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Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Half Title Page
  3. Books by Katie Powner
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright Page
  6. Dedication
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. FORTY
  47. FORTY-ONE
  48. FORTY-TWO
  49. FORTY-THREE
  50. FORTY-FOUR
  51. FORTY-FIVE
  52. FORTY-SIX
  53. FORTY-SEVEN
  54. FORTY-EIGHT
  55. FORTY-NINE
  56. FIFTY
  57. FIFTY-ONE
  58. FIFTY-TWO
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. About the Author
  61. Back Ads
  62. Back Cover

Bea grabbed his hand and squeezed. The thought of food didn’t hold much appeal. It had been her queasy stomach five days in a row that made her first suspect she might be pregnant. But talking to her dad didn’t hold much appeal, either.

“Okay.”

She let Jeremy lead her out of the bathroom into the small living room that doubled as a dining room and connected to the kitchenette. He coaxed her onto the futon and insisted on making dinner. She smiled on the inside. He was going to be a good dad. But . . .

Would she be a good mother?

More tears began to fall. Mother. Such an innocent-sounding word, but it rang like a tornado siren in her mind. Her mother was gone. And the way her dad shut her out after? Well, it was almost like she’d lost them both.

She’d been getting used to how it was just her and Jeremy. Two hearts against the world. Free to do whatever they wanted. Free to chart their own course into the future. But now she watched Jeremy move around the kitchen and thought about the mold they’d found in the bedroom carpet. The electrical fire they’d recently experienced when the oven shorted out. The bad news they’d received from Jeremy’s employer this week.

They couldn’t stay here. Everything was about to change.

Again.

She rested her hands on her stomach. This was it. She was having a baby.

Hot coffee.

THREE

ch-fig

The sky stretched far and wide as the open arms of Jesus. That’s what his mother used to say. Mitch Jensen hung one arm out his truck window and soaked up the sun.

It wasn’t going to last. Heck, it could snow tomorrow. But he couldn’t remember a more beautiful start to fall.

He pulled onto a long gravel drive and slowed, the familiar sight of his childhood home doing something to his chest that he wasn’t used to. Was that foreboding or exhaustion? It was only Monday. He shouldn’t be worn out already.

When he turned off the truck’s engine, the quiet was just the right kind. Not unnatural and forced, like when nature goes still in the face of potential danger, but alive. Moose Creek was a small town with little more than a four-way stop, two bars, a diner, and a post office, but it was downright chaotic compared to this. He was thankful his parents, the indomitable Randall and Juniper Jensen, had been able to sell most of the surrounding acreage so they could continue living here even after his dad retired from ranching a couple years ago.