Family Wanted (Willow's Haven Book 1) by Renee Andrews

don’t think I’ve met her.”
    Titus could almost hear the wheels of her mind churning, wondering how Isabella fit into their world. “Is she nice?”
    “Oh, yes, ma’am. She’s very nice. She’s going to teach me swimming, too, but right now I’m not so good.”
    “You’ll get it, dear. Don’t you worry.”
    Titus chanced another glance in the rearview mirror to look at his little girl, nodding her head.
    “I’m going to try again today.”
    “That’s wonderful. Well, let me tell your daddy goodbye, sweetie. Granna loves you.”
    “I love you, too,” Savannah said. “Daddy, did you hear? She wants to talk to you.”
    Titus dropped the volume again and asked Savannah, “Why don’t you sing that song again to Bessie?”
    “The song about the monkey?” she asked.
    “That’s the one,” he said, though it didn’t really matter what song she sang, as long as her attention wasn’t on his conversation with his mother, because he suspected that she had a new subject to conquer.
    After Savannah started singing about a curious monkey, he said, “Mom, I’ll probably lose reception in a couple of minutes.”
    “Okay, dear. But before you go, I want to ask you something.”
    He could tell from her tone that this was going to be something that he might not want to hear. “Okay.”
    “How old is this Miss Isabella?”
    He swallowed. “I haven’t asked, but I’d guess late twenties.”
    “Pretty?”
    Very. But he wouldn’t walk into that trap. “Why do you ask?”
    “So she is,” she said. “You know, it sounds as though this Miss Isabella person is filling a void in Savannah’s life.”
    Titus had been thinking the same thing, which made him even more frustrated with the way he’d ended their conversation yesterday. “I agree.”
    “I take it she’s someone you’ve recently met? I don’t recall anyone named Isabella when we’ve visited.”
    His mother never forgot a name or a face. “She just came to Claremont,” he said, and he still wasn’t quite sure why Isabella Gray had selected this tiny town.
    “Right.” She drew the word out, waited a beat and said what was on her mind, the way she always did. “Listen, I know you probably don’t want to hear this. But maybe this Isabella could fill a void in your life, too.”
    Titus was suddenly glad that he was within a mile of Willow’s Haven. He needed this conversation to end. “Mom, I just lost my—”
    She cut him off. “No, Titus Elijah. You didn’t
just
lose your wife. She left you and our granddaughter three years ago. And I’ll be honest. Your father and I have been praying for someone to come into your life and bring you happiness again. You couldn’t pursue that before because you didn’t know what had happened to Nan and were still hopeful that she’d come back. And your daddy and I admire you for that. But you weren’t meant to be alone, Titus. And Savannah wasn’t meant to be without a mommy. It sounds like she’s really taken with the new lady in town.”
    Titus turned onto the driveway leading to the trailer and was surprised that, of all times, his phone picked now to hold a signal longer than usual. “Yes, Mom, I think she is.”
    “I’ve often wondered if, sometimes, God doesn’t use children to show us what’s what,” she said, and blissfully, her voice started breaking up.
    “Mom, I’m losing the signal now. I’ll call you back soon. Love you.”
    “Love you, too,” she said, “but I still want to talk about...”
    The display blinked, and the signal was gone.
    Titus heaved a big sigh, glad that the first uncomfortable conversation of the morning was over. Then he looked ahead to see that Isabella’s car wasn’t yet parked at the trailer. Good. That’d give him a little time to prepare for uncomfortable conversation number two.
    * * *
    After Titus’s brusque departure yesterday afternoon, Isabella didn’t expect him to want to speak to her this morning. In fact, she suspected that he’d