The Accidental Mrs. Mackenzie by Bonnie K. Winn Read Free Book Online

smoke filled the building before anyone was aware of the fire.”
    “What about the smoke alarms?” Ruth questioned, her maternal protectiveness kicking in.
    “There was some problem...but building maintenance got right on that after the fire so it won’t happen again,” Brynn assured her, reaching for plausible threads in her story. “Anyway, Gregory was so involved in his work that he didn’t notice the smoke. The watchman let his dog loose so it wouldn’t get burned, but instead the dog found Gregory. He’d passed out from smoke inhalation and if the dog hadn’t found him...”
    Ruth clutched her throat. “The dog saved his life? No wonder he changed his mind about animals.”
    “Yes,” Brynn confirmed, realizing belatedly that this might not have been the best story to have invented since Ruth was already worried about her son’s physical well-being.
    “I didn’t read about the fire,” wilma mused.
    Brynn jerked her attention back to wilma. “No! Like I said, it was just a small electrical fire with very little damage. Everything was up and running the next day. But it could have been so much worse.”
    “You know, life’s funny,” Wilma mused again. “A boy like Gregory never taking to animals much, but then one saves his life. It’s as though life was giving him a new lesson. Maybe that’s why his eyes were opened enough to see you.”
    Brynn guessed that was a backhanded compliment at best. Still, the story seemed to have convinced even the doubting Wilma.
    “I wonder why Gregory never told us,” Ruth pondered aloud.
    Yipes . “He probably didn’t want to worry you and now I’ve done that by telling the story. I shouldn’t have—”
    “No, I’m glad you did. Gregory never was one to confide much—and he doesn’t call or get home as often as he used to. So busy now with his important job. But I like knowing that he could change his attitude like that.” She squeezed Brynn’s s hand. “Maybe it means that family and home are becoming more important to him again.”
    By now three more women had joined their ranks and Brynn could see they were moved by the sentiment about family and home, even though they hadn’t heard the complete tale.
    At a loss for words, and realizing that this story was already making a lasting false impression, Brynn could only smile as the women surrounded her, offering congratulations and assaulting her with more questions.
    “That’s when he met you?” a pretty, thirtyish woman introduced as Karen asked. “After he’d changed his attitude?”
    Brynn hedged. “I wouldn’t say his attitude had completely changed.”
    “Not until he met you ,” another woman named Becky guessed. “He might have had his eyes opened a bit when the dog saved him, but it takes a person—a woman—to make a man really see the light.”
    “That’s so sweet,” one of the other women introduced as Cynthia said, dabbing at her eyes. “A man changing because of the love of a good woman.”
    Glancing around, Brynn saw that the other women’s eyes were starting to fill as well at that splash of sentiment. For a moment she was Stephanie. A girl with enough guts to go for her man and to change that man. Her thoughts drifted. And when Gregory came back, things would change. He would come to the same realizations that he had in her story.
    Blinking, she remembered her audience. “I don’t want to give you the wrong impression....” Right. And who would believe that?
    Wilma waved away her concerns. “Pish. Just because men won’t ever give the whole scoop doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.” She reached between the women clustered around the counter and picked up a beautiful white basket filled with bath salts, soaps, candles and lotion. “Here’s a little something to say welcome.”
    Touched, Brynn’s hand flew toward her throat. “Oh, I couldn’t. It’s too much....” It’s so incredibly sweet.
    “When you two get settled...after Gregory comes home—” Wilma