Baby Kisses Read Online Free PDF Page A

not to develop a crush on him.
    Just as he'd promised, they moved into the house within a month of first seeing it. Of course, her parents raised hell about her being single and allowing a man to live in the same house, but she just watched their mouths move and didn't absorb their concerns. Nothing could distract her happiness.
    Miles had the bedroom in the hallway with the bathroom and Tooty and Harris each had their own rooms in the opposite hallway. He had made the home wheelchair friendly and she knew he'd spent a lot of money. Whenever she attempted to broach the subject of paying him back, he'd brush her concerns away and say it was a non-issue because the improvements were for his convenience.
    As for Harris, he was over the moon about his new racing car bed and bedspread with matching wallpaper that she'd bought with bonus money from Miles. He'd insisted it was deserved for inspiring him to rewrite the escape scene.
    The first night in their new home, Tooty grabbed Harris' favorite storybook and lay beside him. Long into the night she stayed in his room. After years of not crying, she swiped away tears of joy. Her baby had a home. She had a home.
    Finally, she returned to her own room and opened her nightstand drawer to remove the envelope the attorney had given her the day of their appointment. For at least the hundredth time she reread the letter from Beatrice Shipley.
     
    My dear Tooty,
    If you are reading this letter, then I have gone on to my maker. I believe you will love your new home as much as I have for over fifty years. The home also came to me by way of an inheritance. It's not much in the way of outward beauty, but it is a beautiful home. I know you will understand after a time of living there. My most precious gift to you, however, is not the home. There is a treasure within that I discovered, but too late to make reconciliation with the love of my life. Sadly, he died before I could make things right. If only I had found this treasure even two years sooner, it would have made a difference in my decisions. But it is what it is.
    I will give you a clue as to its whereabouts because to tell you outright would not befit the treasure. I know you will find it. You're a special woman with depth of character that will keep you from making the same mistakes I have. Here is the clue: The circle surrounds Annabelle's timeless treasure.
    —Beatrice Shipley
     
    Tooty folded the paper and put it back in the envelope. Over and over she repeated the clue, like counting sheep, until she fell asleep.
    * * *
    Miles woke feeling like crap. He'd spent the past month working on Tooty's house when he should have been writing the final chapters of his novel. He had a headache, and Harris, running through the house yelling, didn't help matters. He covered his head with his pillow. I must have been out of my mind. What the hell was I thinking to sink time and money into Tooty's house? Now I'm living with a four year old. I'll never get any work done. Even as the thought passed through his mind, he knew he was being an asshole.
    "Mister Brightperson, are you awake?"
    There was a loud knocking on his door and then Harris repeated his question louder. "Mister Brightperson, are you awake!?" Miles pulled another pillow over his head. He heard Tooty's muffled voice. "Harris, stop that! Let Mr. Brightman sleep." Blessedly, the pounding on the door stopped. The pounding in his head did not.
    Rolling over and pushing himself up against the headboard of his new bed, he reached into his nightstand for a pain pill and then tossed it back with a gulp of water. He rubbed his temples waiting for the pain to ebb and fought threatening depression. Glancing around the small room he'd made as workable as possible, he suddenly hated his life. He hated being in a wheelchair. He hated not being able to run, jog, walk, crawl; anything other than being stuck in that chair. Squeezing his eyes shut, he allowed himself to have his yearly pity party.