A Love For Keeps (Truly Yours Digital Editions) by Janet Lee Barton Read Free Book Online Page A

to stay for dinner, and Nate thought he would have agreed to stay even if it wasn’t for his daughter’s pleading expression. He enjoyed being there as much as Natalie did. It was more than a little refreshing to see how the Snow family had coped with the loss of a husband, father, and breadwinner. They might have had household staff at some point, judging from the home and the furnishings. They talked about Mr. Snow often, and Nate could tell they loved him and missed him greatly, but they honored his memory by getting on with their lives the best they could. He never heard them complain. Maybe he related so well to them because they’d suffered a loss just as he did when he lost his wife, Rose, in the fire.
     
    Whatever the reason, he liked being around the Snow family. He didn’t feel that he had to be constantly on guard as he did most times with Rose’s family. He supposed that was because he’d always felt guilty that he hadn’t been able to save her. By the time he’d reached their home, it was engulfed in flames, and Abigail was outside holding Natalie. He’d tried to go in, but some of his neighbors had stopped him. In shock, all he could do was join Abigail, taking his daughter in his arms as they watched the flames.
     
    Something died in him that day, but he’d struggled through, questioning God, reading and praying—and doing his best to raise the daughter he adored. He knew now that the Lord had never left his side, and while he still wondered why his Rose had to die, he knew she was in a better place. He strived to raise Natalie the way he thought Rose would want him to … trusting in the Lord to help him.
     
    Since he’d met Meagan Snow and her family, he’d felt more alive than he had since the day of the fire. And it felt really good to be looking forward rather than backward.
     
    “Papa, do you like the Snow family as much as I do?” Natalie asked when they were on their way to the shop for a fitting of her new Sunday dress.
     
    He looked down and smiled at his daughter. She was always in a good mood when they were on their way to the Snows’ home. “Well, I’m not sure how much that is, but I do like them very much.”
     
    “They are so nice, and they like to talk to me, and I like talking to them. I just enjoy being there. It’s very … homey, isn’t it?”
     
    That is it, exactly, Nate thought. “Yes, it is.”
     
    “I like being there almost as much as at home … and much better than any other place.”
     
    As she skipped and chattered alongside him, Nate realized that Natalie was always very happy and talkative when they left the Snow home, but she didn’t have much to say when she left her aunt Abigail’s. He began to wonder why that was. Natalie had always been close to Abigail, but not quite as open or happy around her aunt as she was around Meagan. Maybe it was a difference in personalities. Or perhaps it could be the different way each woman treated her. Abigail sometimes treated Natalie as if she were younger than she really was, and Meagan treated her … like a person in her own right. Nate shook his head. Mulling it over wasn’t telling him anything. Perhaps his daughter just liked Meagan better than she did Abigail.
That
he could certainly understand.
     

     
    Meagan began looking forward to Natalie’s fittings more each time she came in. Her heart went out to the child and her papa. It had been so hard for Meagan’s family when her own father had passed away, but how very hard it must be for Nate to raise a child on his own, or for Natalie to barely remember her mother. Yet Natalie was a delightful child and a joy to have around.
     
    Nate, however, made her pulse race and her heart beat faster these days. Something about the man’s slow smile never failed to make her smile back—and her heart seemed to do little flip-flops at the sight of him. He was such a gentleman, and he treated her mother and sisters with a gentle grace that touched her heart.