The Soldier's Sweetheart

She pulled out her cell phone and used her thumbs as she texted: Gorgeous ex-Army guy just walked in.

That should pique their curiosity. If she knew Alexis and Mary, they’d show up at the grocery faster in the hopes of meeting an eligible bachelor than if she’d told them it was a 911 emergency.

She gazed toward the glass door, focusing on the sunshine. The sun always reminded her of her faith and it generally gave her peace.

And it did, for a moment, until she caught the hint of movement from behind the candy aisle—and an adorable little girl appeared.

* * *

Will followed Samantha’s gaze to where his four-year-old daughter, Genevieve, was peeking out from behind the candy aisle. All he could see of Genevieve from where he was standing was the thick mop of black curls that she had inherited from her mother and the large, inquisitive brown eyes that were very much a reflection of his own.

The scene would have been cute, he supposed, from virtually any other person’s vantage point—a curious yet clearly shy little girl hanging back to see how the adults responded before announcing her presence.

She was a little darling, and she stole Will’s heart every time he looked at her, but the little girl’s gaze also caused him a moment of sheer panic.

He was this child’s father. She depended entirely upon him, and he hadn’t given her any reassurance in this new and unfamiliar situation.

His throat closed and burned from the effort of withholding the onslaught of emotion. It was difficult to breathe, and his pulse roared in his head. Shame burned his cheeks. In all the confusion, he’d forgotten to introduce Genevieve.

She’d held back when they’d first entered, and he’d allowed her to stay near the door, thinking it would be easier for her if he served as point man. He supposed he’d expected her to come forward once he’d introduced himself to the management, so to speak.

Instead, she’d hidden in an aisle and stayed there—probably waiting for him to reassure her that everything was all right.

Which, to his chagrin, he had not done.

She was a furtive little thing—Seth’s parents hadn’t even seen her when they’d entered the store. But that was no excuse on his part.

This was not at all the impression he was trying to create with the Howells right off the bat, and most certainly not the way he wanted to treat his daughter. The fact that he felt entirely incompetent as a father was one thing. But he didn’t need to display his inadequacies for the whole world to see.

Meeting Seth’s older sister had really thrown him for a loop. Seth was a good-looking kid, so it should have been no surprise to him that his sister was an attractive woman. Samantha had straight, thick black hair cut in an appealing pixie style that showed off the endearing curl of her ears. She shared her brother’s enormous cobalt-blue eyes, but they were breathtaking on Samantha.

Will cleared his throat and stepped over to his daughter, awkwardly placing a hand on her shoulder as he gently urged her from her hiding place.

“Folks, this is my daughter, Genevieve.”

Genevieve immediately slid behind him, clutching at his legs and peering out at the unfamiliar people from behind his right knee. He crouched and picked her up in his arms. “Say hi to the nice folks.”

“Hi.” Genevieve said the word because her daddy had asked her to, but she didn’t sound convinced that she should be speaking to strangers.

“May your daughter have a lollipop?” Samantha asked, coming out from behind the counter. He turned and met her gaze. Was this a trick question? Was he supposed to decline and ask for an apple instead? What would a good father do in this situation?

“I—uh,” he floundered.

“She’s not allergic, is she?”

“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” How was he supposed to keep his daughter safe if he didn’t know vital things about her? He could accidentally put her in jeopardy without ever realizing he was doing so.

“Then perhaps just this once, since it’s such a special occasion.”

Will nodded, relief flooding through him. It was as if Samantha had somehow guessed that he hadn’t known how to answer her and was filling in the blanks for him. He was grateful for her assistance.

Then again, she had put just the slightest emphasis on the words special occasion. He had the distinct feeling Samantha was a little miffed at him. It wasn’t his fault she hadn’t known he was coming. She could point that finger at her brother.

“Hey, Genevieve,” Samantha said in a considerably sweeter, gentler tone of voice than she had used with Will. “Do you want to pick out a lollipop from the jar over there?”

