Family Wanted (Willow's Haven Book 1) by Renee Andrews Read Free Book Online Page A

I’m wondering if I want to even see what she left behind. I started to tell him not to bother mailing it.”
    “Because...” she prompted.
    “She left us, Isabella. Walked out, leaving nothing but a note. I hate it that she got sick, that she died without us even knowing that she was in the hospital. But for some reason, she didn’t want us to know. She didn’t want to see me again, even when she knew that she was dying.” He blew out a steady stream of air, closed his eyes and then opened them. “Don’t you think that going through those things will only pour salt in the wound? And I can’t imagine it doing anything but hurting Savannah.”
    Isabella gently squeezed his hand. “Maybe there were things she wanted to tell you,” she offered. “Or things she wanted to tell Savannah.”
    “She had three years to tell us anything she wanted.” He shook his head. “I’ll be honest. I don’t want to go through her possessions. I’m done with the pain, done with the hurt. And I’m tired of seeing Savannah hurting because of Nan.” He glanced at her hand, still resting on top of his. “So I wanted to ask someone who could look at this objectively, in particular a female, since I’m guessing you’d know more of what I should do for Savannah. Should I open that box when it comes?”
    Isabella’s throat pulsed as she swallowed. “I don’t think I’m the one to answer that.”
    “But I’m asking you, and I want your answer.”
    “My answer is—” she let the word hang as she apparently considered the right thing to say “—that I think you should pray about it.”
    Definitely not the answer he wanted. Titus pulled his hand from hers and stood. “That’s the thing. I’m done with that, too.”

Chapter Five
    I didn’t know how to tell you the truth...
    T itus had just left his house and started toward Willow’s Haven when his cell began to ring. He knew who was on the other end before looking at the screen on the truck’s dashboard. Only one person called at 7:30 a.m.
    Sure enough,
Mom
flashed back at him from the display.
    He didn’t have more than fifteen minutes before he would lose his signal when he reached Brodie and Savvy’s property, but he didn’t expect the conversation to take that long either. What could she say that she hadn’t said before?
    Glancing toward the backseat, he saw that Savannah was paying more attention to her doll than the ringing phone, but even so, he’d choose his words carefully, and he faded the sound to the front then turned the volume on the stereo system down to a minimum before answering. His parents had undoubtedly received the message he left for them last night, and now his mom wanted to try to make things better, the way moms do. Even though Titus would be thirty-one in a couple of months, she still wanted to fix things the way she had when he’d been Savannah’s age.
    Problem was, there was no way to make this better. Even so, he prepared to listen to her try and clicked the answer button on the steering wheel. “Hello.”
    “Oh, Titus,” she said, her voice filled with sympathy. “Your dad and I got your message this morning. We didn’t think to check the machine last night when we got home from church.”
    Titus should’ve thought of that. It’d been Wednesday night. Naturally, they would’ve been at church. A few weeks ago, so would he and Savannah. “I forgot it was Wednesday.”
    She inhaled, probably considering asking him why he hadn’t been at a midweek service, too, but then she must’ve thought better of the idea, because she instead said, “We are so sorry to hear about Nan. You said she’d been sick?”
    Savannah had started singing to Bessie. Titus was glad she was preoccupied so he could have this conversation without her hearing his mother’s words.
    “Kidney failure,” he said, keeping his voice low just in case Savannah wasn’t totally absorbed in the song. She knew that Nan was in heaven, and as far as Titus was