Read Online Pinky Promise (Riverbend Romance 2) by Valerie Comer - Free Book Online Page A

look like Sophie would be riding any minute soon. Nor could they leave their bikes lying at the edge of the street.
    Kelly hated the helpless feeling pulling at her gut. This wasn’t a decision she could make. It was up to Ian, but how long was he going to sit on the curb listening to his child cry without making an attempt to even look at the damage? Sophie probably had nothing but a scrape. She hadn’t fallen far or hard. “Hey, Sophie, let’s get back on our bikes and ride to our house. I’ve got some ice cream in the freezer. Want some?”
    “Yeah!” Elena bounced from one foot to the other. “I want ice cream. Is it bubblegum?”
    “I was asking Sophie. And, no, it’s chocolate.”
    Elena sighed heavily. “Come on, twin. Let’s get ice cream.”
    Sophie shifted slightly, and Ian captured her wrist, holding up her hand.
    Uh oh. Even from here, Kelly could see the pinky finger at an awkward angle. Oh man. Was she somehow to blame?
    Elena plunked both hands on her hips. “What promise did you break?”
    “Elena!”
    “Look. It’s her baby finger. That’s how they get broke. You told me.”
    Ian frowned, his eyes chilling as he glanced at Kelly. “You told her what? ”
    “Nothing. It’s not relevant.”
    Ian rose, Sophie still in his arms. The little girl clung to his neck, legs wrapped around his middle. “I need to get her to E.R. Can you manage the bikes back to your place?”
    Now she was superwoman and could ride two at once? “I’ll lock your bikes to that light post. Elena and I will take ours home and come right back for yours.”
    He nodded. “That works.” He strode off down the sidewalk.
    Kelly stared after him. What was going on here? Something sank in her gut. She’d known he was too good to be true. He seemed to somehow blame her for Sophie’s injury. Or maybe it had been Elena’s words that caught him wrong.
    Either way, she’d just as soon get back to the house after they’d left in the Jeep. They’d both be in a better frame of mind once that finger had been taken care of and they returned for their bikes. She hoped.

    ~*~

    Ian hovered over his daughter as she lay on their crisp gray sofa. “Can I get you something else, baby?”
    She shook her wan face, and he smoothed the short brown hair off to one side. “Why did Elena say that to me, Daddy?”
    Good question, and one that had been running through his mind for the past two hours, all the while they’d sat waiting in emergency for a doctor to tend the finger and splint it. He sat on the ottoman by Sophie’s head. “I’m not sure. Do you know?”
    “She told me about pinky promises.” Sophie held up her other hand and wiggled her fingers. “She said her mommy makes her hook their baby fingers together sometimes and make a promise.”
    Ian nodded. But there had to be more to it than that.
    “Her mommy said that if you don’t keep your pinky promise, your finger breaks.” Tears welled in Sophie’s eyes again. “But I didn’t. I promise I didn’t.”
    What kind of things did Kelly fill her child’s mind with, anyway? “It’s okay, baby. Sometimes things happen. You fell off your bike, and that’s how your finger broke. It had nothing to do with promises.”
    Though it had to do with Elena being a daredevil — again — and encouraging Sophie to do things she wouldn’t normally have the nerve for. A few days ago that had made him smile. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Why shouldn’t Sophie be timid? It was her personality, how God made her.
    “Her mommy made her pinky promise not to ask you to be her daddy.”
    A sharp chuckle managed an escape. That would account for Elena’s cut-off questions a time or two. Ian inhaled and let the air out slowly. “Do you like Elena and her mommy?”
    Sophie nodded. “Except Elena was mean to me.”
    Hard to deny. “How about Kelly?”
    Sophie’s serious brown eyes met his. “I like her. Is she going to be my new mommy?”
    Stall, Tomlinson. “Do you want her to