Page 41 of His Secret Wish

Isabella glanced at Owen. His eyebrows were drawn, his mouth not quite a frown, but definitely far from a smile. Which was fair. Just because she’d decided to take the girls under her wing for the weekend didn’t mean he had. Wrangling the two little munchkins was going to be a lot of work.

“I’m pretty sure little ones like this need car seats, and I don’t have any in the truck.” He waved toward his truck parked near the end of the driveway.

“Oh, that’s fine,” Yolanda said, pushing to her feet. “You guys can take the minivan. It’s all set up with the car seats in the center row. The older kids don’t need them, so you should be good to go.” She reached into her pocket, took out a set of keys, and tossed them at Owen.

He snatched them out of the air. “Thanks?” It was more a question than a statement, which Isabella could completely understand. What the hell? Was her cousin that hell bent on getting rid of these poor girls that she’d just let anyone take them? Sure, Isabella and Owen were trustworthy, but what if they weren’t? It wasn’t like she and her cousin were besties or anything. And it had been a few years since they’d seen each other. Yolanda didn’t really seem to be the least bit interested in caring for these girls. It was infuriating.

Yolanda gave them all a wave, and then turned and walked toward the house. Isabella wanted to snatch her by the hair, maybe shake some sense into her. These two little girls had been through so much. What they needed was someone to care for them and treat them like they mattered, like the precious angels they were.

A hand landed on her shoulder. Owen stood next to her, an understanding look on his face. She could tell he was just as annoyed with her cousin as she was.

“It’s fine. Let her go.” He kept his voice low so no one would overhear them. Not that anyone other than Claudia and Marissa were paying the least bit of attention to them.

She nodded, unclenching her fists. She honestly didn’t remember clenching them, even though her fingers ached. “Come on,” she said, holding her hands out to the girls. “Let’s go into town and do some shopping before Yaya’s party tonight.”

Claudia let out a whoop and jumped up on and then off the bench seat of the picnic table. She raced around and headed for the van. Marissa was slower, her little legs less able. She hit the dirt and made a beeline for Owen. She stared up at him and grabbed his hand.

He looked startled momentarily and then gave her a smile. Isabella’s heart melted into a little pile, almost like candle wax. The bittersweet ache in her chest made it hard to breathe too deeply. She ducked her head and hurried over to the van to help Claudia get strapped into her car seat.

Owen, who had picked up Marissa somewhere along the way, walked around the van to strap her into her seat. It was one of those fancy, expensive vans that had all the bells and whistles. Surprise, surprise. Looked like her cousin was putting all that foster money to good use.

Isabella checked the straps on Claudia’s seat one last time and then climbed into the passenger seat. The interior was all leather, and she could see it also had seat warmers. There was also a state-of-the-art music and entertainment system. She shook her head and buckled her seatbelt.

Owen climbed into the driver’s seat, did up his own seatbelt, and then they were off. Almost like they were a real family.