The Orphans' Blessing Read online

  In the wake of tragedy...can they build a future together?

  Could a complete stranger

  be the key to his new family?

  After finally tracking down her long-lost sister only to find she’s gone, Sophie Armstrong wants to connect with her orphaned nieces and nephew. But convincing their guardian, Zach Conrad, that all she wants is a relationship with the only family she has left won’t be easy. As Sophie bonds with the children, she’s determined to win over their uncle’s trust...and possibly his heart.

  “Why can’t Aunt Sophie stay with us?”

  Sophie quickly stifled the smile teasing her lips. Out of the mouths of babes. “That’s a great idea. I’d love to take care of you while your uncle is on duty.”

  “Cool.” She turned and ran from the room, shouting, “Linney, Aunt Sophie is going to stay with us.”

  Zach was glaring. “You had no right to override me.”

  “I didn’t. It was Katie’s idea. Besides, you know it’s the best solution. I’m here, I’m available and the kids want me to stay. What do you have against me, Zach?”

  He fisted his hands on the counter, inhaling slowly. “You mean because you show up here out of the blue and assume you can just become part of our lives? I’m not comfortable leaving my kids with a stranger.”

  “A nanny would be a stranger. What’s the difference?” He had no answer to that. She couldn’t blame him for being protective of the children. “I want to do this, Zach. I won’t let anything happen to them.”

  Lorraine Beatty was raised in Columbus, Ohio, but now calls Mississippi home. She and her husband, Joe, have two sons and five grandchildren. Lorraine started writing in junior high and is a member of RWA and ACFW, and a charter member and past president of Magnolia State Romance Writers. In her spare time she likes to work in her garden, travel and spend time with her family.

  Books by Lorraine Beatty

  Love Inspired

  The Orphans’ Blessing

  Mississippi Hearts

  Her Fresh Start Family

  Their Family Legacy

  Their Family Blessing

  Home to Dover

  Protecting the Widow’s Heart

  His Small-Town Family

  Bachelor to the Rescue

  Her Christmas Hero

  The Nanny’s Secret Child

  A Mom for Christmas

  The Lawman’s Secret Son

  Her Handyman Hero

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  THE ORPHANS’ BLESSING

  Lorraine Beatty

  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

  —Matthew 6:12

  To my two new great-grandsons—

  Kai and Forrest,

  you have blessed our lives beyond belief.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Dear Reader

  Excerpt from Falling for the Innkeeper by Meghann Whistler

  Chapter One

  Sophie Armstrong pulled to a stop in front of the charming old home on the tree-lined street in the small town of Blessing, Mississippi. Her heart pounded fiercely inside her chest as she admired the pale blue two-story house with a wraparound porch nestled behind a white picket fence. It was a storybook house. Exactly the kind of home she would have expected her sister, Madeline, to live in.

  Only she didn’t live here anymore. She and her husband had been killed in a car accident five months ago, leaving behind three children. Her nieces and nephew. Her family. All the family she had left in the world.

  She felt a tightness in her chest. If only she’d been able to track her sister down sooner, they could have reconciled. Madeline could have told her why she’d disappeared fifteen years ago, leaving a hole in Sophie’s life that had never been filled. She’d come down here from Ohio to find her sister’s children in hopes that the emptiness could finally be filled.

  The chime of her cell jolted her out of her thoughts. She smiled at the name appearing on her phone. Angela Crawford. Her best friend and manager of Billie’s Boutique Gifts, the shop Sophie’s aunt, Billie Armstrong, had owned and she’d inherited after her death. Sophie had left the business in Angela’s capable hands when she came to Mississippi.

  “Are you there yet?” Angela asked.

  “I just pulled up.” Sophie’s gaze landed on the giant live oak with a swing hanging from one thick branch.

  “Don’t worry. It’ll all turn out fine. I have faith.”

  “So do I, but that doesn’t mean it’ll turn out the way I want.” She inhaled a ragged breath.

  “I know this last year hasn’t been easy for you.”

  Sophie huffed. “You mean because it reads like a script from a bad soap opera? Only living relative passes away, fiancé walks out, I find out my long-lost sister is dead, and surgery makes it impossible for me to have children.”

  “I know, but you need to think of those events as blessings.”

  Sophie sighed inwardly. She loved Angela dearly, but sometimes her optimistic outlook grew tiresome.

  “First, if you hadn’t run into that old friend of your sister’s, you wouldn’t have known where to start searching for her. Then your aunt Billie passed away, leaving you a nice inheritance that made it possible for you to hire a private investigator to look for Madeline. As for that fiancé of yours, Greg, good riddance to him. Your surgery was heartbreaking but you found your nieces and nephew. They can be the children you won’t have.”

  Hearing her list of losses spoken aloud stung. “Except, they have an uncle who’s their guardian now. I can’t walk in and just claim them.”

  “No, but you said he’s a single guy and a pilot to boot, so he may be looking for some way out.”