She held out her hands, and to Will’s surprise, Genevieve slid into her arms without the slightest bit of fuss. The little girl’s eyes were still wide with a mixture of curiosity and hesitation, but she allowed Samantha to carry her to the candy jar. Samantha set Genevieve on the counter and lifted the lid so she could select the flavor of her choice.

Genevieve immediately picked purple. Grape. Will filed the information in his mind. Knowing Genevieve’s preferences might come in handy, especially if he was ever asked to choose something in his daughter’s stead—which he was beginning to realize was going come up more often than he could even imagine.

Clothes for school. Dresses. Shoes. Hair bows. What did he know about raising a little girl?

Nothing. Not a single thing.

Haley would have been able to pick out a lollipop for Genevieve. For all he knew, grape had also been Haley’s favorite.

He realized to his chagrin that he didn’t know what flavor his wife had preferred when she was alive. There were a lot of things he hadn’t taken the time to find out about Haley, and now it was too late to rectify his oversights, to make right all the many ways he’d erred as a husband.

He cringed and squared his shoulders. Maybe it was too late to change the way things had gone down with Haley, but he could still be a good father to Genevieve, and that was exactly what he was going to do—make it up to her for the years he’d been away, and never let her feel alone or unprotected again.

It was his one resolution in life—to make things right with his daughter.

“You want one?” Samantha asked, holding the candy bowl out to him. “It’s on me. Free of charge.”

Belatedly he realized he’d been staring at her and his composure nearly dropped. Only his many years of military training kept him from showing the apprehension that he felt in his gut.

For a moment, he’d actually considered taking the candy. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d tasted a lollipop. Maybe not since early childhood. But he wasn’t a kid anymore.

“No, but thank you for offering,” he answered after an extended pause.

“She’s a lovely little girl,” Amanda Howell said. “Seth mentioned you’re a single father?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Will’s throat felt scratchy and raw as he answered. “Genevieve’s mother passed away about four months back. My daughter stayed with my in-laws until my tour of duty was up, but now I’m looking to be a full-time daddy to her.”

“We’ll help you as much as we can,” Amanda assured him. “Isn’t that right, Samantha?”

“Hmm?” Samantha was entertaining Genevieve and clearly hadn’t heard her mother’s declaration.

“I was just telling Will how we’d help him out with his sweet little girl,” her mother repeated. “You’re especially good with children. Genevieve has already taken to you.”

Samantha’s blue eyes widened as she looked from her mother to Genevieve and back again. Then her gaze turned to Will. “I think my mom is referring to me teaching the preschool and kindergarten Sunday school classes at church,” she explained, shrugging one shoulder.

Teaching preschool and kindergarten. Those were pretty good credentials, as far as Will was concerned. As long as she didn’t press Genevieve too hard on spiritual matters, she might really be the help he needed.

If she wanted to help him. Considering the way her mother appeared to be pushing him on her, Will wasn’t so certain about that fact.

The bell rang over the door and everyone turned at once. Two women—one with windswept brown hair and green eyes, the other with long, straight blond hair pulled back in a ponytail—whirled into the place like a couple of dervishes on a mission.

“We came as soon as we heard,” the blond said, flicking her ponytail as she made her way straight for Will. “This must be the handsome guy you texted us about. And an ex-soldier, no less. Whew!”

Will looked at Samantha. She’d texted her friends about him? Maybe she wasn’t as put off by his appearance as she’d first appeared to be. In any case, she was definitely embarrassed now. Her face was bright scarlet, the poor woman, at the uncomfortable spot her friend had just placed her in.

Of course, they’d placed him in as equally tight a spot.

“My name is Alexis Granger. Very glad to meet you,” the blonde purred, holding out a hand for him to shake. She had a firm grip, not one of those faint finger-shakes so many women were fond of. She was dusty and dressed for riding, and Will could smell what he guessed must be horses, a distinct and peculiar scent to which his nose wasn’t accustomed.

It wasn’t bad, exactly. Just different. And it was just one of a million and one ways he’d discovered so far today how dissimilar Serendipity was from the big-city and military lifestyle he’d known in the past.

