Free Her Valentine Family by Renee Andrews

Lainey’s last name?”
    â€œBeautiful, isn’t she?” Angie said, admiring the adorable girl, dressed in pink overalls, a lace-trimmed white undershirt and matching pink tennis shoes. She looked like a living doll, literally. “It’s Martin. Lainey Mae Martin. I love the name, don’t you? Modern and old fashioned all rolled together. I think I’m going to try to do something like that when I have children. And it suits her, don’t you think? She’s such a beautiful little girl and a sweetie. She only comes here a couple days a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I really enjoy having her when she’s here.” She smiled at the little girl, her blond brows currently drawn together as she worked to put a chunky puzzle piece in the corresponding hole.
    Lainey Mae. Mae was Chad’s mother’s name. “Chad’s little girl,” Jessica said, not really paying attention to the fact that she said it aloud.
    Angie nodded. “You know him? Chad Martin? It’s no wonder his daughter’s gorgeous, huh? If I knew all college instructors would look like that, I’d sign backup right now. I mean, he’s an incredibly nice-looking…” She paused. “Wait. Is that your Mr. Wonderful? Chad Martin?”
    Was he her Mr. Wonderful? Jessica took only a second before responding the same way she had last night.
    â€œYes.”
    Â 
    On Mondays and Wednesdays, Chad started his day early, dropping Lainey off at the day care center around 6:30 a.m. and then heading to Stockville to teach a 7:30 a.m. class. He’d planned his schedule so that his four classes ran pretty much back-to-back and finished at 2:30 p.m., allowing him to pick Lainey up by 3:00 p.m.
    Last night he’d learned that, due to her work schedule, Jessica had started her classes every afternoon right after she got off at the day care center. So it’d be pretty much impossible to see her in the afternoon or perhaps have an outing where their kids could meet and play. He was very interested in introducing her to Lainey and even more interested in introducing Lainey to her son. If this relationship was going anywhere long term—and he definitely wanted it to—it was important for their kids to be receptive to the idea.
    He smiled, thinking that merely a week ago he saw him self as a single parent and didn’t see any chance of that changing in the near future. He’d dated a few women since his divorce, but he’d never met anyone that he wanted to introduce to Lainey. No one had made it past a second date, and he couldn’t see any of them as a potential mother to his little girl.
    With Jess, it wasn’t a question of whether he wanted her to meet Lainey. It was simply a question of how soon he could arrange the meeting.
    He pulled into the day care parking lot and noticed that the older kids, the four-year-olds, were out on the playground, giggling wildly and running nonstop. This was the first day in weeks that had been warm enough for them to play outside, and you could tell the kids appreciated the opportunity from their unbridled enthusiasm.
    Chad wondered if the toddlers, Lainey’s group, made the trip outdoors today. Lainey loved to play outside, but he didn’t expect to see her out now. He knew the schedule for the toddler class called for an afternoon nap, and his little lady definitely still needed one each day. Often he’d arrive to pick her up just in time for her to reach for him and let him hold her while she blinked sleepy eyes and prepared for the remainder of her day.
    If he didn’t have so many papers to review and grade, he’d take her to the park this afternoon. She loved feeding the ducks. Chad nodded to himself, forming a play-date in his mind for Lainey and Jessica’s son, Nathan. If the forecast for the week remained as predicted, Saturday was expected to hit sixty degrees, plenty warm enough for a trip to Hydrangea