Read Online Black & White (Picture Perfect #1) by Traci Hayden - Free Book Online Page B

a good judge of character, and, Beth was of good character.
    The other woman, Jude, wore her heart on her sleeve. She was so open and loving, and her life was written on her beautiful face. Most people would see her as stuck-up because of the clothes she wore and her physical appearance, but that notion was quickly dismissed when she'd spoken. Her voice and her easiness with Angel proved that.
    I was convinced these characteristics were part of the reason William had agreed to do this photo shoot. Since the day of her birth, he had been so protective of Angel. He wouldn't even let anyone near her for the first week of her life. We practically had to beg him to hold her.
    William, unfortunately, didn't have the ability to stay in the bubble he had formed around Angel and himself. That was one of the only reasons my family had been allowed inside Angel's tiny world. Life sometimes was a cruel bitch. He didn't have time to grieve over his loss. He didn't have the time to truly get to know his daughter; to watch her grow. He was missing out on so much.
    This photo shoot had to be his way of capturing Angel's innocence and holding on to it forever. He would only have a few years of that innocence, before the ugly truth of her birth had to be revealed. It would be a hard thing for any child to understand.
    William had been forced back to work. Coming from a simple, middle-class family, no one had the time to sit back and work through the emotional or mental turmoil which came with the tragedy that left Angel without a mother.
    Being one of the lucky members of the family, I did everything I could to help William. Michael, my husband, was one of the site supervisors of a large construction company based in Portland. Along with the title came a comfortable income, which allowed me to take time off from work to help care for Angel.
    Michael had given William a job on the construction site he was currently overseeing. William was more than capable of doing the job, but like Michael, it was worrisome. Working in any construction zone held its share of dangers, and there was a constant fear something would go wrong, leaving little Angel without both parents.
    I was following Jude into the studio where William and Angel would have their pictures taken and found so many reasons why William would change his mind. The lighting created by from the large spotlights would be too harsh on Angel's delicate skin, or too bright for her tiny eyes. The room would be too cold for her. The list would be ridiculous, but William would find something to make him back out.
    "Jude?" I asked, while sitting in one of the over-sized plush chairs. "I don't know if this room will work."
    Jude looked at me like I had ten heads. "Why?"
    "I know my brother... ummm... he'll find... issues with the room." I wasn't sure how to explain it, without overstepping William's rules about Angel.
    "Can you give me some examples? I can speak to Beth and make sure everything's perfect," Jude suggested in a silly voice, as she continued to focus on Angel.
    "Ummm... William's a little overprotective of his daughter. She's all he has left of..." Damn me and my mouth. It wasn't my place to speak about Angel's mother. That was William's story to tell.
    Jude's eyes went wide and her mouth curled up into a perfect circle. She was slowly piecing it together. There was no way she had all the pieces, but my slip of the tongue had given her  enough to start putting that puzzle together.
    "Anne, it's okay." She reached out, placing her hand over mine. She seemed to know that I had crossed a line, and wasn't about to call me on it.
    Angel was pulling on the material of Jude's sleeve, desperate to get her attention back as I explained. "William's cautious and protective of Angel's well-being, I think he's a little paranoid, but she is his first child."
    The look on Jude's face confirmed she had understood. William's depression had lessened over the past couple of months, but the very mention