Free Forever Grace by Linda Poitevin Page A

counter. With no kids in the house, Sean had no reason to hide it. She returned to the door, checked to be sure it remained unlocked, and as a last thought, took the key from the hook above the light switch. She needed Sean McKittrick out of their cottage and into his own, and she was taking no chances on any more delays.
    ………………
    “Success!” Grace called out as she and Josh stepped back into their cottage. She slipped off her shoes and headed for the giggles she could hear in the living room. “You can finally go home and get that rest you came for, Mr. McKitt—”
    She stopped short, surveying the room in dismay mixed with a tinge of horror, taking in the collection of stuffed animals scattered across the floor and piled around Sean on the couch. Lilliane and Sage followed her gaze and exchanged looks. Their smiles faded. The mound of toys beside Sean shifted as Annabelle wriggled out from under them. There were so many, Grace hadn’t even seen her niece in their midst.
    So many, in fact, that it looked as if every stuffie the girls collectively possessed was there. And that was a lot of stuffies.
    Seventy-two of them, to be exact. Of every size and type imaginable. Grace knew, because she’d counted them when she’d packed the entire lot for transport to the cottage, not having had the heart to deprive her nieces of that small comfort in the midst of the chaos they’d faced.
    “Bunny owie.”
    Annabelle joined her, holding up a yellow rabbit in one hand. Grace took it from her. A neat cast of masking tape covered one of the hind legs.
    “Fwog owie.”
    The toddler pressed a smiling green frog into Grace’s other hand. It, too, wore a cast.
    Grace’s gaze went back to the living room disaster area. Little bits of masking tape decorated the coffee and end tables. She looked at the animals piled around Sean. Then at him.
    “ All of them?” she asked. Behind her, she heard Josh smother a laugh into a snort.
    “Ahh…” Sean cleared his throat, guilt sliding across his expression. “Things kind of got away on me.”
    “You think?”
    “And I may owe you a roll or two of masking tape.”
    “Three rolls,” Lilliane corrected. “Because Annabelle wanted all her animals to have casts like Mr. McKittrick, and then she wanted to do ours, too.”
    “All of them,” Grace said again. A statement this time.
    “I take full responsibility,” Sean said. Then, with a grimace, he added, “I had no idea two-year-olds could be so loud when they don’t get their own way.”
    Staring down at the frog and bunny in her hands, Grace tried to wrap her head around the idea of seventy-two casted animal legs. Or rather, how she was ever going to get that much masking tape off seventy-two animal legs. Fuzzy ones. Her lips twitched. She pulled them straight, digging deep for the modicum of severity the occasion seemed to require.
    “Right,” she said, directing a pointed gaze at the three main culprits, each in turn. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to take Mr. McKittrick back to his cottage before he causes any more trouble—”
    Lilliane and Sage giggled, and Grace’s heart melted a little. Sage? Giggling? In the presence of a virtual stranger, and a male one at that? That alone was worth seventy-two masking tape casts. She blinked back a sudden sheen of tears and made herself frown—but not too deeply.
    “And you two,” she continued, “will put all the animals back where they belong and then pick up every little bit of tape. Before breakfast. Understood?”
    Both girls nodded, and Lilliane sighed. “Yes, Aunt Grace.”
    She turned to Josh, who looked like he might burst if he held in the laughter much longer. “You’re in charge. Oatmeal for breakfast.”
    Valiantly maintaining a semi-straight face, Josh nodded. “Yes, Aunt Grace.”
    Grace handed the frog and bunny back to Annabelle, then took the shoe from Josh that he’d carried back from the other cottage. As the two older girls