Picture Perfect Family. Renee Andrews
he said, sliding his seat forward so he could reach through and unbuckle Kaden. “You want to go get a snack and a drink inside?”
“Definitely!” Kaden scurried across the seat and climbed out.
“How about you, Mandy? Want anything?”
“No.” She was still pouting, and Daniel let her, not that he really had a choice. But he hadn’t told her anything that wasn’t the truth about what she’d said in that email, and he knew that was her true feelings coming out. She felt trapped here, and he was going to set her free.
“I’ve got a can in the back that needs filling, too,” he said to Bo.
“We ran out of gas,” Kaden said, and Daniel caught Mandy’s arms folding tightly against her chest with his proclamation.
“Who did?” Bo asked then peered into the truck. “Well, hey, Mandy. Didn’t recognize you at first. Your hair’s longer than I remember. It’s been awhile.”
“Hello, Mr. Taylor. Good to see you.” She was polite but reserved, not the feisty, bubbly Mandy Carter that Daniel remembered, but then again, she was peeved.
The other customer left, and Maura came out of the gas station to visit, as well.
“You’ve met my wife, Maura, haven’t you?” Bo asked.
“Yes,” Daniel said. “Nice to see you again.”
“Likewise,” she said, smiling as Bo draped an arm around his wife. “I remember meeting you at the dinner on the grounds, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And now you’re going to be working at the church, I understand?”
“Yes, ma’am, with the youth.”
“Well, that’s great,” she said. “Autumn, our granddaughter, is seven now and starting to get involved in the youth activities at the church. I’m glad to know you’ll be working with that great group of kids.”
“Maura and I married a month ago,” Bo said. “Didn’t know if you knew that.”
“Brother Henry has been emailing the church bulletins to me each week while I’ve been gone, so I’ve stayed aware of my church family here,” Daniel said. “Congratulations on the wedding.”
“And who is this?” Maura asked, smiling at Kaden.
“This is my nephew, Kaden Brantley.”
Bo glanced at Maura and gave her a slight nod, then a sympathetic smile toward Kaden, and Daniel knew that Bo had apparently told her about Mia and Jacob. Or she could have heard it from someone at church. It was pretty big news in a small town when anyone died, but in this case even more because Mia and Jacob were so young and had so much to live for, particularly Kaden.
Maura’s mouth tightened, and she blinked a couple of times then squatted down to eye level with Kaden. “You know what, I made some cookies earlier to sell inside, but I haven’t had anyone here to taste them and let me know if they’re okay. Would you want to do that for me?”
“Would I! Yes, ma’am!”
Maura held out a hand, and Kaden took it. Then she turned toward Daniel’s door, still open, to see Mandy sitting inside. “Would you like to come in, too?”
“We’re going to try cookies, Aunt Mandy,” Kaden said. “Come on. You love cookies!”
“They’re fresh baked,” Maura tempted.
Mandy smiled—something Daniel certainly hadn’t seen since his arrival—and then climbed out of the passenger side. “I can’t imagine turning down fresh-baked cookies.”
“Aunt Mandy really likes cookies. We make them itchy.”
“Itchy?” Maura asked.
Mandy laughed, and Daniel was absorbed in the fullness of the sound, rolling out effortlessly, as though she liked nothing better than to set it free. Daniel was grateful that Kaden had undoubtedly been witness to it, because he laughed along with her now.
“Wh-what?” Kaden giggled. “What’d I say?”
“We make them from scratch,” Mandy told him, rubbing her hand over his head affectionately. “We don’t make them itchy.”
Bo, Maura and Daniel all chuckled along.
“But that was close,” Mandy finally said.
Kaden grinned. “Thanks!”
When their laughter subsided, Maura nodded toward Mandy. “Okay, let’s go test some of those cookies.” They turned and started toward the small gas station. Maura wiped a couple of laugh tears from her cheeks and then directed her attention on Mandy. “I don’t believe we’ve met, have we?”
“I don’t think so. I’m Mandy Carter, Kaden’s aunt. I own the photography store in the town square. Well, I do now. It belonged to my grandparents and then my sister.” Her voice trailed off. “Now just me.”
“And me. I help,” Kaden said. “And we live there, at the top of the store.”
“Yes, Kaden definitely helps,” Mandy said.
Daniel waited until they entered the station. “I’m a little surprised that Maura has never met Mandy.”
“I’m trying to introduce her to everyone in town, but I suppose our paths haven’t crossed with Mandy’s too much. We do go to the town square a bit. Autumn enjoys going to the toy shop and Nelson’s five-and-dime, but we haven’t been in the photography shop.” He smiled broadly. “Need to get over there. Maura and I don’t have a lot of photos of us together, other than the wedding, you know.”
“I’m guessing you’d have seen Mandy if she’d been at church?”
Bo frowned. “You know the answer to that. Everyone sees everyone at church. But no, she hasn’t been there, not since Mia and Jacob’s accident. And truthfully, Mandy never was much for church, from what I remember. She was in the same grade as my daughter Hannah, you know, but seems like when Hannah got more involved in church during those later teen years, Mandy kind of pulled away.”
Daniel remembered that time in Mandy’s life, and now he wished he’d have done something to bring her back to God.
Bo’s eyes lifted. “But I will invite her today. Don’t know why I didn’t think about that sooner. I went years away from God, you know, and it’s not a fun place to be, away from Him.” He paused. “Maura, too, after she lost her daughter. I think that’s why she’s probably going to bond pretty well with that little Kaden. Our granddaughter, Autumn, lost her mother. But Autumn is doing great now. She’s a little older than Kaden, but I’m sure they’d get along real well. Maybe if you can get Mandy to bring him to church, he and Autumn can meet there.”
“Kaden will come to church with me,” Daniel said. There was no question that he’d take his nephew back to church, but if he had his way, he’d bring Mandy back to God, too. If she was going off to see the world, and Daniel was determined to let her go, he wanted to know she had God along for the trip.
“Well, it’ll be good for Kaden to have both of you in his life,” Bo said. “A child needs that, people who care and are working together for his or her best interest. Family. People who love each other.”
Daniel couldn’t offer all of that, not when it came to him and Mandy, but they did both care about Kaden. He glanced up to see Maura, Mandy and Kaden exit the store. Kaden had a chocolate chip cookie in one hand and a carton of milk in the other. Mandy’s hands were filled with the same, and so were Maura’s.
“You didn’t bring us any?” Bo teased.
“Our hands were full,” Kaden said, using his tongue to grab a bit of stray chocolate from his lip, “but yours are waiting for you on