Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides) by Heather Tullis

you be any less coordinated and still be able to walk around?” Rosemary asked from the kitchen. “Then again.”
    “Shut it.” Delphi snagged a soda from the fridge. Glancing up, she smiled. “There you are, kiddo. How was school?”
    “It was okay.” It had snowed over the weekend, so she and Hannah had stomped out the outlines of a house in the snow during recess. They were going to play in it during the next break, but some of the younger boys messed it up when they got out for their recess period. Stupid boys.
    “Good.”
    “Is your homework done?” Rosemary asked, barely glancing up from her laptop.
    “Um, almost.” It was a stretch, there was still most of the page left, but she deserved a break, right?
    “Then you can almost come out of your room. Go back and finish. Let me know if you have trouble and need help.” She returned her attention to her laptop. She was always on the computer in the afternoon—her mom had spent time with her after school, not been wrapped up in a job. At least they were home instead of at the hotel—her office there was so boring . There wasn’t even a window. Of course, Harrison was at the resort and she really liked him—he was nice and treated her as if she was smart instead of like a dumb kid.
    “Do you need a snack?” Jonquil asked.
    “No,” Rosemary answered before Cleo could accept. “She already had two cookies and some carrot sticks. She can wait until dinner.”
    “You’re such a slave driver,” Delphi grabbed a cookie from the jar and flipped through some papers she’d brought up with her.
    “You betcha. It’s what you all love about me.” Rosemary didn’t even look up from her laptop.
    Cleo huffed a little, but went into her room, grabbed her blanket and wrapped in it again, before sitting at her desk. The math wasn’t that hard, it was just so boring and she hated doing it.
    She was finishing up the last row of problems when Rosemary came in.
    “How’s it going, short stuff?” She rubbed her arms. “You opened the window? Why?”
    “I wanted to hear the birds.” Cleo protested when Rosemary started to close the window.
    “It’s freezing out there. You’re going to have to save your bird loving for when you’re outside until it gets warmer out there.” She twisted the window lock.
    “You never let me have any fun,” Cleo grumbled.
    Rosemary sat on the edge of the bed. “How’s the homework?”
    “Almost done.”
    “Great. You want to make a snowman after you finish up?”
    Cleo’s head whipped around to look at Rosemary. She wasn’t sure if she believed it because it had been so long since they did anything just for fun. Rosemary used to do crazy fun things with her all the time. Before her parents died. “Really?”
    “Yeah. Really. Hurry up.”
    Cleo returned to her work with renewed determination, zipping through the problems in record time. She was going to build snowmen with her—well, sort of her mom.
    She thought about that word, mom, in relation to Rosemary. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that, now that she knew, but she would think about it. Now she would get to go out and play.

    Harrison stood in the driveway and watched Rosemary and Cleo rolling giant snowballs in the yard. They must be making a snowman. He thought about joining them, but wasn’t sure if he should intrude in their mother-daughter time. It was nice seeing them play together, Rosemary teasing and carefree.
    Jonquil came onto the front porch and looked at him. “Sage called. She said to tell you today is the day. Seize your chance at love and ask out the girl of your dreams.”
    Harrison turned to her, not believing a word of it. “Really?”
    She pursed her lips. “No, but she should. It’s good advice, so go do it.”
    He chuckled. “I didn’t bring my boots.”
    “Wimp. I’ve just lost all respect for you. You’re wearing running shoes instead of your shiny executive loafers. Weren’t you raised on an organic farm? I thought