Read Online Be My Baby by Meg Benjamin - Free Book Online

of books?” Jess ran the sweeper around the couch.
    Daisy shrugged. “All kinds. In the shop.”
    Okay. Bookshop. She’d seen a bookshop on Main—maybe that was the one. “Do you have any other uncles and aunts here in town?”
    “Well…” Daisy’s brow furrowed. “Uncle Erik, but he doesn’t come to dinner.”
    “He doesn’t?” Jess turned off the sweeper, wrapping the cord back around the handle again. “Why’s that?”
    “’Cause he’s real busy, Daddy says.”
    “What does he do?” She began to gather up the cleaning supplies again, sliding the vacuum sweeper back into the closet.
    “He’s a policeman. He’s got a gun. He’d show it to Jack.”
    Jess wasn’t sure exactly what to say about that, since not in this lifetime didn’t seem polite. “Maybe when he’s older. Are you ready to go back home now?”
    “Yes ma’am.” Daisy stood and lifted her arms.
    Jess scooped her up high in the air, then let her down gently. “There you go! Air Daisy, in for a landing.”
    Daisy giggled, then picked up the tote bag of sponges and dust cloths, while Jess lifted Jack into the backpack, fastening the strap around his waist.
    “Can I ride in the cart?” Daisy bounced toward the front door.
    “If there’s room.” Jess folded the playpen one-handed, then carried it outside to the large yellow wagon she used to tote cleaning supplies. She suspected the wagon was the true attraction for Daisy in their morning cleaning excursions—that and Jack, of course.
    Now she helped Daisy climb inside, then settled the backpack more comfortably onto her own shoulders.
    “Can Jack ride with me?”
    Jess shook her head. “Not enough room. He squirms around.”
    “I’d hold him.”
    “I know.” Jess piled playpen, tote bags and miscellaneous dust cloths behind and around Daisy, then picked up the wagon handle. “Maybe sometime when we don’t have so much to carry.”
    Daisy looked like she might try the pooling eyes thing, but once Jess turned toward the road and began pulling the wagon, she settled back against the wagon rail, half-singing one of her songs.
    Jess trudged up the dirt road that led from the guest cabin to her home, listening to Daisy’s variations on Old MacDonald that seemed to include an improbable assortment of animals and animal sounds, although the unicorn sounded a lot like a donkey. Somewhere a cardinal chirped in the pecan trees, as the wind rattled the leaves around them.
    Surprisingly cool for early November. Jess resolved to put a sweater on Jack next time they came to the cabin and to ask Lars Toleffson to bring a heavier jacket for Daisy tomorrow. She glanced up at her cabin and stopped short.
    A man was walking across her front porch, peering in the front windows.
    Jess stood frozen at the point where the road branched off to the guest cabin. Her heart hammered. She could turn around. Clearly the man hadn’t heard them yet.
    “I need to go,” Daisy demanded, her voice piping across the open meadow.
    The man looked up, then stared straight at them.
    Jess took a deep breath. Too late to run, and where would she run to, anyway? She raised her head, straightening her spine, and resumed her trudge toward the front porch.
    “Mrs. Carroll?” the man called when she still was a few feet up the road.
    She stopped again. “I’m Jessamyn Carroll.”
    The man’s smile broadened and he stepped off the porch, walking toward her. “Lorne Barrymore. Glad to meet you.”
    Jess watched him approach. He was maybe forty-five or so, slightly paunchy, collar too tight around his chin. His hair had receded to a graying ring around the outside of his bald spot, but he’d combed a few strands across.
    Lorne Barrymore extended his hand. He wore a gold ring with a green stone on his puffy little finger. After a moment, Jess lifted her hand to shake his.
    “Glad I caught you.” Barrymore grinned again. “Thought maybe you were out.”
    “No, I’m here.” Jess wondered if there was any way