Free The Sweetest Mail Order Bride (Sweet Creek Brides Book 1) by Jill Summers Page B

her. After all, he picked her out.”
    “Oh, Pa!” Identical scowls. Identical eye rolls.
    That made him grin. “I like that idea more and more. Maybe we’ll suggest it to him the next time we see him. After all, aren’t you concerned about him being all alone? Poor Grandpa. He needs a wife, doesn’t he? And then you’ll have a very nice grandma.”
    “That’s not how it’s supposed to work at all.” Gracie gave him her best glare as she hopped back to the ground, landing in a puddle.
    “Yeah, Pa.” Hope looked equally disappointed in him. She dropped down beside her sister, standing in the same puddle.
    Yep, those two were trouble, but he was terribly fond of trouble. He snapped the reins. “I’ve got Mrs. Popkema to check on. You girls be good.”
    They didn’t answer him as he drove away, perhaps unwilling to make a promise they couldn’t keep. Emptiness seemed to follow him down the road as the schoolhouse disappeared behind him. Ed splashed along, and the wind blew cool and damp.
    Caleb shivered. He could not stop his thoughts from returning to Clementine. He could not deny how thinking of her made the rain less dreary and the emptiness in him fade.
    * * *
    Storms always ended, that’s what Clementine liked about them most. She plopped the freshly washed sheets and towels into a laundry basket and hiked it up, settling it against her hip. She hauled it off the back porch and into the first bright rays of the breaking sun, and her spirits lifted.
    There was such beauty in the world. She took in every detail—the way the yellow sunflowers lifted their nodding heads to revere the sun, the raindrops resting like dew on the delicate petals of daisies, the mist as the dampness rose like clouds from the ground to the sky to evaporate. She waltzed through the damp grass, listening to her shoes squeak in the wetness. She tilted back her head to feel the warmth of the sun on her face.
    And then the past rose up, the memory slamming into her like a speeding runaway train. She remembered her baby boy as he sat in the grass, grasping at daisies and dandelions, laughing as a butterfly fluttered by. He’d reached out with his little chubby hands, his blue eyes bright with wonder—
    Oh, Jacob.
Her heart broke, just broke, shattering unbearably. She dropped the basket where she stood, squeezing her eyes closed against the pain. Her body felt hollow, her arms empty. A tear leaked down her cheek.
    Gone were the times when Jacob would reach up, his little hands stretching toward her, wanting to be picked up and cuddled. Gone was the merry sound of his laughter, his toothless grin, the little dimples in his chubby cheeks. The way he smelled so sweet, the softness of his skin, the baby-fine whirl of hair against her chin when she held him—all that was lost forever too.
    She swallowed hard, struggling to get control. Grief was like a tornado threatening to suck her up. And then she felt a hand on her shoulder, a large, steadying hand. A father’s concern, and that made her heart hurt in an entirely different way.
    “You’ll never get over it, and you never should.” Jeb’s voice cracked with emotion. “Our first born was a little girl. She died when she was two. Influenza took her. One day she was here, the next she was gone. The boys don’t remember her, and my Velma could never bear to speak of her.”
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She willed back the last of the tears and opened her eyes to the bright, bright sun, to life and color and beauty everywhere.
    All of it didn’t seem to equal what she’d lost. The darkness could be so great.
    But so could love.
    Jeb cleared his throat. “It’s a blessing when a second chance comes your way. I’ve wanted a daughter all these years, not to replace what we lost, but to honor. And now there’s you.”
    “Somehow it really does feel like we’re family.”
    “You are family. I told you. I’m a man who keeps his promises. Now, what are we going to do about