The Firefighter Daddy. Margaret Daley

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СКАЧАТЬ best her mom wasn’t here. One look at Liam and she would try to figure out how to match them up. Her mother wanted grandchildren. Sarah wanted children. She’d been pregnant almost five months—until she miscarried after the car accident.

      “Have a seat at the table. I have lemonade or iced tea. Which would you like?” she asked as she closed the door to the garage.

      “Lemonade,” Katie said while Madison replied, “Iced tea.”

      Sarah glanced at Liam, sitting across from the girls, a look in his golden-brown eyes—perhaps sadness—that made her wonder why he’d given up everything to move to Buffalo instead of taking his nieces to Dallas. It couldn’t be easy becoming the guardian of two girls and also dealing with his brother’s death and a new town and job. “How about you?”

      “Thanks, but I’m fine. We can’t stay long. I need to make something for dinner.”

      “Sure. I’ll get their drinks then go find the photo.” She turned to the refrigerator for the lemonade and iced tea.

      Liam McGregory had the same color hair—dark brown—as the girls, but the similarities stopped there. Their eyes were a crystalline blue, his a warm brown. His facial features were angular and hard, while theirs were soft and delicate. She peered back at him, intrigued by what little she’d learned today.

      A minute later as Sarah set their glasses in front of the girls, she caught Liam studying her. She hurried from the kitchen before he saw her blush. Since coming home to Buffalo, she’d avoided her mother’s attempts to fix her up with a son of one of her friends. Sarah wasn’t interested in dating, especially when memories of Peter bombarded her everywhere she went in town. She hadn’t thought about that when she’d quit her job at a high-end salon, left her friends and returned home. Maybe that was why she felt a connection with Liam. He had to be going through some of the same problems she was, since he’d done the same thing when he’d come to Buffalo.

      When Sarah found the photo with Gabe, she made her way back to the kitchen and put the frame on the table between Madison and Katie. The photo was of her Lab standing in eight inches of snow next to her. “Mom took that six weeks ago during the last winter storm. Gabe loves to play in snow.”

      “Me, too.” Katie gulped down half her lemonade. “But I like swimming more.”

      “Yep, it’s only...” Madison held her hand up and said, “April, May—” a finger popped up for each month “—two months to summer vacation. I can’t wait.”

      “Not until I know you two can swim.” Liam slid the picture frame across the table, looked at it and then gave it to Sarah.

      She took it. “Did you know that the high school has an indoor swimming pool? In the evening, they have it open for swimming classes through their community outreach program.”

      Liam’s gaze snared hers. “At this time of year?”

      “Yes, especially now. A friend I grew up with runs the program. I can give you her name. You can check to see if there are any openings left. Her next eight-week session starts in two weeks. I help her out two nights a week. I love to swim. It’s better exercise than running.”

      Katie bounced up and down in her chair. “Can we? Can we?”

      “I’ll look into it when Sarah gives me the number, but you two know my crazy schedule.”

      “Ask Aunt Betty to take us.” Madison drained her glass.

      “We’ll see. We don’t even know if there are openings.”

      Although Madison didn’t say anything else, her mouth tightened, and she stared down at her lap. For a couple of seconds it appeared as though Liam wanted to say more, but when he didn’t, Sarah rose. “I’ll write the number down for you.” She moved to the desk under the wall phone and jotted the contact information on a piece of paper.

      Madison clapped her hands. “Oh, goody. I know how to swim, but Katie doesn’t.”

      “Yes, I do.”

      “No, you don’t.” Madison glared at her.

      The noise of the garage door opening sounded as Sarah returned to the table and passed the paper to Liam. Now she would spend all evening answering questions about Liam McGregory. She contemplated trying to hurry the trio out the front door before Nana and Mom came in the back, but dismissed that strategy because if it wasn’t Liam, her mother would home in on someone else. She just wasn’t ready yet. She needed to get that point across to her mother.

      “It won’t hurt for both of you to take classes,” Liam said as the door from the garage opened into the utility room. “Finish your drinks, girls. We need to leave.”

      Her mom’s gaze latched on to Liam then drifted to Madison and Katie. A gleam lit her eyes. Sarah could almost see the hundred questions flying through her mom’s brain right now.

      Sarah faced the two women entering from the utility room. “This is my mom, Tina Knapp, and my grandma, Carla Knapp.” She gestured to the trio. “This is Liam McGregory and his nieces, Madison and Katie. They live down the street and—” she swept her arm toward Gabe waking up and rising from his doggy bed “—they found Gabe. They put up posters. I saw one tacked to a telephone pole today.”

      Her mother grinned, put her purse on the counter and shook Liam’s hand. “That’s great. Sarah has been so upset about Gabe being gone. We need to fix that hole in the fence better. Obviously what we did last time didn’t work. I declare that dog of yours is like Houdini.”

      Katie scrunched up her face in a thoughtful expression. “Hou—denny?”

      “One of the best escape artists, child,” Nana said, her purse still hooked over her forearm. “My mother used to tell me about the time she saw Harry Houdini escape from a water container while handcuffed in a straitjacket and then lowered into it upside down. She said he was amazing.”

      “How did he do it?” Madison asked.

      “By holding his breath three minutes while under water.”

      Madison’s eyes widened. “Really?”

      Nana nodded then took off her hat, something she insisted on wearing whenever she left the house. Sarah inspected her grandmother’s legs that still showed a faint reminder of where the dyes splashed her. But the tennis shoes she wore were shiny white as if they’d just come out of their box.

      “I took Mama to get a new pair for work. The others were ruined,” Sarah’s mother said as she sat at the table.

      Liam smiled at her mother next to him. Sarah had visions of her launching into her interrogation before he had a chance to escape. Sarah started to say something, but he stood.

      “Girls, it’s time to go. We still have to make something to take to the meeting.” Liam turned to Sarah’s mother and grandmother. “It was nice to meet you both. I’m glad Gabe is back home.” Liam corralled his nieces toward the hallway so fast Sarah’s mom could only blink.

      Katie paused, signaled her uncle to bend down. She cupped her hand near his ear and whispered, loud enough that everyone heard, “I’m not glad. I’m gonna miss him.”

      “Shh, СКАЧАТЬ