Read Online Family Wanted (Willow's Haven Book 1) by Renee Andrews - Free Book Online Page A

through those years, too,” she said. “But I’m talking about the years before my marriage.” She took a deep breath and glanced at the trailer. “See, there’s a reason I’m so happy being here, helping with the start-up of Willow’s Haven.”
    Her hand still touched his, and he felt a slight tremble in it as she spoke. “What reason?”
    She looked back to Titus, and he saw her eyes were moist. “Growing up, I prayed for a place like this.” She blinked a couple of times, and those tears fell free. She moved her hand from Titus’s and swiped at her cheeks. “I was trying not to cry,” she whispered.
    Titus didn’t know what to say or do. But he had the strongest urge to take her in his arms and hold her, make her understand that he’d protect her, because he had that desire, too, to protect Isabella Gray from whatever caused her to cry. But that wasn’t the right thing. He’d just lost his wife, and he was nowhere near the point where he could hold another woman in his arms, even to provide comfort. So he stood his ground and waited for her to continue.
    “My mother abandoned me when I was born,” she said softly.
    Her statement hit him like a punch to the gut. Isabella had been abandoned? “I’m so sorry.”
    She shook her head. “No, that wasn’t the bad part. I can’t remember anything about her letting me go, of course,” she said, attempting a watery smile. “But the years after...” She paused, looked up for a moment. “I spent eighteen years in orphanages and a few foster homes, but never anything permanent. And never anything that felt like a real home. Nothing that felt safe.” She shivered. “Or even clean. I often went to bed hungry and never felt I could do anything right.”
    His chest tugged, throat closing in at the thought of Isabella, abandoned and mistreated. Again, that urge to protect her burned through him and he repeated, “I’m so sorry.”
    She took a quick breath of air. “I’m okay.”
    Titus instantly recalled how often she made similar statements. “It’s okay... I’m okay...” He wondered if that was her way of dealing with the pain, by telling herself that it was all right. But it wasn’t all right. No one should be raised like that. No child should feel unloved.
    “But during those years, God got me through,” she said. “I didn’t know all that much about Him, because not many of the places I stayed went to church on a regular basis, or even had Bibles. So when I did get a glimpse of Him, I’d grab on for dear life. And I’d pray.”
    Her advice telling him to pray took on an entirely new meaning, and Titus felt even more like a heel for being abrupt. “Isabella, I’m sorry for being so rude yesterday afternoon. I had no idea what you’d been through, and I shouldn’t have dismissed your advice.” He felt terrible for being so crude. “Please, forgive me.”
    Her mouth lifted, and he was glad to see her eyes light up as she answered, “I already did, remember?”
    “Hey, Miss Isabella’s here!”
    Titus turned toward Savannah’s voice and saw that she, Rose and Daisy had started down the hill from Brodie and Savvy’s cabin. He could hear her excitement at seeing the lady she’d grown so close to already, and it warmed his heart even more, because Isabella had touched his heart thoroughly.
    “I wondered if they were in the trailer,” Isabella said.
    “I took Savannah to the house so you and I could talk,” he explained, “and Savvy was baking cinnamon rolls for the girls to share.”
    Isabella nodded, then quickly asked, “Can you tell I’ve been crying?”
    He looked at her face, the freckles a little more copper due to her emotion and her eyes still glistening from her tears. A hint of mascara showed beneath each eye, and he took his thumb and tenderly wiped the smudges away. “Not now,” he said.
    “Thank you.”
    Savannah reached the porch first, and Titus was pleased to see the contrast in his little girl. Two weeks ago,