Sealed With a Kiss

by Leeanna Morgan

  Part of that enjoyment came from his parents. He’d grown up in a Scrabble-crazy house. On nights like this, he’d played Scrabble with his mom, dad, and brother until they were ready for bed. They’d test each other’s word-building abilities, double-check his mom’s creative use of words with their favorite dictionary, and groan their way through the hundreds of three letter words their dad could make.

  But that was more than half a lifetime ago. If he’d been able to look into a crystal ball and see what was in store for his family, he might have treasured those times more than he had.

  He walked into the kitchen, poured himself a coffee, and looked through the window. Pitch black nothingness stared back. He turned the radio on, listened to the latest weather forecast, then turned it off when someone started singing about falling in love.

  As he walked past the kitchen table, he picked up his new house plans. For the last twelve months, he’d been renting the home they were living in. He could have stayed with Grant in their parents’ old home while he decided where he wanted to live. But he had a business to run and living forty minutes from town wouldn’t have worked.

  A month ago he’d bought a parcel of land overlooking Emerald Lake. With its amazing lakefront views, the mountains surrounding them, and the open fields in front of the building site, it was one of the most incredible places he’d ever seen. The three thousand acre development was split evenly between four owners. With only one house allowed per property, it was the kind of place that he’d dreamed about for years.

  His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and answered the call.

  “You got home okay?” Grant’s voice echoed down the phone.

  “It was slow. We got through just before they closed the road. Thanks for today. Bella loved it.”

  “Bella loves everything about the ranch.” John could hear the smile in his brother’s voice. “You should move out here over the Christmas break. We might get snowed in, but there are lots of things to do in this big old house.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but we’ll be all right.”

  “If you change your mind, you know where I am. Did Auntie Betty get in contact with you?”

  Betty Fletcher was their dad’s sister. Since their parents death ten years ago, she’d become their main contact for what was happening with the rest of the family. She was the only person in three living generations who was interested in preserving the stories passed down from one family member to another.

  John checked his phone. “Nope. What did she want?”

  “She’s ready to publish the book about our family history. Send her an email telling her how many copies you want.”

  “Do you think she included the story about Great Aunt Nellie’s ghost?”

  Grant laughed. “Probably. I haven’t seen much of Nellie in the last few months. It must be too cold for her.”

  A gust of wind tore across the roof of John’s home. The shingles rattled and banged making him wonder if Great Aunt Nellie had heard them laughing.

  “You still there?” Grant asked.

  “Yeah. The weather’s getting worse.”

  “It’ll get a lot worse before the storm’s over. Have you made that phone call you said you’d make?”

  “Not yet.” John had told Grant about Rachel, about the conversation he wanted to have with her.

  “She’ll be back at school tomorrow. You should call her now.”

  “It can wait another day.”

  “Bella needs a tutor. This weather is going to make her go stir crazy if you leave Mrs. Daniels in charge. Call the teacher tonight.”

  John rubbed the frown away from his forehead. “I know you’re my big brother, but you should have grown out of bossing me around.”

  “I don’t know who told you that,” Grant scoffed. “Make the call. You looked as though you could do with one less thing to worry about.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Let me know how you get on. If she says no, just add another zero or two to her pay.” With that last cheerful comment, Grant ended the call and left John staring into space.

  He’d negotiated multi-million dollar deals with the government, dodged bullets, and bombs. Calling Rachel shouldn’t have been the big deal it had become. But for some strange, totally over-the-top reason, he was worried that she’d say no. And to be honest, he couldn’t blame her.

  He knew he could find someone else to be Bella’s tutor. He had enough money to recruit the best teacher in the world. But no one’s qualifications or work experience could replace the connection that Bella had with Rachel. Since the wedding yesterday, Bella hadn’t stopped talking about Rachel and the next visit to her classroom.

  If he wasn’t careful, Bella was going to start the Rachel McReedy fan club. Knowing how determined his daughter could be, John had a feeling that it wouldn’t take her long to get half of the town registered.

  He glanced at his phone, then hunted through the drawers under his coffee table for a pen and some paper. He needed to unjumble what was going through his head. Writing down why Rachel tutoring Bella would work, would help focus his brain and give him extra ammunition if she said no.

  He tapped the pen against the table, looked at the paper, then started writing. By the time he was halfway down the page, he felt a lot better. Rachel couldn’t say no to the reasons he’d come up with.

  Mrs. Daniels hit the list at number one. No matter how happy she’d been to step into the previous tutor’s shoes, she had her own busy life. Mrs. Daniels needed to get ready for her family’s Christmas celebrations. Bella needed to be taught by someone who knew what they were doing. He needed someone who could work from his home. He wanted Bella to be ready to start school with children her own age. He didn’t want Bella to stand out as the girl who’d been homeschooled for too long by a father who should have known better.

  There were other, less obvious reasons why Rachel needed to work for him. Money came in at number ten. Bribing someone wasn’t exactly the best way to start a professional relationship, but if Rachel wanted to play hardball, he had deep pockets.

  He read through the list twice more. He’d come up with good reasons why she should teach Bella. But even with his list, she could still say no. She might even have a better list of logical reasons why teaching Bella wouldn’t work.

  He reached for his phone when it pinged. Someone had sent him a text. He glanced down at the number and wondered what his brother had forgotten to tell him. If he’d been less nervous, he would have laughed at what he read. Call her.

  John texted a quick message back and waited for his brother to reply. Instead of a text, his phone rang.

  “You’re stalling for time,” Grant said. “Find her number and call her.”

  “Mind your own business.” John ended the call. His brother could be a pain in the butt sometimes. Occasionally he was right. Like now, at nine o’clock on a Sunday night when most people weren’t expecting to get a phone call asking if they wanted a job.

  John frowned. He could at least find her number, organize himself so that he didn’t look as desperate as he felt.

  He tapped the screen on his phone, typed her name and waited. She was the only McReedy in Bozeman. He saved her number in his contact list and left his phone on the coffee table. He’d call her tomorrow, make her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Then wait for hell to freeze over while she decided what to do.