April's Promise (Forever Love Series) Read online

  April's Promise

  by

  Karen Rose Smith

  Forever Love series, Book 1

  Published by Karen Rose Smith

  Copyright 2013 Karen Rose Smith

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  http://www.karenrosesmith.com

  http://www.karenrosesmithmysteries.com

  ****

  Chapter One

  Gabe Chronister didn't know how one three-year-old little girl could cause so much havoc!

  His nanny had left for a family emergency and he'd thought he could handle working from home and caring for Stephie at the same time. After all, he was a CEO. After all, he took care of his little girl every night after the nanny left.

  This wasn't the same. This was twenty-four hours a day and much harder than running his business.

  Unexpectedly, he thought about the times April had been here since Vanessa had died. She'd handled Stephie with an aplomb and ease he suspected his wife had never felt.

  Two sisters who were opposites really. They'd been raised with advantages yet April treated the advantages much differently than Vanessa had.

  Just why was he comparing? Because he felt guilty April had always been a shadow in the back of his mind?

  Stephie pounded her tiny fist on the table. From her position in her booster seat, she looked...

  "More sketti!" she demanded like either a princess or a tyrant. She didn't look quite like either with pasta in her hair and tomato sauce smeared all over her face. Bath time tonight would be a battle.

  Wasn't everything these days?

  The phone rang.

  This time Stephie pointed to the chocolate cookies he'd placed in the center of the table as incentive for her to eat spaghetti and a piece of broccoli first.

  "Cookie?" she pleaded with one of those smiles that always melted his heart.

  He reached for another forkful of spaghetti realizing he hadn't been quick enough with it. "Have some more of this first—"

  The phone rang again. Putting down the fork, he stood and crossed to the counter, picking up the cordless phone. Checking caller ID, he saw the name and number. He considered letting the call go to voicemail, but he didn't. He answered.

  "Hi, Winnifred," he greeted his mother-in-law who'd sold her house in Cedar Corners, Virginia, to move with a friend to a retirement village in Florida.

  Stephie pointed to the cookies again and asked in a higher voice, "Cookies, please?"

  How could he explain she needed to eat more than two spaghetti noodles before she could have a cookie?

  Obviously hearing her granddaughter in the background, Winnifred asked, "Is this a bad time?"

  "Just a busy time. Dinner for Stephie."

  "And how about you?"

  He might be warming up spaghetti around midnight. There were e-mails to return before he could think about eating.

  "I'm fine," he told her, convincing himself he was.

  "Daddee—daddee—daddee!" The last "daddee" was practically a wail and he was sure Winnifred heard it.

  "Where's Evelyn?"

  "Evelyn's daughter is pregnant with twins and now is confined to bed rest. She went to Pennsylvania to help her."

  "And what are you going to do?"

  All of a sudden Stephie began rocking back and forth on her booster seat. He was afraid she'd fall off the chair.

  "Winnifred, I've got to go." He started around the table to Stephie, ready to end the call.

  "What are you going to do, Gabe?" his mother-in-law asked again.

  Reaching Stephie, he answered tersely, "Find another nanny. Stephie, sit still," he ordered with as much authority as he'd use directing one of his employees.

  His daughter began crying.

  He thought he heard Winnifred murmur, "Good luck," as he glanced around at the state of his kitchen and exhaled a long, slow breath.

  ****

  Gabe needs you.

  April Remmington could hear her mother's voice as clearly as if Winnifred Remmington were standing beside her.

  Waiting at her brother-in-law's door in the dimming light, April rang the bell a second time. As the October breeze tossed russet leaves around the pillars on the porch, she tried to lock the secret she carried in a tight box in her heart.

  If Gabe ever found out what she knew—

  After a few more minutes, she turned the knob and pushed the door open. The sound of happy-go-lucky, children's music blared from the kitchen into the foyer. There were toys strewn in the living room from one end to the other.

  The half-eaten sandwich on the coffee table and the tilted-over tumbler lying on its side told April even more explicitly than her mother's words that, since Stephie's nanny had left to help her daughter, Gabe was having problems juggling being a CEO and a single parent.

  Slipping off her jacket and tossing it over the arm of the sofa, April crossed the living room and stopped in the kitchen doorway. Three-year-old Stephie sat on her booster seat at the kitchen table, her hands, face and T-shirt covered with mustard as she finger-fed herself a piece of cheese from her sandwich. The smell of a burnt pot or pot handle filled the kitchen, and the top of the stove littered with pots looked worse than the interior of the living room. A stack of dishes toppled over in the sink and cereal boxes, toys and glasses with milk rings littered the counter surface!

  In a quick glance she took it all in, then focused on Gabe who was sitting at the other end of the table, a sandwich to his right, a laptop to his left, its power cord straying from the table to the receptacle on the counter.

  He clasped his cell phone to one ear while he held his other ear shut. As he spoke into the phone, he had no idea she was standing in his kitchen.

