She frowned. “But she referred to you as her daughter’s ‘uncle Ryan.’”
    “It’s an honorary title.”
    Harper shook her head. “No wonder I’m confused.”
    “Andrew, Nathan and Daniel are my cousins through my uncle David and aunt Jane. Andrew is married to Rachel and the father of Maura. Nathan is married to Allison, who is the mother of Dylan. And Jacob’s father, Daniel, is married to Kenna.
    “On my uncle Thomas and aunt Susan’s side, there are three female cousins—Jordyn, Tristyn and Lauryn. Lauryn is the only one married, and she and her husband, Rob, are the parents of Kylie.
    “I also have three more cousins—Matthew, Jackson and Lukas—in upstate New York. Matt and his wife, Georgia, have four kids, Jack and Kelly have two, and Lukas and Julie have a toddler.”
    “Name tags would definitely help,” she told him.
    He just grinned. “What about your family?”
    “Small,” she said. “And scattered. My dad has a sister who works for an insurance company in Wyoming, but she never married and doesn’t have any kids. His mother is down in Florida, but I haven’t seen her since I was a kid. My mom was an only child, so there’s just my parents, myself and my brother.”
    None of whom had shown up for the funeral, despite the fact that Melissa had been her roommate in college and her best friend since.
    Gayle Everton-Ross had expressed sympathy when her daughter called to tell her about the tragic heli-skiing accident that killed Melissa and Darren, but she hadn’t been able to talk long, because she was on her way to a meeting. Peter Ross had been busy on the set of the popular soap opera The Light of Dawn , and Spencer, an underwear model and wannabe actor, had been playing a bit part in an Off-Off-Broadway production.
    “Are you close?” Ryan asked.
    She shook her head. “Melissa was more my family than anyone I’m actually related to.”
    “I have brothers and cousins,” he said again, “but Darren was my family, too.”
    “I know.”
    They finished their meals in silence. Even Oliver was quiet while he ate, more interested in his food than any attempt at communication. As Harper picked at her salad, she found her thoughts wandering. She’d met Ryan, through Melissa and Darren, more than six years earlier, but she wouldn’t have said that she knew him well. And while they were friendly enough, they weren’t friends—they were too different for that.
    They’d occasionally hung out together, usually in a group, but they didn’t have much in common and never really hit it off. Even when Melissa and Darren got engaged and asked Harper and Ryan to be their maid of honor and best man respectively, they didn’t work particularly well together. She’d claimed he was too laid-back and he’d accused her of being too uptight, but they’d managed to put their personal differences aside for the benefit of their friends.
    Then came the wedding night—when Harper ended up in Ryan’s bed. The next morning, they both agreed it was a mistake, and neither of them ever told anyone else what had happened.
    When Oliver was born, the proud