  “I wouldn’t be.”

  Angela sighed. “Okay. I know when I’m talking to a wall. Give me a call after you’ve met them. I want to hear all about it.”

  Sophie agreed, then ended the call and gathered her courage. Time to meet her sister’s children.

  The air was sweet with the scent of newly mown grass as she made her way up onto the broad front porch, noticing the swing at one end and the cozy rockers at the other. Toys, balls and water guns were scattered across the planks. Evidence of the children who lived here.

  She stared at the front door. On the other side were her nieces and nephew. Would they look like Madeline? Or did they take after their father? Closing her eyes, she prayed that finding her sister’s family would finally erase the sense of abandonment she’d felt for so long.

  The door opened and a little girl looked up at her with wide blue eyes exactly like Madeline’s. This must be the youngest child, Linney, which was a nickname for Madeline. Sophie smiled and bent forward. “Hello. I’m...”

  The little girl’s eyes widened. She took a step backward, then ran off, calling for her uncle.

  Stunned, Sophie stood frozen. She hadn’t meant to scare the child. She peered inside the house to see a tall dark-haired man striding toward her. His brown eyes widened and she saw him brace in surprise. The little girl peeked around the corner at the end of the foyer. He stopped in front of her, a deep scowl on his angular face.


  “Can I help you?”

  His tone held an odd combination of surprise and caution. She realized how imposing he was with his broad shoulders and muscular arms. Her throat tightened and she tried to swallow and speak at the same time, but only succeeded in making herself cough.

  She took a deep breath and forced a smile. “I’m Sophie Armstrong. Madeline’s younger sister. I’ve been searching for her and... I... Uh...”

  The man’s jaw flexed rapidly and his eyes darkened to black. “Madeline had no family.”

  Sophie struggled to process what he was saying. “What? No. That’s not true. She had me. Our parents are gone but I’m here.” She rubbed her cheek, trying to make sense of it all. “Why would Madeline say she had no family?”

  “I wouldn’t know. But she never mentioned a sister or anyone else.”

  A boy about thirteen moved into the foyer. He took one look at her, frowned, then walked away. This was certainly not how she envisioned her first meeting with her sister’s family.

  The man scanned her up and down as if assessing her validity. “Madeline and my brother Dean were killed in a car accident.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “Uncle Zach, who’s at the door?” A girl around ten years old entered the foyer, and like the other two children, her eyes widened when she saw Sophie. Then she burst into tears.

  Sophie’s heart twisted inside her chest. She’d made a mess of things. She should have called ahead. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to upset anyone. I just—”

  The uncle turned and spoke softly to the girl, then faced her again. “What did you expect? You look just like their mother.”

  Sophie hadn’t considered the effect her sudden appearance might have on her nieces and nephew. All she’d thought about was finding her family. Her resemblance to her sister was mentioned frequently when they were young. She’d never anticipated it would still be a factor after all these years.

  “What do you want?”

  She swallowed the lump of fear in her throat his deep voice had triggered. “I want to see my sister’s children. They’re my only family now.”

  He stiffened, squaring his shoulders like a soldier called to action. “They are my family. I’m their legal guardian.”

  Heat shot up her neck and she lowered her gaze. “Yes, of course. But I’m their mother’s sister, which makes you and I related, sort of. If we could talk for a few minutes, I’m sure I can explain everything.”

  The uncle gripped the door handle and for a brief moment she feared he’d shut it in her face.

  “Not right now. I need to do some damage control. You’ll have to come back later.”

  She was disappointed but not surprised. “When?” She wasn’t going to be turned away for good. This was too important.

  “I don’t know. Tomorrow maybe. I’ll have to see how the children are.”

  Normally a very compliant woman, the sudden rise of fierce determination inside took her by surprise, but she couldn’t ignore it. “I want to meet my nieces and nephew. I have questions and I’m not leaving Blessing until I have answers.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed. She held her breath. Had she gone too far? He shifted his weight, then finally spoke.

  “Where are you staying?”

  “The Azalea Inn.”

  “I’ll call you there and set up a meeting.” He started to close the door.

  “Wait.” She dug a scrap of paper from her purse and scribbled her phone number. “Call my cell phone. I don’t want to miss your call. And I should have your number, as well.”

  He took the paper, scribbled his number at the bottom and tore it off. He handed it to her, glared then closed the door, leaving her with a hot, aching sensation in her chest. She’d botched things terribly. Angela had suggested repeatedly that Sophie call ahead and make arrangements to meet Madeline’s children, but Sophie had been afraid the uncle, Zach Conrad, would refuse. She’d decided to be more like Madeline and confront the situation directly.

  Maddie had always been the brave one, unafraid of anything. She’d been the one others envied and emulated. She’d been tall, beautiful and outgoing, the one with all the energy and spunk, the very things that kept her at odds with their mother. Sophie, on the other hand, was shorter, the introvert who tried to keep the peace and fade into the background as much as possible.

