"Yes," Noah answered. "We're not in a rush-"
Bella clapped. "Let's pick one out tonight!"
So much for thinking Bella held on to nostalgic notions of where she grew up with her mother. But as Teagan had pointed out, Bella had Lainey firmly in her heart, and the kid wasn't much attached to the house. Unless they took the fairy gardens into consideration, and those could come with. Still, Noah was worried. "And, ladybug."
"Yes?" She beamed.
"I want to make sure you're comfortable with this."
"Why wouldn't I be?"
He tilted his head. "Because this is where you lived with your mom."
Bella tilted her head, thinking over his sentiments. "She's not in the house. She's at the graveyard."
The kid tugged at his heartstrings, every day.
"And she's an angel. So even if she was here, she'd just move."
Will nodded. "Bella was her angel. That's what she called her."
Noah glanced at Teagan, and her eyes were watery. "That's true, baby."
"You were her angel," Will told Bella. "And now she's yours."
Bella nodded as though Will had just brought both adults' hearts to a standstill. Noah's heart was full. "Happy Thanksgiving, family. I love you."
###
The pillows were stacked underneath the dining room table, and Bella leaned against Will as they piled another blanket in front of them.
"We did it, ya know?" Bella moved two of her dolls closer, knocking over one of his ninja warriors.
Will grabbed the ninja warrior and rearranged the dolls to hold it up. "Like this. So they all sit up."
She elbowed him. "Did you even hear what I said?"
"I heard you. That we did it." He elbowed back. "What did we do?"
Bella rolled her eyes and groaned, taking one of her dolls back and moving her to the other side. The other doll and the ninja warrior both toppled.
"That wasn't very nice." Will took both and shoved them under a pillow.
"Neither was that." She snapped her doll into her arms. "Your mom and Uncle Noah. We did that."
Will stopped and turned. "Oh, I know. We said we would. And we did."
She clapped around the doll in her arms. "Now we get to be best friends like Uncle Noah and my mom were."
Will banged his ninja warrior against the doll in his hand. "I know."
"Do you think that we should tell them?" She asked, suddenly worried that they might get in trouble. Though her uncle Noah seemed very happy and Teagan too.
"I don't know." He let the toys rest in his lap.
"Let's go see them."
"They're in here." Will crawled underneath the table, and Bella followed.
They stayed on their hands and knees, crawling through the dining room then the kitchen until they came into the living room. The TV blasted football. No one talked.
"Shhh," Will hushed for no reason.
"I know!"
"Shhh!"
They crept to the side of the couch where four grown-up feet dangled over the edge.
Will pivoted on the back of his heels into a crouch. "Shhh."
"I know!" Then Bella sealed her lips and used her fingers to zip them.
Convinced she wouldn't make any noise, he commenced the creeping, and they worked their way around the front of the couch, where Teagan lay next to her uncle Noah. Neither looked at the TV.
Snore.
They jumped. Then laughed. Both slapped their hands over their mouths to stop the giggles as, wide-eyed, they stared at Uncle Noah snoring again.
"Hurry," Will whispered, and they scurried on hands and knees to the other side of the room.
With their backs flat against the wall, waving each other enough secret hand signals to decide they were far enough away, they gave thumbs-ups, giving the okay to talk.
"Noah snores very loud," Will said. "Like a jackhammer."
"Maybe we wished on too many dandelions."
He nodded. "Or that shooting star."
Bella shook her head. "That wasn't a shooting star. It was an airplane. I know things."
They crept around the corner, staring at her uncle Noah, snoring like a jackhammer, and Teagan, who maybe had lost some of her hearing. Otherwise, she would have awakened.
"Maybe it wasn't an airplane."
"Told you. Shooting star." Will stuck his chin up. "I know things."
A real shooting star. Wow.
"What do you think's gonna happen when Santa shows up?" Will asked.
Bella squealed quietly, and Will toppled on top of her, sealing his hands over her mouth.
Finally, he pulled back. "You have to be quiet."
"Why? If a shooting star got me you for a brother, think about what Santa's gonna bring! A whole fairy tale."
FORD by Samantha Chase
FORD – Excerpt
7 Brides for 7 Soldiers, #7
Samantha Chase
© Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved
Book Blurb
There are three things Ford Garrison wants more than anything: to build, to report to no one, and the chance to live his life without the prying eyes of the good folks of Eagle's Ridge. Having spent ten years in the Navy as part of their construction battalion, he was able to live out most of that dream. Two out three wasn't bad, right? Now that he's out of the service, things aren't falling into place quite as easily as he hoped and he ends up back home with all eyes on him.
It wasn't as if Callie had gone out of her way to end up in Ford's path, but somehow that happened all on its own and the town gossips were having a field day! Could she help it that she was living in the house Ford had hoped to claim as his own or that the work on his grandmother's ranch meant they were living not fifty-feet away from each other?
Ford was determined to come home, do a job to help his grandmother and leave. Callie James is a distraction and she represents everything he has spent years running away from. Now he's at odds with his friends, his family and himself about where his home and future are going to be.
Could he walk away from Eagle's Ridge a second time?
Prologue
Fifteen years ago …
"I hear you got into some trouble this week."
Ford rolled his eyes and inwardly groaned. Luckily, he had his back to his grandfather, otherwise there'd be a whole other discussion about disrespect on top of the discussion they were about to have about misbehaving.
Great.
"It wasn't a big deal," he said a little defensively. "It was just a stupid prank. I don't think it warranted detention."
"And I hear you aren't in there alone."
Nope. His older cousin Ryder had gotten detention too. It kind of cushioned the blow because now it didn't suck quite so much. Plus, they were stuck there with five other guys. There was no way he was going to admit how so far all they'd done was play cards and take bets on who could get a date with the hot teacher who clearly had drawn the short straw and gotten stuck overseeing detention.
His grandfather walked over and stood beside him at the workbench. This was something they did almost every weekend, and had since Ford was three years old. They'd come out to the workshop-which was really just a converted three-car garage on his grandparents' ranch-and work on different woodworking projects. Sometimes it was something like a couple of picture frames or birdhouses, and other times it was shelves or some new furniture for his grandmother.
Either way, whenever they worked together, they talked. And not in the awkward way Ford normally talked with his own father. No, Ben Garrison seemed to understand his grandson in a way no one else did, and it was where Ford not only learned to love carpentry, but he learned a lot about himself.
And that's why he hated to disappoint his grandfather more than anyone else.
"Well, I imagine it was probably done in fun," his grandfather began as he started pulling down a pair of planers, "but it was still against the rules."
"How'd you hear about it?"
Ben looked at his grandson with a hint of amusement. "Do you really have to ask?"
Sadly, he didn't. Chances were it wasn't just one person who'd shared the news of Ford's detention, but an entire towns worth of them. Honestly, the people of Eagle's Ridge seemed to thrive on gossip and talking about everybody's business-whether it had anything to do with them or not.
He hated it.
Seriously hated it.
And yet … this was his life. Eagle's Ridge was home, and his grandparents-along with his great aunts and uncles-were founding members of it.
Lucky me.
Rather than continue with this particular discussion, Ford opted to change the subject. "So, what are we working on today?"
"We are building a dollhouse."
His eyes went wide. "A dollhouse? Why?"
Beside him, his grandfather laughed softly as he pulled more tools down and began organizing the pieces of wood he had stacked on the end of the bench. With a lot less enthusiasm than he had a few minutes ago, Ford watched as their project was laid out before him.