Read Online Her Valentine Family by Renee Andrews - Free Book Online Page B

quite petite, making her standout from the others in the room. Then again, she stood out anyway, with those sky-blue eyes, constantly examining everything around her, and gentle blond curls that framed her face and made her look almost angelic.
    â€œTank oo,” she said as Jessica sat on an oversize thick blue floor pillow with the girl in her lap. Several other toddlers, seeing that Jess was about to start a story, worked their way to the reading cove and gathered to sit on the smaller kid-size pillows.
    Jess got excited about their natural desire to learn what happens in the story and enjoyed the way their eyes lit up as they examined the animals featured on the cover of the book.
    â€œOh, the three bears!” one boy, obviously one of the older children in the group, exclaimed and then plopped down on a red patchwork pillow to listen.
    Angie let Jessica take over with the reading center while she filled out yellow identification stickers for each toddler and placed one on each child’s back. “To help you learn their names,” she mouthed to Jess, while Jessica read the story.
    Another young girl with long red curls worked her way into Jessica’s lap to sit opposite the tiny blonde. Both girls grinned at each other and took turns peering at the pages, while Jessica made sure each child sitting around them could also view what happened to Goldilocks as she progressed from bowl to bowl and bed to bed.
    â€œSomeone’s been eating my porridge,” Jessica said, lowering her voice to mimic the papa bear. She followed suit with the mama bear and baby bear, while all of the children giggled at her attempt at bear voices.
    She then took the bears through the discovery of their chairs and then finally their beds.
    â€œSomeone’s been sleeping in my bed, and she’s still there!” Jessica squealed in her best baby bear voice.
    Nathan loved for her to read stories to him before bed, and these children enjoyed this story just as much, particularly the two girls snuggling against her while she read. They clapped and laughed as Goldilocks went from one awkward predicament to another and squealed when she finally ran from the house with the bear family watching her go.
    By the time the story was done, Angie had placed a name tag on each child’s back except the two in Jessica’s lap. Then she patted each of their backs to put their identification stickers in place. Jessica turned toward the red-haired girl, still grinning from the story and sending an adorable array of tiny freckles across her cheeks with her smile.
    Jess glanced at her name tag, then said, “You liked that, didn’t you, Blaire?”
    â€œYes!” Blaire said, clapping with enthusiasm while her red curls bounced against her shoulders. Then she climbed off Jessica’s lap and ran to play with the puzzles.
    â€œLooks like you picked a good story—” Jessica said, then glanced at the blonde girl’s back to add her name to the statement.
    Her breath caught in her throat.
    What were the chances?
    Then she repeated, “Looks like you picked a good story, Lainey.”
    She looked again at the cherubic girl. Blond hair, sky-blue eyes, sweet puckered lips. “Lainey,” she repeated.
    The toddler blinked and grinned, again showing all of those tiny teeth.
    She seemed to be the right age for Chad’s little girl, and she had the same name. A fairly unique name. But there was no hint of green or gold in her wide, round eyes. And her hair was baby fine, not wavy and thick like Chad’s or Nathan’s. Her mouth wasn’t Chad’s. Neither was her petite nose.
    But still, the name was right, the age was right.
    The tiny tot with Lainey on her back kissed Jess’s cheek, gave her another endearing “Tank oo,” and then scurried away to play with the other boys and girls at the puzzle center area.
    â€œAngie?” Jessica asked.
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œWhat’s