Granted: A Family for Baby by Grace Carol Read Free Book Online Page B

party. And to help the best man win. Honestly that Staples gives me the creeps. He’s just too perfect.”
    “What have you heard? Do you think he has a chance?” Suzy asked.
    “I guess he’s got a lot of money. I heard an ad he made on the radio this morning.”
    “No. Don’t tell Brady. Or maybe you should. He has to know what he’s up against. You know he’s never had any opposition before,” Suzy said.
    “He’s a great guy, from what everyone tells me,” Bridget said.
    Suzy followed Brady with her gaze, noting his broad shoulders, his purposeful stride.
    “Yes, he is,” she said. “And he deserves to win. He will win.” While she watched, he stopped at the corral to let Travis get a look at the horses up close. “I’m going to miss him.”
    Bridget stopped to take a pebble out of her boot. “Miss him? Where are you going?”
    “This may sound silly, but I’m going to find a husband, a father for Travis. You never knew his father, neither did Travis, but he wasn’t a father at all. I was too dumb to realize it. Swept away in a tide of passion.”
    “That sounds romantic.”
    “Romantic, yes, but totally wrong. Believe me, I won’t make that mistake again. This time I’m looking for someone sensible, ordinary and down to earth.”
    “Good for you. But what about love, what about passion?”
    “Love? Passion?” Suzy shook her head. “The only passion I need is in my Peach Passion tea. A long time ago, when I was young and foolish, I was looking for love. I thought I’d found it. You see where it got me. Now that I have Travis, I’ve got to think about him, what he needs.”
    Travis, hearing his name mentioned, wiggled around in his backpack and grinned happily at Suzy as the two women approached the corral.
    “He’s adorable,” Bridget said. “I’m sure you’re doing the right thing, only...” She dropped the subject and waved to Brady. “Let’s go into the barn,” she suggested, motioning for Brady and Suzy to follow her.
    The three of them toured the airy, spacious barn, which smelled of fresh hay, and measured space for the dinner tables, the dance floor, talked about the menu, which fiddlers to hire and made a tentative guest list.
    While they talked, Suzy realized that Travis needed to have his diaper changed. She lifted him out of the backpack, tossed the diaper bag over her shoulder and went into Bridget’s comfortable ranch house and into the bathroom at the end of the hall.
    While she was gone, Josh came riding up on his newest wild mustang, leaped off and after stabling his horse, joined his wife and Brady just outside the barn.
    “This really means a lot to me,” Brady said. “That you’re giving a party for me.”
    “Not just for you. For the whole town. Because we know you’re the right man for the job. And we did it for Suzy, of course,” Josh said. “We’d never turn her down. No matter what she asked. She’s the greatest. We owe her one, don’t we sweetheart?” Josh asked Bridget, putting his arm around her shoulder.
    Bridget nodded. “What would we have done without Suzy?” she asked her husband.
    “I don’t know what I’m going to do without her,” Brady confessed. “She’s quitting after the election.”
    “Yes,” Bridget said. “She said something about finding a father for Travis. She’s so determined. I’m sure she’ll do just that.”
    “So am I,” Brady said gloomily.
    After a glass of iced tea on the Gentrys’ patio, a discussion of their son, Max’s, progress in first grade, and
     more plans for the barn dance, Suzy presented Bridget and Josh with Brady Wilson for Sheriff T-shirts. They seemed delighted, and before Brady and Suzy drove off for town once more, they promised to wear them everywhere. While Travis fell asleep once again in the back seat, Suzy leaned her head back and closed her eyes. After their pleasant visit with Josh and Bridget, the plans for the fund-raiser firmly in place, Suzy relaxed and let the breeze