Changed by His Son's Smile by Robin Gianna Read Free Book Online Page A

brought for any lizards they’d manage to catch.
    The savannah stretched for as far as they could see to the hilly horizon, with scruffy trees here and there amid lush grasses and brown scrub. He headed to a nice, flat rock perfect for a picnic and began to lay the blanket across it.
    “Let me help.” A few soft, blonde curls that had escaped Dani’s ponytail fell across her cheek as she leaned over the rock. He wanted to drop the corner he was holding and feel them wrapped around his finger. Tickle the shell of her ear as he tucked them there. Bring her mouth to his.
    She doesn’t like it when you push. He grabbed one end of the fabric and together they smoothed it across the rock. Or attempted to smooth it, with Drew scrabbling across the rock on all fours looking a bit like a crab and bunching up the blanket until Dani grabbed him up and swung him in circles.
    “We can’t eat with you messing up the blanket, silly.”
    “I a lizard!” Drew protested as Dani set him on his feet and kissed the top of his head.
    “I know. And I have yummy bugs to feed you if you sit on the rock like a good reptile.”
    “Okay. I like bugs.” Drew quickly climbed onto the rock and sat, comically sticking out his tongue and giggling.
    Chase and Dani both chuckled. The kid was so damned cute. He and Dani reached for the food bag at the same time, and her eyes met and locked with his. For a moment they just stared at one another, and Chase nearly reached for her, wanting to kiss away the worry behind her smile and whatever other emotions he saw flickering in their blue depths. The beautiful blue he’d seen so many times in his dreams after she’d left Honduras.
    He gave up resisting and lifted his hand to cup her cheek, placing a quick, gentle kiss on her soft lips. “Why so gloomy? The Dani I remember was full of sass and saw everything as an adventure. Not a worrywart,” he said. “You’ve been adventuring with Drew alone. All I want is to jump in and join you.”
    She gave him a twisted smile and shook her head. “Maybe today. But what about tomorrow? What about next year, when you’re who-knows-where and have forgotten all about us?”
    What a damned insulting thing to say. As though he’d ever forget all about them. “If you’ll just—”
    “I want my bugs!” Drew began lizard-walking again, sticking out his tongue and tangling the blanket.
    “Okay, lizard-boy. Let’s see what’s in here.” Chase huffed out a frustrated breath at both her attitude and his apparent inability to just shut up about the subject for one minute.
    Except he knew why he’d opened his mouth. He’d wanted to wipe that worry from her face. Wanted to see the sunny, vibrant Dani again. But pushing her was the wrong approach, and he knew it. Showing her his commitment to making a marriage and family work was the way to convince her, not with words. Not by getting irritated with her doubts, which he supposed he couldn’t blame her for having.
    He pulled out the grilled chicken on sticks that Spud always made and looked to see what else was in the bag. “Here are the best-tasting bugs in Benin,” Chase said, pulling a box of raisins from the sack. Drew sat back on his haunches and opened his mouth. They began a comical game, with Chase tossing the raisins into Drew’s mouth and the child slurping up any that fell onto the blanket.
    “Okay, you two. Even lizards need more substantial food than bugs,” Dani said.
    She put the rest of the picnic on metal plates. “What’s this stuff?” she asked, lifting the foil from a plastic bowl to expose soft, lumpy, brown and beige discs.
    “Those are akara ,” Chase said. “Fried fritters made from black-eyed peas. They’re kind of ugly but they’re good.”
    Dani handed one to Drew as she assembled a few other things on the child’s plate. Holding it in both hands, he took a big bite then promptly spit it out right onto the blanket, leaving his tongue hanging from his mouth with a comical