More Than Words, Volume 6

by Joan Johnston

  He winked. “My new marketing executive came up with the idea.”

  Annie grinned. Just another reason for her to love Noah Fielding. Kevin O’Malley, Gracie’s father, had started his new job with Fielding Enterprises only a few days ago and already had come up with some brilliant plans. “Gracie got a new pair of shoes and her father found a job.”

  Noah shrugged and took her hand in his. “Only made sense. After I found out that Kevin had been laid off from a marketing firm in San Francisco, I realized he’d be perfect for my company.”

  There was more to it than that, of course, Annie thought. Kevin O’Malley had lost his job and then he and his wife had lost the house they’d owned in San Francisco. They’d moved here, to Crescent Bay, to live in his wife’s mother’s house. They were eager to rebuild the savings they’d lost when the bottom had dropped out of their world.

  Which, Annie told herself, just went to prove that hard times hit every level of society. It wasn’t only the desperately poor who needed occasional help. Sometimes the middle class fell between the cracks when hit by misfortune.

  “I’d say Kevin’s starting off great,” Noah said, staring at the kiosk surrounded by curious shoppers. “Aside from all the interesting ideas he’s come up with for Fielding Enterprises, that ad he designed for the paper and the TV and radio ads he talked me into have really sparked interest in Shoes That Fit.”

  “It was a nice thing you did, Noah, hiring Kevin.”

  He shook his head. “He’s a good worker. And more, after seeing how his daughter reacted to the shoes Kara bought for her, he’s as committed to this project as we are.”

  True. Thanks to the measuring charts and forms from the Shoes That Fit kit, schoolteachers and nurses had been able to surreptitiously gather information on the children who needed help and determine their shoe sizes. Without revealing the children’s names, index cards containing that information were hung in the kiosk that Annie and Noah were still observing with satisfaction.

  “Mrs. Higgins is doing a booming business these days, too,” Annie said with a quick glance toward the shoe store where Kara’s “adventure” had started. People were streaming in and out of the tidy shop, carrying boxes of shoes to the drop-off point managed by several mall employees.

  “That was Kevin’s idea, too,” Noah told her. “Customers who go to her store with an index card and buy a pair of shoes for a child in need get half off on any other pair.”

  “With you making up the difference for her,” Annie reminded him, knowing that Noah had guaranteed Mrs. Higgins wouldn’t lose money by being the focus of this fundraiser.

  Noah only shrugged. “It’s good business. The mall’s crowded, store owners are happy and the kids are getting what they need.”

  He could brush off her pride all he wanted, but Annie knew the truth. Noah was making this work, and she loved him for it—and for so many other reasons she couldn’t even name them all.

  “You’re doing a terrific thing here,” she said.

  “No, we are. And our chapter of Shoes That Fit is off to a great start.” He took her hand and walked toward the kiosk, where several shoppers were choosing index cards. “Of course, when the donated shoes start piling up, things are going to get crazy.”

  A FEW DAYS LATER Noah remembered what he’d said to Annie and figured it had to be the biggest understatement in the history of the world.

  Throughout his office and Annie’s, shoe boxes were stacked everywhere. Towers of brightly colored boxes in different sizes took up most of the room. Noah was amazed at people’s generosity. The first batch of index-card wish lists was completed, which meant that children the most desperately in need were about to receive brand-new shoes.

  The driver he’d hired to make the deliveries was efficiently carrying stacks of boxes to the truck downstairs. Meanwhile, Annie and Kara were busily taping corresponding index cards to the appropriate shoe boxes so that they’d be easily distributed at the schools.

  He leaned against the doorjamb leading into his private office and watched as Kara happily neglected her taping job, moving curiously from box to box to peek inside at all the different shoes.

  That one little girl had started all of this, he mused, just because she’d wanted to help her friend. Love had begun it, he realized, and love would complete it.

  A few months ago he’d hardly known Kara—beyond being aware of her existence, of course. Now he couldn’t imagine not having that laughing, amazing little girl in his life.

  As for her mother…hard to believe he’d spent six months ignoring her. Impossible to believe that he’d managed it.

  Noah’s gaze fixed on Annie as she flashed a smile at her daughter and finished taping an index card to a bright pink box. He hadn’t been looking for love. Hadn’t thought he wanted, or needed it. Now nothing mattered more than Annie.

  Odd how quickly and completely a man’s world could change for the better.

  “Mommy!” Kara cooed the word as she opened yet another box. “There’s blue tennies in this one. Can I have blue tennies, too?”

  “We’ll see….” She turned to help the driver gather up another load of boxes for his next trip down to the truck. When he was gone, her gaze landed on Noah observing her from the doorway. “Noah? Is everything all right?”

  He smiled. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  She sighed, looked around at the small mountain of shoe boxes and laughed. “Well, we’re a little crazed at the moment.”

  “Yeah, we are.” He wove his way past piles of boxes to get to her side, then reached down, took her hands and drew her to her feet.

  “I haven’t gotten to your correspondence yet,” she confessed, and glanced at her desk, also covered with shoe boxes. “It probably won’t go out until tomorrow.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he said.

  She tipped her head to one side, gave him a smile and asked, “Is this the same Noah Fielding I came to work for?”

  “No,” he said solemnly. “I’m not that Noah Fielding anymore. Thanks to you. And Kara.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, apparently picking up on his seriousness.

