Instinct had him pulling the crying little girl into his arms. She cuddled against him and sobbed, her body shaking with the force of her tears and crushing hurt.
“Did somebody take it, do you think?” She asked her question between hiccupping sobs. “Who would do it? Why would they do it?”
“I don’t know, sweetie, but I’ll find out,” he promised. He pulled her up onto his lap, and when she curled into him for comfort, the last, lingering trace of the “old” Noah faded away. He wasn’t the man he’d been. Now he was the man who loved a child and her mother. The man who would make this right for Kara.
“Are you sure you didn’t take the money home with you last night?” he asked quietly.
She shook her head against him, burrowing closer. “Uh-uh. Remember, we went to the pizza place before you took us home and I told you I almost had enough money for the shoes so I was gonna keep it in Mommy’s desk so I could go and buy them right away. And now it’s all gone!”
“It’ll be all right, Kara,” he murmured.
When the office door opened and Annie walked in, he lifted his gaze to hers.
Annie was spellbound by the sight of Noah comforting her crying daughter. Her heart took that last wild leap into love. Hugging the knowledge to herself, she hurried across the room and asked, “What happened?”
In between sobs, her voice muffled against Noah’s broad chest, Kara told her everything, and Annie’s heart broke for her little girl. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
Kara lifted her head from Noah’s chest. Her eyes were red and her cheeks tearstained. “I get it now, Mommy. Why it’s bad to steal. ’Cause this feels really, really bad inside.”
“I know, honey.” Annie smoothed her daughter’s hair back from her face, then glanced at Noah.
“I can’t buy Gracie’s shoes now, Mommy,” Kara said on a wail, dropping her face back to Noah’s chest.
“Yes, you can,” he told her, shifting her slightly so that he could look into her bereft eyes. “I’m going to replace the money you lost and then we’re going shopping.”
“You are?” Kara blinked up at him, hope beginning to shine in her features.
“Noah, you don’t have to do that,” Annie told him with a shake of her head. “I’ll give Kara the money and—”
“No. Her money was stolen from my office, so I’ll make it good. And I’ll find out who took it. But that’s for later.” His gaze met Annie’s. “I’m not going to let a thief steal Kara’s dream. Not when she’s worked so hard for it.”
Annie took a breath and held it. He cared. For her. For Kara. And that was such a gift she hardly knew what to say. But her daughter didn’t seem to have that trouble.
“You can’t buy the shoes, Noah,” she said softly. “Not you, either, Mommy. I have to buy them for a present. Because if a grown-up buys them, then Gracie might get embarrassed and I don’t want her to feel bad.”
“I am so proud of you,” Annie said.
“You’re a very special little girl,” Noah told her, “and Gracie’s lucky to have you as a friend. But Kara, I’m not buying the shoes. You are. It’s your money. You worked for it. I’m just giving you back what was stolen. Do you understand?”
She thought about that for a long minute, chewing at her bottom lip. “I guess that’s okay, then. Is it, Mommy?”
“I think,” Annie said, looking directly into Noah’s eyes, “that it’s absolutely perfect.”
He smiled at both of them. “Now that that’s settled, I think there’s a little girl who needs to buy her friend some shoes.”
“Now?” Kara asked. “Really?”
“Right now,” he said, smiling. He took out his wallet, counted the money into Kara’s waiting hand and asked, “Well? Ready to go shopping?”
Clutching the money in one tight fist, Kara threw her arms around his neck and said, “You should have a little girl, Noah, because you’d be a good daddy.”
“You think so?”
“Uh-huh.”
Annie inhaled sharply and felt the sting of tears in her own eyes. Her daughter, whether she’d said so or not, was coming to love Noah Fielding. And now, looking into Noah’s eyes, Annie saw that the feeling was mutual. It seemed as though this was all moving so quickly. And yet, on another level, she felt as though she’d known Noah forever. Now, as she looked into his eyes, she saw the promise of something wonderful written there.
Idly she wondered if she would have a nameless thief to thank for one of the most beautiful moments of her life.
KARA HUGGED THE SHOE box to her chest throughout the ride to Gracie O’Malley’s house. The smile on her face was bright as sunlight and her eyes were clear and shining with happiness, her earlier misery forgotten in the anticipation of giving something important to a friend she loved.
Noah looked at her in the rearview mirror and knew he’d never enjoyed a shopping trip more. Watching the little girl proudly march into Mrs. Higgins’s shoe store and pay for something she’d worked so hard for was…more touching than he would have imagined.
Glancing at Annie in the passenger seat beside him, he noted her smile, too, and realized that somehow over the past week or so, Annie Moore and her daughter had become not just important to him, but essential.
Not so long ago, that thought would have given him plenty to worry about. Now he was wise enough to be grateful for whatever fates had conspired to bring the three of them together.
“There it is!” Kara shouted from the backseat. “That’s Gracie’s house! Look! She’s right there in the yard with her brother and sister!”
“Okay, we’ll park and then—”
“Not in front of her house, okay?” Kara spoke up quickly, practically bouncing in her seat. “I don’t want her to know you guys are watching, ’cause she might get all embarrassed and stuff, okay?”
