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His smile was utterly charming, and although he’d unnerved me a bit with his comment about Holt, I warmed to him immediately. "I'm Maddy," I replied.
“Enchanté,” he grinned and raised my hand for a kiss.
"Callum Andrews, behave! Don't scare away our guest," his mom called from the door at the same time a beautiful brunette nudged him out of the way.
"Please, forgive my husband. Sometimes he's like having another child." She adjusted the most adorable baby in her arms and held out her hand. "Hi. I'm Sara, this is Cara, and yes, she's a combination of my and Cal's name."
Recognition suddenly hit me. This was the same woman I'd seen with Holt my first day on the bus; the same woman who'd so generously loaned me clothes. I detested the immediate relief I experienced knowing the woman from the bus window was a family member.
"I'm Maddy, and she's adorable!" I exclaimed as I accepted her hand. She squeezed it warmly instead of shaking it. "I can't thank you enough for loaning me these clothes until I can get some more."
She released my hand waved hers airily. "Oh, pish. They're not a loan. Keep them."
"But Holt told me about your store. You have to let me at least pay you, so you don't lose sales."
She shot Holt a look I couldn't quite interpret before looking me in the eyes, before smiling at me. "Don't worry about it, Maddy. My store does very well if I do say so myself. Some of the clothes were mine, pre-baby that don't fit me anymore, but every girl deserves some new clothes, too, so I picked out a couple from the designer side, too."
Before I could argue further, Molly hollered, "I don't know why you insist on standing outside talking, especially with that baby. What must Madelyn think of us?"
Cal rolled his eyes. "Coming, Mom." He leaned in conspiratorially. "If you've already got that woman to care about what you think, you must be a sorceress. I only hope you can do the same for my brother."
He grabbed his wife's hand and walked to the house, leaving me standing there with my mouth open.
"Come on in, Madelyn. Meet the rest of the family," Molly called out.
Holt, who'd finally gotten Buddy to leave my side by throwing a stick to chase, stepped up beside me.
I stared at him suspiciously. "You bought those clothes from Sara, didn't you?"
He looked back at me warily. "What makes you think that?"
"Just a feeling I got when we were talking. Did you?"
"No, she sent the clothes over on her own. I just made a small contribution to her store."
I shook my head. "That's too much. I'll pay you back."
"You don't do well with people helping you, do you?"
"I've learned the hard way that there’s always a price attached. And you've already done more for me than anyone else I know, except the McCloskeys. They're always the exception."
He leaned in close. "Well, maybe you should add one more to your list, Madelyn Stone." He turned and headed up the steps. "Come on, Buddy." Buddy bounded up the steps, but turned back to me and whimpered until I followed. Holt shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like ‘dog whisperer.’
Inside, the day passed better than I could have ever hoped. The entire Andrews clan was outgoing, warm, and welcoming. They joked and teased each other, and I found myself letting down my guard and even joining in on occasion. I loved playing with Holt’s younger niece and nephews, four-year-old Andrew and nine-year-old twins Jamie and Brittany, who belonged to his sister, Carol. Her oldest son, a fourteen-year-old, Ethan, mostly played an electronic game he had brought with him. Eventually, Holt went off with his brother and dad to watch a football game and left me with his mom, Sara, and Carol. At first, I was nervous, but they were natural and easy to be around. When it was time to prepare dinner, I was treated like one of the family and given the task of preparing a salad.
The only time things got a little tense was a short while after dinner when Carol asked Ethan if he'd finished his math homework. Typical of most teenagers, he grumbled about having to do homework over a weekend. Carol gave him his marching orders and said she'd be in to help him as soon as she helped clean up the kitchen and get dessert prepared.
"You don't know what you're doing. Why does Dad have to be gone? He's the only one who can do this stuff,” he grumbled under his breath, but not quiet enough that we could all still hear him as he stormed off.
Holt started after him with a grim frown, but I grabbed his arm. "Let me try. I bet he won't fight me as hard, and it's kind of what I do."
Carol snorted. "You don't know what you're volunteering for, and I'd never sacrifice you that way," she said with a wry grin.
I assured her I didn't mind and went to find him at the end of the dining room table that had already been cleared off. He was still mumbling under his breath and throwing a book and papers onto the table with extra force.
"Hey, Ethan. I thought maybe I could try to help you? I'm pretty good at math."
He flushed when he saw I wasn't his mom. "Sure," he shrugged.
