Twice Blessed by Jo Ann Ferguson

close to hers.
    â€œI know.” He gave a hushed chuckle.
    Emma was uncertain what she should say and was spared from having to decide when a whirlwind pushed its way between her and Noah.
    Belinda flung one arm around her father and the other around Emma. “It is you, Miss Delancy. I told Gladys it was your wagon coming into the yard. Then that boy came up to knock on the door.”
    â€œHis name is Sean.”
    The little girl nodded as her father took off the quilt and wrapped it around her. “I remember now. What did you bring us?”
    Noah squatted so his eyes were even with his daughter’s. “She brought us her company along with Sean’s for dinner.”
    â€œNo candy?”
    Emma held out her hand to the little girl while they walked up the hill to the house. “Why don’t you ride into town with me tomorrow, and we shall see what is in the candy jar at the store?”
    â€œCan we, Papa?”
    â€œMaybe not tomorrow.” He looked up at Emma, his expression now grim. “We shall have to wait and see in the morning. Right now—”
    Belinda’s excitement raised her voice. “Right now, come and see Fuzzball, Miss Delancy. He’ll want to see you, too.” She grabbed Emma’s hand and pulled her toward the house.
    Emma looked back over her shoulder to see Noah following as he laughed indulgently. No one could doubt who possessed Noah’s heart. He adored his daughter, and that love was returned by Belinda.
    A twinge ached within Emma. This was no time to think of how some nights, when she sat with her cats and Butch, she listened for footfalls that would never come. She was not alone. Sean lived with her now, but the child, no matter how hard he was trying to fit in, did not have the steps she longed to hear coming up the walk. She had missed hearing the assertive sound of a man’s boots, even though the last man who had walked home to her in the evening had caught her up in his tangled web of treachery and crime.
    She had not needed to be alone … if she did not want to be. She could let Noah take her on that tour later. And Noah Sawyer was not the only man around Haven who would be glad to keep the unmarried Emma Delancy from being lonely. She shoved those thoughts out of her head as she swung clasped hands with Belinda and hurried up the four steps to the front porch.
    Noah watched as Belinda led Emma and Sean into the house after pointing out the swing on the far side of the porch. The two children giggled eagerly about the idea of using it later.
    He should be glad Belinda had intruded when she did. Things were getting out of hand. He could not blame Emma. She had only come to his side to make sure he was not injured. He had tugged her into his arms and let the temptation of her soft lips overwhelm his good sense. He could not rid himself of the luscious sensation of Emma against him. She had not stiffened as he had half expected, proving she was not as prudish as she pretended to be. She could not hide the passions that roused more than his curiosity about this lovely woman.
    Light glittered from the windows where lace curtains soon would be fluttering out on a spring breeze. As he walked along the porch, the unmistakable scent of chocolate coaxed him to put Emma out of his mind as he lingered over images of rich, dark cake with white sugar frosting.
    Even that was impossible.
    â€œGood day in the woodlot?” asked a raspy voice as the screen door slammed close. A woman nearly as tall as he came out onto the porch.
    He smiled. “Are you keeping an eye on me, Gladys?”
    â€œSomeone has to.” As she rubbed her hands into her stained apron, her smile transformed her plain face beneath her graying hair. “Miss Delancy is paying a sick call on the pup at Belinda’s insistence. The boy is sitting in the kitchen, staring at the cake.”
    â€œI should have warned Emma what she was about to