He glanced at Annie, and at her nod, Noah pulled to the curb two houses up from the O’Malley place.
The three of them got out of the car, but Kara could hardly stand still. “I want to go by myself, Mommy,” she said, tightly clutching the shoe box.
“We’ll wait for you right here, honey,” Annie said, ruffling her daughter’s bangs.
“Okay!” Grinning, Kara turned, ran a couple of steps, then stopped and glanced back at them. “Thank you,” she said and took off running again, her small sneakers slapping against the sidewalk.
As he stood beside Annie in the shade of an old maple tree, Noah took a good look at the O’Malley house. Toys were scattered across the lawn and three kids were arguing over a bicycle. Small but neat, the house needed painting, but the yard was cared for and the porch swept. There was pride in that, he thought and wondered about Gracie’s father. Had he lost his job? What was the source of their troubles? The fact that he not only wondered but cared was a sort of miracle to him.
Noah felt as if Annie and Kara had opened up a new world to him. But the reality was, he admitted ruefully, they were simply bringing him back to life.
“She’s great, you know?” he said, experiencing a swell of pride as Kara stopped outside the O’Malleys’ front gate. “She’s not interested in thanks or even in hearing from us that she’s doing a nice thing. All she cares about is her friend.” He shook his head in amazement. “When I was a kid, I was sometimes on the receiving end of ‘good works.’ Trust me when I say most people prefer taking a bow when they do something nice.”
She tipped her head to one side. “You’re here and not taking a bow.”
Noah nodded. “True. But I’m here with you. Because of you. You and Kara.”
“The reason doesn’t matter.” She looked briefly toward her daughter. “But you’re right about Kara. She has a big heart, but even knowing that, kids can really amaze you. They feel so much and notice so much more than you think they do.”
“You know, in the last week I’ve had my eyes opened about a few things.”
“Is that right?” she asked.
Nodding, he stared off down the street
at the children playing in the yard. “This thing with the shoes for Gracie has really gotten to me. The chapter of Shoes That Fit you wanted to open? It’s a great idea, Annie. I think we could make a real difference in Crescent Bay.”
“I think you’re right.”
“But this isn’t just about what we’re going to build here in town together.” He watched as a slight breeze lifted her hair from her collar and tossed it gently around her face. “I want you to know that I’m interested in more than working with you.”
“Noah…”
He shook his head, dropped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side. “You don’t have to say anything. Not yet. There’s no rush, Annie. For either of us. But you should know that now that I’ve found you and Kara, I’m not going to let you go.”
She leaned into him, laid her head on his shoulder and sighed a little. “We’re not going to let you go, either, Noah. Neither of us is.”
“Good to know.” Noah grinned, hugged her hard and dropped a kiss onto her forehead. Then together they turned to watch the small drama unfold.
As Kara approached the front gate, a little red-haired girl rushed across the lawn to meet her.
“Gracie, I presume,” he said.
“That’s her.” Annie leaned into Noah as they watched Kara talking excitedly before handing the shoe box over the top of the gate to her friend.
Gracie accepted the box as if it were made of spun glass. With a broad smile, she smoothed her small hands across the box lid over and over again, as if she couldn’t quite believe she was actually touching it.
They couldn’t hear what was said, but for this interaction, words were unnecessary.
“Is she ever going to open the box?” Noah asked.
“She’s getting to it,” Annie told him, sniffling a little as Gracie’s brother and sister came closer and the gate swung open so that Kara could slip inside.
A solitary tear rolling down Annie’s cheek clutched at Noah’s heart. An understanding smile on his face, he reached into his slacks pocket and produced a handkerchief. “Now I know why I carry these things,” he said, handing it to her.
“My hero.” She dried her eyes, laughed a little and leaned into him again, as if needing the closeness as much as he did.
“Look,” he said, giving her a one-armed hug. “She’s finally opening the box.”
Gracie grinned as she pulled the new shoes free and immediately sat down on the grass to put them on. When the laces were tied, she stood up gingerly, as if half afraid to get the new soles dirty. Then Kara laughed and reached out for her hand. Gracie grabbed it and both girls jumped up and down in delight.
The O’Malleys’ front door opened and a couple stepped onto the porch. Gracie ran to them, quickly showed off her new sneakers, then dashed back to the gate and her friend.
From their vantage point in the shadows Noah and Annie looked on as Gracie’s father wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist and the two of them smiled, watching their daughter and her friend. The girls had raced to the sidewalk to compare their matching shoes. And in the deepening twilight, Gracie’s new sneakers glittered and shone with the magic of Cinderella’s glass slippers.
As the girls skipped along the sidewalk, hand in hand, giving those sneakers a trial run, Noah rested his chin atop Annie’s head.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“For what?”
“For this,” he told her, his voice raw with the wealth of emotion clogging his throat. “For letting me be a part of this. For reminding me what it’s like to be a kid with few options.”