  Well, she wasn’t going to fade anywhere this time. She’d taken time off from managing her aunt’s gift shop in Gahanna, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, to come to Blessing, and she meant what she’d told Zach. She wasn’t leaving until she met her family.

  Sliding behind the wheel of her car, she started back to the inn. At least she’d caught a glimpse of her sister’s children. Linney, the little one, looked like her mother, with her blue eyes and light blond hair. The boy, DJ, named after his father Dean Joseph, had dark brown eyes and hair like his uncle. Katie, the middle one, had pretty brown eyes and light brown hair and her mom’s big smile.

  Those glimpses would have to hold her until she could sit down with them face to face. And she planned on pestering Zach until he gave in.

  But what if he didn’t?

  * * *

  Zach closed the front door and offered up a fervent prayer for strength. The children were likely traumatized by the sudden appearance of their aunt. He certainly was. He would have challenged the woman’s claim but there was no doubt she was related to Madeline. The family resemblance was too strong. The question now was how to deal with her?

  “DJ, Katie, Linney. Family meeting pronto.” He waited for them to assemble in the family room, trying to gauge their emotional state. Who was he kidding? He had no idea how to read the kids. “We need to talk about what just happened.”

  Talk. The last thing he wanted to do. He avoided talking at all costs. He’d found it only complicated things, but this time he couldn’t behave as if nothing had happened.

  Linney spoke up first, her eyes puzzled. “Who was that lady? She looked like Mommy. Why did she look like Mommy?”

  Zach moved to sit beside her on the sofa, slipping an arm around her as he searched for the words to explain to a six-year-old. “She’s your mom’s sister.”

  Katie looked up from her position on the floor; her eyes were still moist. She stroked the head of the family dog, Lumpy, a brown Lab who lay beside her. “Linney is my sister but we don’t look alike.”

  DJ emitted a loud grunt. “But Dad and Uncle Zach did, goofus.”

  Zach shot him a warning glare.

  “Is she coming back?” Katie sat up, her forehead creased in a deep frown, her long light brown hair falling over her shoulders.

  “Do you want her to?” He scanned the three children, assessing their reactions. They appeared more surprised than traumatized.

  DJ shrugged. “Whatever.” He slid the headphones from around his neck onto his ears.

  Katie nodded. “She could tell us about Mommy when she was a kid.”

  Linney, her head still resting against his shoulder, looked up at him with big blue eyes filled with confusion. “Maybe she likes baking cookies like Mommy did.”

  Zach stifled a sigh. He’d hoped the kids would want no part of the new relative, but he should have known better. He’d have to deal with this and try to protect the kids as much as possible. The woman had said she had questions. Well, he had a few dozen of his own.

  “All right. I’ll have her come over again and you can talk to her.”

  Katie smiled. “When?”

  “Soon.”

  After the children drifted off to their rooms, Zach called his friend Hank Blair. Hank owned a local flight charter service, Southland Charters, where Zach occasionally worked during his weeks off from his job as an oil rig chopper pilot. He needed some perspective on this. He was too emotionally involved to think clearly, and he was already questioning his d
ecision to invite the sister back to the house.

  “Hey, buddy. What has you calling at this time of day?”

  Zach wasted no time on pleasantries. “Maddie had a sister.”

  “What? I thought she was an orphan or something.”

  “That’s what she always claimed, but apparently she had a younger sister who is very much alive and who came knocking on my door.”

  “Are you sure she’s the sister? I mean, maybe it’s a scam or something.”

  Zach rubbed his forehead, then sank onto a stool at the kitchen counter. “No, she’s the spitting image of Maddie. No question, though she’s shorter and not as vibrant as Maddie was.”

  “Why do you suppose Maddie lied?”

  “I don’t know. But this woman showed up here out of the blue looking like the kids’ mom and scared them half to death.”

  “Are they okay?”

  “I guess. I’m not good at reading them, but they want her to come back so they can meet her.”

  “Is that a good idea?”

  Zach tapped the counter with his fingers. “I don’t know, but I can’t ignore her. Besides, I have a lot of questions, mainly why she chose to show up now. This isn’t a good time for the kids. They were just getting their feet under them and now they have to deal with a long lost relative who’s a replica of their mother.”

  “You think she has some ulterior motive?”

  Zach hadn’t considered that. “Like what? It’s not like there’s a huge inheritance to lay claim to.”

  “But there are three children.”

  An icy chill raced through Zach’s veins. “You think she might want custody?” He would not let that happen. “I’m the legal guardian. Nothing she can do about that.”

  “Unless she proves you’re unfit.”

  Could she? He certainly had no experience being a dad to three kids. Half the time he was making things up as he went. His biggest fear was that he’d fail the children and not be the kind of parent his brother and sister-in-law had been. Dean had always been the domestic one. He’d followed in their father’s footsteps as a contractor, and he loved being a dad and a husband. He was content with the family life.