“I’m Mary,” the brunette said with shy nod. “Welcome to Serendipity.” At least she didn’t invade his personal space, although there was no doubt that she was eyeing him appreciatively. Between Samantha’s two friends, Will was starting to feel like the candy in that jar Samantha was holding.

“I’m William Davenport,” he said, shaking Mary’s hand. Her grip was softer than Alexis’s, more delicate. “Please call me Will.”

“Will is going to be staying in Serendipity,” Samantha explained. Her voice sounded high and strained to Will’s ears.

Both of her friends exclaimed in delight and high-fived each other. Didn’t they realize he was standing right here watching them?

Hello. Still in the room.

Mary and Alexis circled Samantha and launched into a garble of speech, but it was difficult for Will to make out what they were saying—and not because they were speaking in whispered tones.

Oh, no. Quite the opposite. They were chattering away like chickens in a henhouse, their voices high and staccato. Samantha held her hands up in protest and rolled her eyes.

Didn’t these people ever have visitors in their town? Or was it just the fact that he was a presumably single man that piqued their interest?

If that was what they were excited about, they were in for an enormous disappointment. Will wasn’t the least bit interested in a relationship here in Serendipity. He was here to work, and to get to know his little girl—and that was it.

No more. No less.

He’d already messed up one woman’s life with his attention—or lack thereof. He wouldn’t do it again.

“We were just discussing where Will and Genevieve will be living,” Amanda interjected, her voice a surprisingly reasonable, even tone compared to the younger women.

And he’d thought she was overly exuberant when he’d first met her.

“If he needs a place to stay, there’s plenty of room on my ranch,” Alexis offered with a flirtatious grin. “You could kick back with the stable hands. They’ve got a few extra bunks.”

“I’d invite you,” said Mary, her cheeks coloring a rose pink, “except that I live alone.”

“You’re not exactly alone with those gazillion dogs of yours,” Alexis amended with a hoot.

Mary chuckled. “What about asking Pastor Shawn for assistance?”

“Ladies,” Samuel said, toning down the conversation like a maestro controlling a symphony. “We’ve already got the details of Will’s living arrangements worked out to everyone’s satisfaction. He’ll be staying in one of our cabins along the creek and doing cabinetry work for us in exchange for room and board. Everybody wins.”

Samantha sputtered and looked like she was choking. Her face turned beet red and her mouth moved, but no words came out. Clearly, she didn’t believe everybody in this situation would win, but she caught herself and smiled at him.

Will clamped down on the emotions welling in his chest. She had no idea what her help meant to him. It wasn’t easy for him to humble his pride and accept assistance, but this wasn’t about him. It was about Genevieve, and he would do anything for his little girl.

With all he’d been through in the past months, appreciation didn’t even begin to cover what he owed the Howells for their goodwill. He didn’t know how to express it in words.

What he could do was pull his weight around here. He could shoulder some of the burden the grocery created. And he could get the B&B cabins into working condition and help the elder Howells realize their dreams.

“I’ll get moved into the cabin tonight, and then I’m ready to start work first thing in the morning,” he told Samantha.

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “Tomorrow? Tomorrow is Sunday.”

“Right,” he agreed. “So?”

“So...the grocery isn’t open on Sundays.”

“Not at all?”

“Nope. The whole town rolls up at about six o’clock every night and all day on Sundays. You won’t find much of anything open around here during the evenings and half of the weekend. Serendipity is an old-fashioned town with old-fashioned ways.”

Will whistled through his teeth. “What do people do if they forget an ingredient for Sunday dinner?”

Samantha laughed. “Borrow from their neighbors or make do with what they have on hand. You’ll get used to it after a while.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Will muttered under his breath. As if he didn’t have enough to deal with, now he was living in a town that not only looked like a throwback to the late 1800s but acted like it, as well.

“You’re welcome to come to church with us tomorrow morning,” Samantha offered. “It’s a community congregation. You’ll have the opportunity to meet a lot of the townspeople.”

“No thanks,” he said abruptly, and then realized how bad that sounded. These people had been gracious to him. He cleared his throat. “That is to say, I’m not really much of a churchgoing man. I appreciate the offer, though.”

