Gifts Of Love. Crystal Stovall

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СКАЧАТЬ Angie. Though her parents had urged her to buy mutual funds, Jessie had decided to risk it all on a business of her own. She’d had no doubts her grandmother, an adventurous woman herself, would have approved.

      In the beginning, Gifts of Love had been an uphill struggle. Instead of staying in the larger metropolitan area of Dallas-Ft. Worth where she’d lived after graduating from college, she’d decided to move back to her hometown of Springfield, Missouri. But after working around the clock, six days a week, she could finally declare giftsoflove.com a success.

      As the homepage loaded, Jessie felt a familiar surge of adrenaline. Impressed by the new pages that the evening shift had designed and uploaded, she noted only a few areas that needed fine-tuning.

      When she finally glanced up at the clock, over an hour had passed. Shutting down her laptop, she hurried to get dressed before Isabel awoke. She even considered calling David to tell him the night had gone smoothly. Chances were, he was awake. Everyone knew no one ever got quality sleep in a hospital.

      She picked up the receiver, then, feeling foolish, set it back down. After staring at the telephone for another minute, she quickly punched in the hospital number before she could change her mind.

      “Hello,” David answered, sounding wide awake, much to Jessie’s relief.

      “I thought you might like to know your baby slept through the night.”

      “That’s good. I was worried she wouldn’t be able to settle down.”

      “And how did you sleep?” Jessie asked as she fingered the telephone cord. Not until she spoke did she realize how eager she’d been to hear his voice and to know he’d improved.

      “Fairly well. However, I feel like…” In the background, she heard the shuffle of sheets as David shifted his weight on the bed, his discomfort great enough to interrupt his words. “…a dump truck ran over me.”

      Though Jessie didn’t say anything, she assumed David would be out of commission for longer than he might be willing to admit.

      “Oh,” she said, “Isabel’s waking up.” Moving to the bed, she held the receiver next to the sleepy child’s ear. As soon as Isabel heard her father’s voice, she smiled and stretched. Jessie shared the little girl’s satisfaction and decided to treasure these special moments God had given her.

      Jessie was prepared for the look of surprise when she walked into David’s hospital room later that morning with Isabel balanced on her hip.

      “Hi, Pumpkin,” David called out to his smiling daughter, while his eyes asked why Isabel wasn’t at home with Elaine.

      When David inched to one side and patted the bed, Jessie securely positioned Isabel between her father’s chest and arm. However, she remained close to the bed, just in case the toddler started to squirm.

      “Elaine’s been delayed, hasn’t she?”

      As Jessie explained that Elaine’s sister had fallen that morning and Elaine was taking care of her sibling’s twins, empathy shone from David’s brown eyes. “You made the right decision in telling her to stay,” he assured her. “I would have told her to stay in Kansas, too.”

      He kept shaking his head. “I can’t believe this is happening to Elaine’s sister. She’s had a rough time lately.” Looking directly at Jessie, he added, “Sometimes, I really have to wonder what God is thinking.”

      Jessie merely shrugged and offered a tight smile. This wasn’t the moment to volunteer her personal insights about God’s timing.

      Shifting his gaze to Isabel, David relaxed a little. “The bright side is that I get to see my little girl. I wasn’t certain you could bring her to my room.”

      Jessie’s smile widened and she touched her fingertips to her lips. “I’m not certain whether it’s allowed, either. We just walked in like we belonged here.”

      “With you in charge, there’s nothing to worry about.”

      Briefly, she met his gaze, surprised by how much his respect meant to her. However, she wasn’t about to spoil her image and confess that his neat brick home looked like a disaster zone. By the time Jessie had cleaned up the dining room and kitchen floors, Isabel had dumped the box of toys in the living room, plus she’d knocked over a potted fern and rubbed dirt into the carpet. And while she’d talked to Elaine on the cordless telephone, Isabel had followed her curiosity into the nursery, grabbing at anything within reach. Jessie had stayed one step behind the crawling toddler, but it still amazed her how much chaos Isabel had created before she scooped her up.

      “The doctor is going to make me stay another night.”

      David grasped her hand, forcing her to meet his gaze again. This time she knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

      “You’ve done so much already. Don’t even think about offering to watch Isabel today.”

      “I don’t have to think about it,” Jessie assured him. “In fact, I insist on staying with Isabel. We’re a team now. You can’t separate us. Besides, it’s only for one more night.”

       Chapter Four

       W as he letting stubborn pride dictate what was best for his daughter? David wondered the next morning as he hung up after talking to his married sisters.

      No, he knew he was right.

      In the past year, his parents had devoted a significant amount of their time and energy to helping him and Isabel settle in Springfield. While they had done so out of love, and while he’d admitted to his family that he couldn’t have made it without their support, he’d also made it clear that it was time for him to stand on his own two feet. Though it would be so easy to cave in, he knew in his heart it was best for everyone if he took full responsibility for his daughter.

      Next, he called the main offices of Hot & Fresh and made sure the business day was off to a smooth start. As the owner of five Springfield deli and coffee shops, which specialized in thick sandwiches, the best bagels in town and the freshest coffee in the state, he lived a fast-paced life. He was used to solving problems, to anticipating market trends and to outsmarting his competition. He rarely came home until he was too tired to think about anything except his little girl.

      But here in the hospital, he hadn’t been as successful in fighting off unwanted memories. Though it’d been a little over a year since his wife, Kate, had died after a Florida freeway accident, it sometimes seemed like yesterday. Surprisingly, it wasn’t what he saw in the corridors, but what he heard and smelled when he closed his eyes—the pungent medicinal odors mixed with the sweet fragrance of stargazer lilies, the soft shuffle of footsteps punctuated by the constant ding of elevator bells, and the hissing, beeping sounds of medical monitors—that summoned the vivid images of the last days of his wife’s life.

      Now, restless and confined by the square room, David sought a change of scenery. Putting both feet on the floor, he tested his balance and was pleased with the progress he’d made in such a short time. After getting dressed, he slowly headed down the carpeted hallway to the waiting room near the elevators. Despite some interior decorator’s fine effort, the scenic mountain mural, the ficus trees and the upholstered furniture didn’t fool anyone—it was still a hospital waiting room.

      Standing СКАЧАТЬ