time.
As she guided her kids out of the laundry room she couldnât help glancing back just once because she thought she could feel Flint watching her.
He stood with his hips leaning against the front of the drier, his arms crossed over his wide chest. And he wasnât merely watching herâthere was something else in those eyes that almost seemed appreciativeâ¦
Why that again set off that tingling-across-the-surface-of-her-skin feeling, that reminder that she was a woman, she didnât know.
She only knew that it needed to stop.
And it needed not to happen again.
She was a mother, first and foremost, and she couldnât let herself be distracted from that. She already had her hands full.
And yet just the thought of having her hands full made her mind wander back to the feel of Flintâs rock-solid shoulders.
And whether she wanted to admit it or not, sheâd liked the way theyâd felt.
Chapter Three
F lint stood high atop his brotherâs roof early Tuesday morning. He was supposed to be checking for loose shingles. Instead he was so intent on watching Jessie cross from her backyard into Cooperâs through the connecting gate that he was late in realizing that a car had pulled up in front of the house.
Only when Jessie had disappeared from sight was Flintâs attention drawn in the opposite direction, just as his other brother Ross was getting out from behind the wheel.
âHey, down there! This is a surprise!â Flint called.
No one had said anything about Ross coming by today, or about his bringing their uncle William and Williamâs fiancée, Lily. But there they all were.
âI have some news,â Ross yelled back as he closed the driverâs side door.
Growing up, Ross, the oldest of Cindyâs children had looked out for his siblings and in that same vein, Flint saw him making sure that the elderly couple got safely out of his car as Flint climbed down the ladder and met them at the front porch.
William and Lily were supposed to be married in January. The match between William and his late-cousin Ryanâs widow had been kept quiet until theyâd both felt the family could accept their relationship. The relationship that had come about despite the fact that William and Ryan had been close, despite the fact that Lily had adored her husband until his death six years before from a brain tumor. Two years ago, the also-widowed William and Lily had found their way to each other, and what had begun as a family connection turned into a friendship that had blossomed into love.
Their wedding had been set for January firstâa New Yearâs Day celebration. But William had never made it to the church. There had been speculation that heâd run off with another woman, that heâd been kidnapped, that any number of things had caused him to leave Lily at the altar voluntarily or involuntarily. His car had been discovered days later, having gone off a road near the neighboring town of Haggerty, almost completely concealed in a wooded ravine. William was nowhere around.
For months it hadnât been known where he was, or whether he was dead or alive. Then, just a few weeks ago, he was located living on the streets in Haggerty, suffering from amnesia, not even aware of who he was.
Since being returned to Red Rock, to his family, to Lilyâwho had always believed William would returnto herâhe was getting better at recognizing the people who cared about him. And because he had a particular soft spot for Anthonyâfor no reason anyone could explainâFlint knew that whenever she got the chance, Lily liked to expose William to the baby in hope that something about Anthony was reaching Williamâs deeply buried recollections and helping to draw them to the surface.
âI donât know what news you have, but itâs good to see you all,â Flint greeted the small group. âHow are you feeling, Uncle William?â
âA