Page 19 of Sweet Home

“What announcement?” Elizabeth whispered back.

“Breakfast is served,”Dulcie prompted her.

“Breakfast is served,” Elizabeth said proudly.

The two of them carried the platter over to the table and West smiled when he saw the stack of pink, rainbow sprinkle-filled, heart-shaped pancakes. They were all alittle misshapen, but they looked perfectly cooked, and they smelled like heaven.

“Amazing,” he said. “I can’t believe this is my breakfast and that my daughter helped make it. I’m a lucky guy.”

Elizabeth laughed in delight and scrambled into her seat. She didn’t like to use her booster seat anymore, but she was still small, so he didn’t complain when she sat on her knees. Hopefully, Dulcie wouldn’t judge him for letting the little one put her elbows on the table.

In no time, they were all digging in.

“Ittasteslike princess pancakes,” Elizabeth said, her eyes sparkling.

“Delicious,” West declared, meaning it.

“This syrup is amazing,” Dulcie said.

“It’s local,” West told her. “The Hayes family has been in Sugarville Grove forever. You can buy it right at the farm.”

Her eyes lit up, and he was tempted to take her over there immediately. He had to remind himself that he had other priorities for today.

“What did you have in mind for me to do today?” Dulcie asked, as if she had read his mind.

“Well, the first thing is to get you some warm clothing,” he told her. “We like to make sure all our farmhands and other workers are outfitted for the cold.”

She got a worried look on her face.

“The farm pays, of course,” he told her. “And it won’t be anything fancy. Just sturdy clothing that you can work in, even when it’s cold.”

He had practiced that in the mirrorthis morning before coming down. Though the girl was clearly desperate, he could see the pride and determination in her. If she smelled charity, she wouldn’t accept. He even had a place in mind to take her that would keep her from protesting too much.

“Fine,” she said, nodding and not meeting his eyes. “You can take it out of my pay.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” he told her. “Anyway, I thought after breakfast, we could head into town and take care of that.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding again.

“I can come too,” Elizabeth said.

“Of course,” West told her. “Preschool is closed until after the holidays, and Mrs. Webster is going to her daughter’s doctor’s appointment today, so it’s a Daddy Day.”

“Daddy Day,”Elizabeth echoed happily.

Dulcie smiled at that, and West felt relieved that she wasn’t going to fight him.

It will be fun to show her the village,he couldn’t help thinking.

And he definitely did not think about how nice Dulcie might look in some new clothes.

7

DULCIE

Dulcie sat in West’s truck, enjoying the heat pouring out of the vents, and looking out the window as wooded land gave way to more houses and a handful of businesses.

“That will be my school, Dulcie,” Elizabeth piped up suddenly from the backseat.

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