  In his black T-shirt and blue jeans with his muscular arms, tanned skin and incredibly broad shoulders, he looked more like a rugged outdoorsman than an entrepreneur. His strong facial features drew her gaze to them. Thick dark-brown hair fell over his brow, and she longed to brush it back, hug him, and be enveloped by his strong arms.

  But she'd forfeited that right years ago when she'd fled her deepening feelings for him... when he'd become interested in her sister Vanessa and married her. And now—

  With each passing day, April was more aware of the vow she'd made to her sister before she'd died eight months ago and the secret that could shatter Gabe's world.

  When Gabe clicked off the phone and glanced toward his daughter, he spotted April standing in the doorway. A smile turned up his lips until his green gaze met hers. Then the smile slipped away.

  As he stood, Stephie glanced over her shoulder and spotted April. With a whoop of glee, she slid from her seat onto the floor and ran across the room. "April! April! I missed you."

  April caught her niece, gathering her into her arms. "I missed you, too, sweetie."

  Since Vanessa's death, April had flown from Boston to Cedar Corners, Virginia, at least every other weekend to check on Gabe and Stephie. But for the past two months, her job as a financial analyst had taken her on a special assignment to Los Angeles.

  Gabe switched off the iPod on its dock on the counter. "Your blouse will never be the same," he said with a grimace as he looked at the mustard on April's white-knit top.

  His gaze as it swept over her, from her light-brown bangs and softly-waved hair, down her boat-necked t
op and her practically brand-new sneakers, sent color to her cheeks. Was she imagining it, or did there seem to be more than casual interest there tonight?

  April tickled Stephie's tummy, and her niece giggled. "A hug from this little imp is worth it. The top will bleach." Meeting his gaze again, she said, "Mother called me." Although her mother had sold her house in Cedar Corners a few months ago, Winnifred kept in touch with Gabe regularly.

  Gabe held out his arms to his daughter, and she went to him. As he carried her to the sink, he said, "When Winnifred called, Stephie was crying and I—" He stopped. "I was having a night similar to this one. Tonight I started a chicken dinner but the chicken burned—" He stopped again as if the explanation was self-evident.

  "Mother said Evelyn went to her daughter's."

  Gabe turned on the spigot. "She'll be gone the last two months of her daughter's pregnancy and then another six weeks. The problem is finding someone I trust who is as capable as she was. I haven't had any luck yet."

  "You've been working from home the past few weeks?"

  After he took a clean wash cloth from a drawer, he held it under the spigot and wrung it out with one hand. "It's been hectic, but we're managing." He glanced at her. "I thought you were in L.A."

  "I was, but I finished the assignment there and took the vacation time I've never used. I have about six weeks, so if you need me to fill in until you can find a nanny, I'm available." She said it lightly as if it were no big deal, as if it didn't matter if he needed her help or if he wanted it.

  Gabe was a proud man. She'd hurt him a long time ago, and she couldn't bear the thought of ever hurting him again. But to be honest with him, she might have to. She wished Vanessa had never confided her secret...or confessed her sin. Maybe April wanted to help Gabe out now and take care of Stephie so that she could make a decision that she had postponed making for the past eight months.

  Gabe had gone still at her words. "I can't ask you to give up your vacation time for us, April."

  "You don't have to ask. I'm offering."

  The sound of slowly running water was the only sound in the kitchen until suddenly the cell phone lying on the table beeped.

  Gabe gave it a dark look.

  Reaching out to her niece again, April took Stephie from his arms and set her on the counter. "Go ahead and take it. I'll clean her up."

  His gaze held April's for a few seconds, then he moved to the phone.

  April could tell the conversation troubled Gabe from the few remarks he made. And the terminology he used told her it was business. When he hung up, she asked, "A problem?"

  "More than one. And I should take care of it now. But..."

  "I can clean up Stephie and put her to bed if it comes to that."

  When he studied April with deep green eyes that seemed to see right through her, she felt she had to say more. "I want to help, Gabe. Really." He hadn't let her do much more than play with Stephie on the weekends she'd visited them.

  Rubbing the back of his neck, he glanced at the laptop on the table. Then he eyed her again. "It would help if I could get back into the office and get caught up before a real catastrophe hits. But if I don't find someone to watch Stephie soon and you want to leave, just say the word. I don't want to tie you down."

  If there was a deeper meaning to his words, she couldn't find any hint of it in his expression. When she'd left years ago to take an assignment overseas, she'd told him she couldn't date him any more because she couldn't be tied down. He hadn't asked her to stay. After all, they'd only dated for two months. He certainly couldn't have professed undying love. She wouldn't have believed him if he had.

  She carefully wiped Stephie's hands. "You won't be tying me down. I have no commitments for the next six weeks." Then she smiled at him. "And my neighbor is watering my plants."

  Seeing Stephie was as clean as she was going to get from the washcloth, Gabe crossed to the sink and lifted his daughter into his arms.

  Pushing a stray blond curl behind her ear, he explained to her, "April's going to play with you for a little while and help you get ready for bed. You listen to her, okay?"

  Stephie nodded, then asked, "Can she read stories?" With her sparkling hazel eyes and blond ringlets, she could have been a cherub in anyone's heaven.

