His Perfect Bride? Read Online Free PDF Page A

arrived.
    There was a lot of questioning, a lot of hustle and bustle. Lula gave a statement, and then Olly told them the little he knew—that he couldn’t think of anyone who might have been concealing a pregnancy.
    Lula felt quite protective of the little mite, and almost didn’t want to hand her over, but in the endshe did, her heart sinking a little at the thought of what the future might hold for the little girl. Would she get lost in the system? Be passed from family to family?
    She could only hope that they would find the baby’s mother. Before it was too late.
    After the police had gone, and the small lounge and kitchen had emptied of uniformed bodies, she sank down into the seat by the fire and stared at Olly, ignoring the way the firelight flickered in the reflection of his blue eyes.
    ‘What a welcome to the village!’
    He attempted a smile. ‘We did what we could for her.’
    ‘I worry that it’s not enough. Poor thing.’
    ‘We’ll find the mum.’
    ‘But what if we don’t ? That baby will enter the system and there’s no guarantee of a happy ending for her, you know? Not all foster homes are great.’
    He cocked his head to one side. ‘Are you speaking from experience?’
    She met his gaze, noticing how beautiful his dark blue eyes were, framed by thick dark lashes. Men could be so lucky with their eyelashes, it seemed.
    Lula nodded, deciding to be open with him. ‘I was like that little baby once. But I wasn’t left in a cardboard box in the snow in the middle ofwinter. My mother left me in a Moses basket on a beach.’
    ‘You were abandoned?’ He sat forward.
    She gave a wry smile. ‘From what I know, I was found by a family who were packing up their beach hut. They’d been with their kids by the water’s edge, paddling and stuff. When they came back they found me. My mother had left a note, saying how sorry she was, how much she regretted doing it, but that she couldn’t keep me. With the note was this.’ She reached into her neckline and pulled out a silver necklace with a heart charm on the end. ‘She signed the note with the initials “EL”.’
    ‘“EL”? That’s all you were left with?’
    ‘And that she’d called me Louise.’ Lula sipped her drink and smiled at him. ‘You don’t have to feel sorry for me, you know. I’ve lived my life to the full.’
    ‘It’s not over yet. You’ve got years left.’
    ‘We never know, though, do we? I could get knocked down by a bus tomorrow.’
    He frowned. ‘Actually, you couldn’t. There’s no bus service tomorrow.’
    She smiled, but then Olly was serious again. ‘What happened to you?’
    Lula shrugged. ‘I went from home to home till I was about seven and then I got put with a family who decided they wanted to adopt me.’
    ‘The Chances?’
    ‘Yes. They were lovely—really sweet people—but I knew I didn’t belong to them.’
    ‘They’d chosen you. Out of all those children looking for a permanent home, they picked you . You should be pleased about that.’
    ‘They had other adopted children and each of them had a problem, too. A health problem. Peter and Daisy Chance seemed to go after all the hard-luck cases—don’t ask me why.’
    ‘Perhaps they thought that children with issues needed the most love?’
    She shrugged. ‘Maybe.’
    ‘But what was wrong with you ? If you don’t mind me asking?’
    She smiled. ‘I had leukaemia. Childhood leukaemia. They had no idea if I was going to live or die, and still the Chances wanted me. That was pretty brave of them, huh?’
    He nodded, thoughtful.
    ‘I got better—though the chemo did some horrible things.’
    ‘But you got through it okay?’
    ‘As okay as I could at that age.’
    Olly smiled. ‘You seem well now, though, and—as you say yourself—you pack everything into life. You work as a doctor, which is hard work and stressful, and you do other stuff, too.’
    ‘I made the decision to be happy and enjoylife and take my medicine every day.’ She