Her Valentine Family Read Online Free PDF Page A

handful.
    Chad loved every minute of it.
    Grabbing a University of Georgia mug, he filled the cup with coffee, moved to his back window and enjoyed the strong taste against his palette. He thought about Lainey and how much he enjoyed his little girl. And then he remembered Jessica’s words.
    â€œI have a son.”
    Jessica had a little boy. Chad had been so stunned at the news that he hadn’t asked any of the normal questions. Now he wondered how old he was. What was he like? Did he look like Jess? And naturally he wondered who was the little guy’s father? And why hadn’t Jess married him? He couldn’t fathom her having a baby out of marriage, not after the conversations they had back inhigh school about that very thing. Particularly that one conversation on the night she left town.
    The baby monitor on the kitchen counter crackled as Lainey sighed in her sleep. She was probably getting ready to start stirring, and she’d want her juice as soon as she opened her eyes. Chad took another sip of his coffee, then set the mug on the counter, grabbed her pink Minnie Mouse sippy cup and filled it with apple juice. Next he scanned the kitchen until he spotted her pacifier on the table. He took it to the sink, rinsed it off and then placed it next to the sippy cup.
    Fridays were fun days for Chad, days to really take the time to see what Lainey had learned throughout the week, hear whatever new words she was saying and watch her toddle around and explore the world. He was anxious for the weather to get warm enough to take her to Hydrangea Park and feed the ducks. It wouldn’t be long, thanks to Alabama’s mild winters, and he couldn’t wait.
    Another soft mumble echoed through the baby monitor, and Chad knew his little girl was starting to rouse. He took another sip of coffee and watched the first rays of sunlight break through the night. The sky immediately took on an array of colors with the brilliant addition. Purples and pinks, oranges and golds.
    Chad sipped more coffee and thought how quickly the sun’s rays had changed the sky’s disposition, shifting it in one broad stroke from dismal gray and black to a kaleidoscope of vivid hues. He’d say the new morning sky looked rather heavenly, like a painting from God.
    A frown tugged at his mouth, and he sighed. God had painted his life a bit differently than the one he’d envisioned, the one that included a happy home and amedical degree. But he was a firm believer that things happen for a reason, for God’s reason, and even though he hadn’t been on the best of terms with Him for the past few years, Chad was trying to get back on the right track again, slowly but surely. He and Lainey had even made it to a couple of church services, and it didn’t feel so awkward, as though everyone was staring at them and feeling pity toward him and his life.
    True, it wasn’t what he’d planned, but he’d work it out the best way he knew how. And right now, the best way he knew how involved teaching biology at the community college and being with Lainey.
    The sun had moved up to a half globe now, a red-orange mass that pressed outward and pushed the black away, changing everything in its path from dark and gloomy to bright and cheery.
    This was part of Chad’s morning ritual, watching the sun rise from his kitchen window, and he was certain it had probably looked this incredible several other days as well. But today, he saw the image more clearly, and he saw it as a symbol, perhaps a sign from God, that his dark, gloomy life was changing. A ray of sunlight found its way through the darkness last night, when Jessica walked back into his life again, and Chad found, like the sky that he currently watched out his window, that everything around him looked brighter.
    A tiny little grunt, followed by the sound of rustling sheets, emitted through the baby monitor told him that Lainey was waking up. He set his coffee mug on