Samantha looked stunned and a little wounded, which surprised him.

“I’ll be meeting most of the town folks here at the grocery, won’t I?” he asked, in what he hoped was a more positive tone of voice.

“Certainly. Of course. You can meet people here at the store.” Samantha smiled, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

He hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, but surely he wasn’t the only man in town who didn’t believe in a feel-good deity who handed out free favors, or worse yet, an angry God who zapped people with bolts of lightning when He didn’t like what they were doing.

If he was going to believe in one of those, it would surely be the latter. His life hadn’t been graced with many favors.

But then again, if there was a God who punished people for their sins, he would have been deep-fried a long time ago.

Somehow, he thought there was probably more to Samantha’s request to join them at church tomorrow than just meeting folks from town. But now that he’d turned her down, he would never know.

Chapter Two

Sunday was Samantha’s only real day off. As she’d informed Will, Sam’s Grocery, like every other shop in town, was closed on Sundays. After she spent the morning playing the organ for the church and sharing a nice family dinner with her parents, Sunday afternoon was her time to kick back and relax, maybe read a romance novel or watch some television.

But today was a sunny day, and Samantha decided she didn’t want to stay indoors. Problems were plaguing her and she desperately needed some fresh air to clear her head.

Her first inclination was to go find her friends. She was certain that Mary and Alexis had plenty to say about Will. They’d probably already started making plans for landing him a wife here in Serendipity, possibly even tossing a coin as to which one of them would have the honor.

But Samantha didn’t really want to talk about Will. She didn’t even want to think about him, though unfortunately, she couldn’t seem to get him out of her head. She was still mildly resentful of the fact that he’d had been thrust into her life with no notice.

Still, thinking about Will was preferable to thinking about her other issue—the letter from Stay-n-Shop. She still had no idea how she was going to handle that matter.

She sighed. One problem at a time.

Since Will was on her mind anyway, maybe she could do something nice for him and Genevieve. Take them to the park, maybe?

She raised her head and smiled, making a conscious decision to put her fears aside for the day and concentrate on her faith. This was Sunday, after all.

Despite her reservations about her new employee, she didn’t have a heart of stone, and the guy had his plate full trying to take care of his little girl on his own. She had the impression he was determined to do his best despite the reticence she thought she sensed in him.

And Genevieve—the poor sweetheart, losing her mother at such a tender young age. Samantha had had a wonderful childhood with two parents who loved her and each other, and paternal grandparents who’d been married, well, forever, until her grandmother had passed away at age seventy-five last year. She couldn’t imagine what losing a mother must feel like—especially for a four-year-old.

Samantha didn’t know the specifics of how Genevieve’s mother had died, but she knew enough to know that the little girl was both frightened and confused by her new surroundings, and by suddenly having to live with a father she hardly knew.

Yesterday at the shop, Genevieve hadn’t smiled—not even when she was enticed with candy. Not even when her father picked her up in his arms. She’d barely spoken more than a word, though Samantha had encouraged her every way she knew how.

Did the child have some disability, or had recent circumstances and emotional issues just caused her to hide in her shell? She supposed only time would tell.

It didn’t help that Will wasn’t sure of himself as a father. Despite how strong he appeared upon first observation, she’d glimpsed the buck-in-the-headlights look when his eyes alighted on his daughter. That he loved her was evident. That he wasn’t sure what to do with her was equally evident. Samantha didn’t think he was as hopeless as he believed himself to be, but again, only time would tell on that count.

God had laid a lot on her plate in the past day. Will was here to stay, and somehow, she had to find a way to integrate him into her daily life. Like that was going to be easy. There was plenty of work to be done, and in truth Samantha was intrigued by the idea of having help, but not from the large, handsome ex-soldier.

She suspected he would be more of a hindrance than a help. Really, how could he not be? His size alone would be a hindrance—he’d be bumping into things all over the place. Besides, the store could only be described as slow and steady and the work was repetitive, with little beyond the daily routine to break up the monotony. He’d be bored one day into the job, and in her experience, bored men meant trouble.

