No one holds a special
place in the heart quite like a mother - but
moms need romance, too! This Mother's Day,
enjoy four heartwarming contemporary romance
novellas from Harlequin about the greatest
gift of all: love!
The Greatest Gift: A
Mother's Day Collection includes:
Second-Chance
Mother by Donna Alward
Unexpected Gifts by Tanya Michaels
A Mother's Day Match by Katherine
Garbera
Her First Mother's Day by Kathleen
O'Brien
Excerpt
"Daddy?"
A tiny voice interrupted and there was the sound of
a sniffle at the top of the stairs. Ben was off the sofa in a
heartbeat, his face cleared of the agony that had been etched on
it only moments ago. "Susie. What are you doing up?"
"I had a bad dream." Her tiny angel-face crumpled as
she clung to a brown teddy bear. Cami felt the air go out of her
lungs as her mind replayed the word Daddy. It had sounded
so unsure. Like asking him to confirm that the title really
belonged to him.
He picked Susie up and she put her arm around his
neck. Cami's throat constricted as Susie pressed her cheek into
the curve of his shoulder. Already so trusting. They came back
and sat on the sofa, Susie curled into his lap. Ben, for his
part, looked both parental and petrified. It was clear to Cami
that he wanted to do the right thing, if he could just figure
out what that was.
Help, he mouthed over top of Susie's curls.
Cami shrugged. How should she know what to do? She
hadn't been around small kids in her life. Not ever. It had
seemed wrong somehow after...
She looked at Ben. What would he say if he knew
she'd had a child once? That she'd given birth to a daughter and
then given her away? At least Mandy had fought to keep her
daughter.ghter.
"Susie, this is my friend Cami. We sort of work
together."
Susie burrowed deeper into Ben's embrace. Not that
Cami blamed the kid. She'd probably had her share of strangers
over the last several days, and Ben was the only one she had to
trust. Cami smiled gently and decided to simply go with her
instincts, such as they were. "Hi, Susie."
Susie buried a thumb in her mouth. "I mith my mama,"
she said around the digit.
The words sent a searing pain through Cami. It
wasn't fair. Ben's ex had clearly loved her daughter and her
daughter had loved her, no matter what the situation between her
and Ben. It was utterly cruel that mother and daughter had been
separated. And then there was Cami, who had made so many bad
decisions, and where were her consequences? She had a good life
and a good job. She had everything she wanted, right? ight?
She'd told herself countless times that if she
hadn't given her baby away, she wouldn't have been able to go to
college, get her degree, help people.eople.
Logical, yes. But it changed nothing. It still hurt.
She still questioned whether or not it had been the right thing.
She'd had the opportunity to be a mom and she'd blown it. She'd
accepted that she'd probably never have children. She was
thirty-four and worked insanely long hours. Instead of a family,
she'd dedicated her life to fighting for the underdog. There was
a nagging voice that insisted she didn't deserve a second chance
at motherhood.
And here was a gorgeous little girl who deserved
her mama, and that mama had been taken away. Fate was a cruel
mistress.
"I know you miss her," Ben soothed, and Cami could
see the concern in his eyes as he tried to say the right thing.
This was why he hadn't been sleeping, then. How often did Susie
wake up in the night? How much did she trust the new person in
her life to comfort her?
"Do you want to sit up with us for a little while?"
Cami asked. Maybe Susie was simply hungry for company in an
unfamiliar place. It had to be lonely, upstairs in a strange
room.
"Okay."
Cami smiled and gave her attention to Susie. "How do
you like your new bedroom?"
Susie perked up a little. "I have bears and flowers
on my wall. Daddy stuck them on. It matches my blanket."
"That sounds nice."
"It's bigger than my room at home."
Cami didn't correct her that this was home now.
Instead she just suggested, "It probably seems a little
strange."
Susie nodded.odded.
"You'll get used to it, though. I always find it
hard to sleep in a new place for a few days, and then poof! It
doesn't matter anymore and I sleep like a baby."
She looked up at Ben. His gaze had warmed and his
lips wore a half smile. She shrugged. New room, new place, new
everything. It was bound to be frightening.
Susie crawled out of Ben's lap and to Cami's
surprise, curled up on the sofa next to her. "You have very long
hair," Susie observed. "Like Pocahontas."
Cami's heart melted. "Do you like it?"
Susie nodded. "It's pretty." Her face clouded
over a bit. "My mama had yellow hair, like me."
"Then your mama was very beautiful," Cami
answered softly, her throat tightening.
But Susie smiled and crawled into Cami's lap. "I
like you."
Cami met Ben's eyes as the child settled into her
arms, warm and trusting. He was watching them with a tenderness
she hadn't expected. She shrugged and tried to smile, tried to
ignore the emotions warring within her. Susie felt so good in
her lap, so natural and right. At the same time, Cami felt the
weight of her secret bearing down on her. She didn't deserve the
girl's trust, nor Ben's, either.
Susie's lids were blinking slower and slower so
Cami kept Ben softly talking, hoping the toddler would fall
asleep. She filled him in on what had gone on the last few
weeks; they chatted lightly about hockey playoffs and who was in
the finals as the season wound up. After several minutes, she
looked at Ben and nodded. Susie was sound asleep, relaxed in her
arms. There was a damp spot on her shirt where Susie had been
breathing. Quietly, carefully, Ben stood up and came over, his
hands brushing against Cami's sweatshirt as he gently lifted
Susie from her arms and carried her back to bed.
Shaken, Cami watched him walk away and up the
stairs. This wouldn't do at all. It was bad enough she was
feeling attached to Ben. She couldn't let herself get attached
to his daughter, too.
From Second-Chance Mother by Donna Alward
Copyright 2012 by Donna Alward
This edition published by arrangement with
Harlequin Books S.A.
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