“Noah…”
He held her tighter to him. “For so long I’ve spent every minute concentrating on building my own security, my own little empire. And I’d forgotten that sometimes a new pair of shoes is more important than anything.”
Annie tipped her head back to look up at him and he lost himself for a moment or two in the tear-washed shine of her eyes.
“Did you see what happened to Gracie when she put those sneakers on?” He pulled in a deep breath. “She stood taller somehow.” Noah turned Annie in his arms, holding her close. “Kara gave her more than a pair of shoes, Annie. She gave her confidence. Let her know that she’s important to someone. That she matters.”
He smiled then and shook his head. “In the last week or so, you and Kara have managed to show me what my life was lacking. What I’d set aside in my rush to succeed.”
“Tell me,” she coaxed, reaching up to cup his cheek in the palm of her hand.
He felt the warmth of her touch slip deep inside him, chasing away the remaining dregs of cold and shadows he’d been carrying with him for years. “You two reminded me that all the security in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you’re alone. If you have no one to share it with. And you taught me just how right it feels when you do something really good for someone else. When you make a difference in someone’s life.”
Annie laughed a little and shook her head as she stared up at him. “Noah, we didn’t give you anything you didn’t already have. It’s because of you that Kara was able to give her friend those shoes. You took the time to see what Kara needed and you found a way to help her earn that gift.”
He grinned down at her and felt like a king. Lifting his gaze to where the two little girls were laughing and talking beside the O’Malleys’ front gate, he said, “So, about that chapter of Shoes That Fit…”
“Yes…”
“Nothing stopping us from getting started on that right away, is there?”
“There’s really not,” she said, moving into him for a kiss as the laughter of two little girls carried through the evening breeze.
CHAPTER SIX
For the next couple of months Annie worked with Shoes That Fit as she and Noah went about setting up their local chapter. While the paperwork was being done, Annie did some research and talked to the principals of the local schools. There were so many kids who needed help. At night, she and Noah would go over ideas and plans.
They started out small, setting up donation jars in the stores at the mall. Money began to trickle in as word spread, and the donations began to mount. Annie was astounded by the generosity of the people in town, but the contributions that most touched her heart came from the children.
Boys and girls readily gave their allowances. Some kids carried in piggy banks stuffed with change and handed them over with smiles on their faces. Gracie and Kara collected cans, took them to the recycling center and donated their proceeds.
It was as if the community had come together, now that they knew a problem existed, to help all of the town’s children. Annie felt as though she was in the middle of a whirlwind, because everything was happening so fast.
And it wasn’t only her chapter of Shoes That Fit that was developing so quickly. In the past two months she and Noah had forged such a close relationship, working together so smoothly, so effortlessly, it was as if they’d been somehow meant to find each other. To make each other whole and then help spread that sense of completeness. It was exciting and somehow fulfilling to work in tandem on a project that involved the whole community.
Noah loved her. She knew it even though he’d yet to say the words. And she was sure of her own feelings, as well. Annie smiled to herself as she realized that Kara had already pretty much adopted Noah as her own, so there was no trouble there, either. But even as she considered all of this, she had to acknowledge that nothing had been said about the future, and she couldn’t help wondering if there was going to be one for them.
After all, love didn’t necessarily translate into marriage and family and happily-ever-after for everyone. Just because she hungered for those things with Noah didn’t mean he shared those feelings. Was she just setting herself up for heartbreak somewhere down the road? Should she do the smart thing and protect herself?
Or was it too late for that already?
“Yes, it is,” she confessed in a barely heard whisper. She was in love and there
was no going back. Noah held her heart, and there was no way now to pull back from the situation that had come on her out of nowhere.
Her first marriage had been a slow and steady building of feelings. And if Kara’s father had lived, she would have stayed with him happily, never knowing that there was so much more to be experienced.
What she and Noah shared had blossomed and grown so quickly, she’d been swept off her feet before she could even realize what was happening. And, she told herself, she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Smiling to herself, Annie took a deep breath and let worry drop from her shoulders. Whatever happened between her and Noah would take care of itself eventually.
But meanwhile they each had new obligations to consider. Contributions to their new project were being tallied daily.
Now, they were expanding their efforts, not just accepting monetary contributions, but following the guide in the Shoes That Fit start-up kit, people could buy shoes for specific children. That way, they could feel a connection to a child in need and know that they were making a personal difference.
It had been only two months since all of this had begun, but now a brightly painted kiosk stood in the middle of Fielding Center Mall.
Annie stood nearby and watched people as they approached it curiously, reading the boldly lettered sign, Shoes That Fit—Best Foot Forward Chapter. She and Noah together had come up with the name for their community project, and thought it represented exactly what they were trying to get across—that with new shoes, children gained confidence and were able to put their best foot forward because they felt as though they belonged. They weren’t ashamed, or worried about how they would look to the other children. And without the worries of social judgments raining down on them, they could concentrate on their schoolwork.
“Looks good,” Noah said, coming up behind her.
“It does.” Annie glanced over her shoulder at him and smiled. “I saw the ad in the paper this morning. Very cleverly done.”
More Than Words, Volume 6 Page 34