Like her brother, for example, who couldn’t keep an inventory straight to save his life, not because he couldn’t count, but because he got sidetracked by every pretty girl who entered the store.

She sighed and reminded herself again that this was not a day for problems. She didn’t have the slightest idea what she was going to do with Will, but at least she had some idea of what to do with his daughter.

She walked up to the cottage door where Will and Genevieve were staying and paused a moment to collect herself. It wouldn’t do for Will to see that she was still struggling with her own feelings of frustration and resentment. Those were her issues, not his.

She knew that God would want her to be generous and charitable—but knowing the truth and feeling it were two different things entirely. Sometimes a woman just had to live by faith and wait for her heart to catch up to her.

She took a deep breath and knocked.

No one answered, so after a moment, she knocked again, harder this time.

“Hello,” she called. “Anybody home? It’s Samantha.” She thought about peering in the front window but decided it would be rude and might invade his privacy.

She’d just reached out to knock a third time when the door flew open and she nearly fell into the room. Will stood in the entrance holding Genevieve. The girl was wrapped in a green bath towel with a froggie face on the hood. Wet black curls framed her face and water dripped from her nose.

Will looked as if he’d taken a dunk. He was wearing worn blue jeans and an Army-issue tan T-shirt that was soaked with water, clinging to his chest and muscular arms. She couldn’t help but take a second look.

Samantha held back a chuckle when she realized he had bath bubbles clinging to the spiked blond hair on top of his head.

“You...uh...” she said, pointing awkwardly, “have...”

Instead of finishing her sentence, she reached up on tiptoe and scooped the bubbles into her palm. With a playful grin, she held them out to him so he could see.

“A new fashion statement?” she teased.

She thought that would bring a laugh—or at the very least a smile—but instead his expression darkened.

“I was trying to give Genevieve a bath,” he explained, as if it wasn’t perfectly obvious. “As you can see, my mission was an epic fail.”

Samantha smothered another laugh. Only an Army guy would consider giving his child a bath a mission. And how did one fail a bath, anyway?

Her gaze swept over Genevieve. “She looks clean enough to me.”

Will sighed. “Maybe. But you should see the state of the bathroom.” He gestured at his shirtfront. “Also, I hadn’t intended to give myself a bath in the process.”

Samantha made a final, valiant effort not to laugh at what Will clearly did not consider to be a humorous situation, but this time, a chuckle sputtered from her lips.

He looked at his shirtfront and then back at her, his twinkling chocolate-colored gaze mixing with hers. Her breath hitched.

“This is funny, isn’t it?”

“Well...yeah. Pretty much. Cute, too.”

“Cute?” He choked out the word, clearly appalled by the notion.

“I meant Genevieve,” she assured him, though in all honesty, Will, with his wet clothes and bath bubbles in his hair, was every bit as adorable as his little girl.

Which was precisely what Samantha suspected a man’s man like Will Davenport would not want to know about himself.

There was no doubt in Samantha’s mind that every unmarried woman in Serendipity—except for her, of course—was going to be doing all she could to catch Will’s eye. Will was going to have his work cut out for him.

“I came by to see if you and Genevieve might like to join me for a picnic in the park.” She lofted the picnic basket she carried in her left hand. “I’ve got ham, turkey, fresh rolls, some fruit and cheese. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I threw in a little bit of everything.”

He eyed the basket speculatively and then shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but I think Genevieve might feel overwhelmed playing at a park with a bunch of kids she doesn’t know.”

“Is she normally shy around other children?”

He frowned. “I don’t know.”

“Well, then, there’s no harm in trying, is there? If she’s not enjoying herself, we can always bring her back home. But I suspect she may surprise you.”

He glanced behind him, as if remembering something important he had forgotten to do. “I’ve still got a lot to accomplish to get us settled in before I start work in the morning.”

She could hear the hesitation in his voice, but she couldn’t tell if it was because he felt a duty to get his things in order, or because he didn’t want to go with her and was searching for a polite way to decline her invitation.