  “I’m good, Annie.” He turned and waved a hand, indicating the boxes filling the room. “But I’ve realized that this is just the beginning. There are still kids out there who need shoes. And doesn’t Shoes That Fit also provide things like backpacks with school supplies, too?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “No buts,” he said, smiling down into her eyes and sensing his whole world settle around him. As it had been meant to, he acknowledged, from the moment he’d first laid eyes on Annie Moore. A part of him had known all along what she was. Who she was. Which was probably why he’d done his best to ignore her and what she made him feel.

  Well, those days were gone. And he was grateful.

  “We’ve started something here, Annie,” he told her. “Something that’s going to grow far beyond just us and our community.”

  “I hope so, Noah,” she said.

  “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.” Noah shot a look at Kara, who gave him a wide, gap-toothed grin as she walked to join them. “All three of us. And that’s what I want to talk to you about.”

  Annie nodded and chewed at her bottom lip as if she were nervous. Well, he wasn’t. He’d spent years avoiding commitments of any kind. Now he thought nothing was more important than belonging with this woman and her daughter. Noah had never been so sure of anything in his life. He knew exactly what he wanted, and he would do anything necessary to get it.

  “Before the truck driver comes back for the next load, I wanted to tell you something. Both of you.”

  “Me, too?” Kara asked, leaning against him as she turned her face up to his.

  “Yes,” he said, bending to lift Kara up and hold her in the crook of one arm. With his free hand he reached for Annie’s hand and, holding it tightly, he looked into her blue eyes and said, “My life is full now because of you and Kara. The two
of you have given me more than I ever thought possible.”

  “Oh, Noah…” Annie gulped in a breath and Kara wrapped one arm around his neck.

  “What’d we give you, Noah?” Kara asked.

  He laughed and said, “I’ll tell you someday, sweetie.”

  Noah felt better than he ever had and knew that now was the time to ask the question that would settle their futures forever.

  “Standing here,” he said, “in the middle of something we created together, I want to ask you to marry me, Annie. I want us, the three of us, to be a family. And to help each other. To start more chapters of Shoes That Fit in other communities to help them, too.”

  “Oh, my.” She was smiling and crying at the same time. His heart gave a hard lurch.

  “Don’t cry, Mommy,” Kara said softly.

  “It’s happy crying, baby,” she whispered.

  He laughed aloud. “Marry me, Annie,” he said again. “With my two best girls by my side, I know the three of us can do anything.”

  “Noah…” She lifted one hand to her mouth and shook her head. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  “Say yes. Just say yes, Annie.”

  “I do love you,” she told him, “but this isn’t just about me, Noah. Kara and I are a team. We both have to be happy with this decision. So it’s not just me who owes you an answer.”

  Nodding, he looked into the eyes of the little girl who’d first reminded him he had a heart, then had stolen it completely. “What do you say, Kara? Would you like to be my little girl? Will you let me be your dad?”

  Kara looked from Noah to her mother and back again. Finally she smiled, cupped his cheeks in her small hands and said, “Well, you do need a little girl and I need a daddy—and maybe a sister.”

  Annie laughed and Noah grinned at the girl in his arms. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Nodding thoughtfully, Kara said simply, “Then I think we should get married.” Smiling, she added, “Can I get some blue tennies before we go home?”

  Dear Reader,

  I was very honored when Marsha Zinberg called and invited me to participate in the More Than Words collection. Harlequin’s dedication to showcasing women who do all they can to make the world a better place is a wonderful thing. In supporting these women and the organizations they represent, Harlequin highlights the best of all of us.

  Like many other people, I get so involved in my own life—family, writing, the business of running a home—I sometimes forget to look up and around. To see what is happening not only in my community but in my country. Researching Shoes That Fit changed all of that for me.

  Can you imagine being a child whose only school shoes belonged to an older sibling? The shoes don’t fit. They fall off. The other children laugh at your personal humiliation. How is a child supposed to concentrate on learning when they’re too embarrassed to lift their heads up?

  In California in 1992, Shoes That Fit was founded by Elodie McGuirk, with the express purpose of providing all children with the simple yet priceless gift of new shoes. Since then, the organization has grown to sweep across our nation. Local chapters are run by volunteers and now Shoes That Fit not only provides shoes for children in need, but new clothing, as well.

  When I spoke with Roni Lomeli, the executive director of Shoes That Fit, I was impressed with her passion for what she does. Roni and her staff provide amazing help for the most deserving and the sometimes most overlooked segment of our citizens—our children.

  I’d like to personally thank Roni for all she’s done for our nation’s children. And thank you, too, to Harlequin Books, for acknowledging her with this honor. Lastly, a big thank-you to you, the reader, for buying this book and doing your part to support these wonderful people.

  I’m proud to be associated with this collection and I invite all of you readers to visit the Web site, www.shoesthatfit.org, to see how you can make a difference in a child’s life.

  All my best,

  Maureen Child

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-5187-2

  MORE THAN WORDS: VOLUME 6

  Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  Joan Johnston is acknowledged as the author of Almost Lost.

  Robyn Carr is acknowledged as the author of Sheltering Hearts.

  Roberta Stalberg is acknowledged as the author of Safely Home.

  Rochelle Alers is acknowledged as the author of No Limits.

  Maureen Child is acknowledged as the author of The Princess Shoes.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  For questions and comments about the quality of this book please contact us at Customer_eCare@Harlequin.ca.

  ® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

  www.eHarlequin.com