Page 40 of An Unexpected Match

Or was she floating? It was hard to tell.

She closed her door and drifted to the window. Was he still outside? No, the yard was empty.

Turning, she caught sight of herself in the mirror, eyes bright blue, cheeks flushed, lips rosy and damp.

And heart racing a million miles an hour. Slowly, she smiled.

It was several long minutes later before she calmed down enough to work on her project.

On Friday, Arden and the girls continued painting the mural in the afternoon. Hailey and Avery loved to paint and would have gone on well into the evening, but Arden wanted to clean up the mess before Brendan arrived home.

She’d have made it if the house phone hadn’t rung. It was Ella. She and her husband had arrived in California and she missed the girls and wanted to talk to them.

Hailey and Avery had so much to tell their aunt, they were more than an hour on the phone. They were still talking when Brendan walked into the kitchen.

Arden looked up, shot through with guilt, conscious of the mess left in the hallway. How late was it?

“Are you home early?” she asked, glancing at the clock. It was an hour earlier than his normal arrival time. “Are you sick?”

He shook his head, an eyebrow raised in question as he glanced at the girls.

“It’s Ella. She’s in California.”

“Ah.”

He kissed Hailey, lifted Avery while she was talking, and smiled at her.

“Can I have a turn to talk to Ella?” he asked.

Avery finished her story and then almost hit Brendan in the head with the receiver as she swung it away from her ear.

“It’s Auntie Ella,” she said. She squirmed around until Brendan put her down.

“Hi, Ella, how did the move go?”

Arden headed for the hall, purposefully leaving the Ferguson family alone. She had a few minutes to get the painting mess cleared up. Working swiftly, she was pleased at the way the children’s imagination was captured with their painting. While she stayed to be with the girls when they talked on the phone, she didn’t need to be part of the family once Brendan was home.

For a moment she felt a pang of regret. Sadness that she’d never enjoy a close family relationship. That she could never have a child or grandchildren. That her home wouldn’t ring with laughter or the thundering of feet dashing down stairs.

Maybe she’d take the mural with her when she left, to remind her of the happy days spent with Hailey and Avery.

Enough, she admonished. She’d known that was the way it’d be since she had been a teenager. She was comfortable with her plans for her future. What couldn’t be changed had to be dealt with.

In the meantime, she was crazy about Brendan Ferguson’s girls. They were bright, funny, and delightful to be around. And she thought she was bringing something to them that had been missing–a sense of adventure and gaiety. Not to mention art appreciation.

“I wondered where you went to,” Brendan said, walking into the hall.

He studied the mural.

“Progress, I see. It’s more than half completed. And I can spot Avery’s efforts a mile away.”

“I planned to get everything cleaned up before you came home, but you’re early, and they were having too much fun to quit.”

Hands full, Arden glanced his way.

“Afraid of my reaction to the mess?”

His eyes danced in amusement.

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