Read Her Unexpected Family for Free Online

to greet you with a kiss.”
    Kimberly hit one last button, set the computer aside and gave him the kiss he sought.
    Emily pouted inside.
    She had thought she’d had that once. What was it that made someone fickle? To want something else, someone else? Was it her lack or his selfishness? Or both? Or had she fallen for the glitz of the whole thing? There were many questions and not enough answers.
    â€œHey.” Rory squeezed her foot as Drew and Kimberly moved into the kitchen to find food and discuss their upcoming wedding. And probably kiss more. “Don’t look back. Gaze forward. Remember that awesome Einstein quote?”
    She made a face and Rory laughed. “There are only two ways to live. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.”
    â€œPerspective.”
    â€œYup.” Rory switched feet. “With Dad’s problems, I have to push myself to remember we’ve had him all our lives. How blessed we were to have both parents, a home, heat, clothing.”
    â€œYou’re so much better than I am,” Emily remarked. “Take my feet, for example. If you’d come in with sore feet, I’d have said ‘Wow, go soak in a tub. That’ll help.’”
    Rory smiled up at her. “So does this.”
    â€œYou make things personal. Maybe that’s part of my problem. Maybe I don’t make things personal.”
    Rory sighed and gave her foot a smack.
    â€œHey!”
    â€œYou don’t have a problem. You’re a wonderful person. The worst thing you did was fall in love with the wrong person because he pretended he was the right person.”
    â€œYou’re letting me off too easy,” Emily replied and when Rory started to argue, she held up a hand. “I was kind of young and shallow, Rory. I can own it now. When Christopher started courting me I was at the top of my game. I’d been Miss New York, I aced college, I was ready to move on to the next perfect step. Marrying a rich guy, falling into an amazing job as a department store buyer and living in a mansion made me feel like a princess. I liked it. So I can’t lay all the blame at his feet.”
    â€œLots of girls want to be princesses,” Rory told her.
    â€œBut not you. Never you. Why?”
    Rory shrugged. “Not my thing. I’m not the gilded type, I guess. But in spite of why you came home last year, I’m glad you did. Handling Dad’s illness is a whole lot easier for me when we’re all in this together.” She stood up and kissed Emily’s cheek. “I’m subbing tomorrow in a first grade classroom, so I’m heading up to bed. Good night, Em.”
    â€œGood night.”
    The murmur of voices in the kitchen told her Drew and Kimberly were deep in discussion. She was just about to go to bed herself when her phone buzzed. She pulled up a text from Grant and sighed. He’d sent her a picture of Timmy and Dolly, sleeping, tangled in covers, sharing a bed. And under it Grant had typed, Unusual moment of peace, now recorded for posterity .
    Something sweet and gentle curled inside her. She sent back a single-word reply. Precious.
    She went to bed, smiling, the image of those two sweet children blending with Einstein’s words.

Chapter Three
    â€œW ell, don’t you look handsome,” Aunt Tillie remarked the next evening. “Percy, don’t Grant look handsome tonight?”
    Uncle Percy grunted, unimpressed, but when Timmy saw him dressed in a turtleneck and a sport coat, he frowned. “I go bye-bye, too.”
    â€œNot this time, little man. Daddy’s got to go see more people about Auntie’s wedding.”
    His words didn’t impress the toddler. “I go bye-bye wif Daddy.”
    Grant squatted down, hugged the toddler and shook his head. “No can do, Daddy’s got some things he has to do. Aunt Tillie and Uncle Percy are with you tonight.”
    â€œI go!” Dolly