dryer. There was no shame in earning her keep by cleaning houses or
serving drinks. She was good at both, in any case. She was useful, and
she was needed. That was good enough.
She certainly hadn't been useful or needed by the man she was married to
so briefly. If they'd loved each other, really loved each other, it
would have been different. For her it had been a desperate need to
belong to someone, to be wanted and desired as a woman. For Jacka
Grace shook her head. She honestly didn't know what she had been for
Jack.
An attraction, she supposed, that had resulted in conception. She knew
he believed he'd done the honorable thing by taking her to the
courthouse and standing with her in front of the justice of the peace on
that chilly fall day and exchanging vows.
He had never mistreated her. He had never gotten mean drunk and knocked
her around the way she knew some men did wives they didn't want. He
didn't go sniffing after other women--at least not that she knew about.
But she'd seen, as Aubrey grew inside her and her belly rounded, she'd
seen the look of panic come into his eyes.
Then one day he was simply gone without a word.
The worst of it was, Grace thought now, she'd been relieved.
If Jack had done anything for her, it was to force her to grow up, to
take charge. And what he'd given her was worth more than the stars.
She put the folded laundry in a basket, hitched the basket on her hip,
and walked into the front room.
There was her treasure, her curly blond hair bouncing, her pretty,
rosy-cheeked face alight with joy as she sat on Ethan's lap and babbled
at him.
At two, Aubrey Monroe resembled a Botticelli angel, all rose and gilt,
with bright-green eyes and dimples denting her cheeks. Little kitten
teeth and long-fingered hands. Though he could decipher only half her
chatter, Ethan nodded soberly.
"And what did Foolish do then?" he asked as he figured out she was
telling him some story about Seth's puppy.
"Licked my face." Her eyes laughing, she took both hands and ran them up
over her cheeks. "All over." Grinning, she cupped her hands on Ethan's
face and fell into a game she liked to play with him. "Ouch!" She
giggled, rubbed his face again. "Beard."
Obliging, he skimmed his knuckles over her smooth cheek, then jerked his
hand back. "Ouch. You've got one, too."
"No! You."
"No." He pulled her close and planted noisy kisses on her cheeks while
she wriggled in delight. "You."
Screaming with laughter now, she wiggled away and dived for the boy
sprawled on the floor. "Seth beard." She covered his cheek with sloppy
kisses. Manhood demanded that he wince.
"Jeez, Aub, give me a break." To distract her, he picked up one of her
toy cars and ran it lightly down her arm. "You're a racetrack."
Her eyes beamed with the thrill of a new game. Snatching the car, she
ran it, not quite so gently, over any part of Seth she could reach.
Ethan only grinned. "You started it, pal," he told Seth when Aubrey