  "At least one," he assured her. Then he gave her a hug, and she gave him a loud smacking kiss.

  The tableau Gabe and Stephie presented made April's chest tighten and her heart ache because she knew she had to make the most difficult decision of her life and possibly change Gabe's relationship with Stephie forever.

  How could she ever tell Gabe that he wasn't Stephie's father?

  ****

  After taking April's luggage to the guest room, Gabe strode down the hall to the den that served as his home office. He heard the sound of Stephie's chatter as his daughter and April played in the family room. He'd told her he'd deal with the state of the house later. His daughter always came first and April knew that.

  Sitting at his desk, he woke up his desktop computer and heard April's voice as she answered one of his daughter's many questions.

  April.

  When she'd appeared in his kitchen with her sparkling brown eyes, soft skin and concerned expression, he'd had to remind himself about the vow he'd made years ago to keep distance between them. They'd only dated a short while after he'd hired her firm to help him develop a financial plan to make his burgeoning electronics business a company to be reckoned with. April had been assigned to his account, and from the moment he'd laid eyes on her, there'd been chemistry between them. As he'd gotten to know her better—her intelligence, her warm humor, her sweetness—he'd wanted to get a lot more serious than dates that ended with inflammatory kisses at the front door. She and Vanessa had both lived with Winnifred then, in a mansion on a hill overlooking the rest of Cedar Corners.

  But one night, after their kiss threatened to lead much further, April had pulled away, told him she was accepting a job with a firm in Boston, and she would be leaving the States for a year to work in Singapore! She'd been determined to put half a world between them and chase career success. He'd decided if she could leave so easily, they might have chemistry between them, but her feelings obviously went no deeper.

  He'd tried to forget her by working day and night. But one evening he'd bumped into Vanessa, and she'd entertained him with her vivacious personality that suited her work in advertising. She'd flirted with him, he'd felt flattered, and they'd started seeing each other. As they dated, he realized he wanted to settle down and start a family. He and Vanessa planned their wedding. When he saw April again a few weeks before the ceremony, he'd told himself he was over her, that he was committed to Vanessa and the future they could have. He and April would be polite in-laws.

  But something had happened to his marriage—something that his commitment to it and a child couldn't fix. He was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong, why Vanessa had withdrawn from him until he'd felt only duty and responsibility and nothing more.

  Now he turned his attention to his work, determined to concentrate on it rather than history he couldn't change.

  It was almost ten p.m. when he'd finished in his office and climbed the stairs two hours later. No sound echoed downstairs or up. The hall light shown brightly on the hardwood floor, and more light spilled from his daughter's room.

  The door was ajar, and when he pushed it opened, he stopped. April was curled on Stephie's bed, her arms around his daughter as they both slept. On one hand April held a plush blue dog puppet. Stephie had it cuddled under her chin. Gabe had never seen the puppet before and supposed April had brought it for his daughter.

  Stephie's single bed was hardly big enough for the both of them. April was still dressed, and he supposed she'd fallen asleep unexpectedly. Crossing the room, he watched her for a few moments. Her long eyelashes fanned her cheeks. Her hair fell across her chin. His pulse beat more rapidly and he suddenly wanted to hold her in his arms.

  T
he thought startled him and made him tap her on the shoulder and call her name.

  Her eyes fluttered open and she started, then turned her head and saw him. Self-consciously she brushed her hair from near her lips and gently extricated herself from Stephie's hold, leaving the puppet by her niece's arm. Sliding her feet to the floor, she straightened her top. When she did, the soft knit pulled over her breasts, and Gabe's gut tightened.

  As April stood, they were very close, close enough for Gabe to smell her perfume, close enough to know the pink glow on her cheeks was natural, close enough to realize he was still attracted to her in an elemental way even after all this time.

  Quickly he reached for Stephie's covers and pulled them up. After a kiss on his daughter's forehead and a murmured goodnight, he switched on the night light.

  After April preceded him out of the room, he motioned toward the guest room. "I put your suitcase in there." His gaze held hers and awareness built up between them once more.

  She took a breath, then smiled. "I won't be able to get to sleep after that little nap. I'll come downstairs with you and help you clean up."

  April had stayed in his guest bedroom during her overnight visits since Winnifred had sold the family home. She'd spent most of her time with Stephie, and he'd treated her like a guest. If there had been undercurrents between them, they'd both ignored them. So why was tonight different? Why was his awareness of her so palpable?

  Because she'd be staying more than one night. Maybe lots of nights.

  Gruffly he responded, "You don't have to help me clean up. I don't expect that, April."

  "Are you going to fight every attempt I make to help you while I'm here?" she asked simply.

  "Is that what I'm doing?"

  "Yes. And I wonder if it's because—"

  "Because..." he prompted.

  She hesitated only briefly. "Because you're too proud to accept help. Or maybe you just don't want to accept my help."

  April's honesty was one of the qualities he admired and respected about her most. "I don't expect you to take Evelyn's place, and I don't expect you to be a housekeeper."