Prologue

PROLOGUE

MATTHEW

(This prologue also appeared as the

bonus scene at the end of

Restoring You:

Watercress Falls , Book 1)

N othing brings me more joy than seeing a wide smile on my daughter’s face and a cheerful bounce in her step.

“Daddy, do you mean it?” Emmie stands in front of my chair at the dinner table with her hands clasped at her chest. Her big green eyes stare up at me, the overhead light glinting off her pupils.

“Yes.” I chuckle and kiss the top of her head. “I signed the papers a few days ago. As soon as Uncle Jimmy signs them, this house is ours forever.”

Emmie jumps into my arms and squeals right next to my ear. It’s so loud I pull back and flinch. I can’t say I blame her. We’ve been talking about buying this house since we moved in three years ago. For her, this is the only home she’s ever known.

She was a year old when I decided to rent the house from Uncle Jimmy. He isn’t really my uncle, though. It’s just what everyone in town calls him. Always have. I don’t know when or why that started. We’re a close-knit community in Watercress Falls, and I guess in a way, we’re all like family.

I’d been working as a traveling vet for a few years. It had worked fine before Emmie was born, but as a single dad, all the driving had started to wear on me. Having a permanent location to run a clinic was ideal. But finding a place where we could live on the same property as the clinic proved to be more challenging than I’d expected.

The first time Uncle Jimmy offered to let me rent this house, I’d said no. I said no to him the next three times, too.

The house had sat empty for a couple years. Uncle Jimmy refused to move into it after his brother and sister-in-law were tragically killed in a car accident. He insisted he preferred the bunk house on the vineyard he co-owned with his brother. Maybe that’s true, but I’m sure it hurt him too much to live in the house his brother had made home. It didn’t matter that it was Jimmy’s house, too. They'd been close. Losing them hit him hard.

He said, me living there would do him a favor—keep the house in good shape so it didn’t fall to shambles sitting empty.

But I had my own reasons for not wanting to live there. I had too much history with his niece, Jessica, and our shared memories in this house were too personal. Living in the house Jessica grew up in didn’t feel right. Not with how badly things ended between us.

Even now, I can still see the seventeen-year-old version of Jessica sitting across the table from me grinning while she played footsie with me during family dinner. Every time she’d run her foot up my leg and make me squirm, her father would glare at me. If he only knew half the things I did to his daughter in this house, he would’ve done a hell of a lot more than glare at me.

My need to provide for my baby girl eventually won out. I pushed my memories of Jessica aside, and took Uncle Jimmy up on his offer. And now I’m buying the house. It feels weird and a little wrong, but Emmie loves it here. I’ll do anything to make her smile.

“Daddy.” Emmie presses her hand against my cheek and forces me to face her. “Did you hear me?”

“Sorry, sweetheart. What?”

“Does this mean I can get that treehouse now? And a big horse? You said I couldn’t get a big horse until you had another barn. Can we get another barn now?”

I scoot my chair back from the table and reach for her. “Get up here, kiddo.” She jumps up into my lap and wraps her little arms around my neck. Not much else on this earth makes me feel better than a hug from my little girl. “All those things will be possible one day soon. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You’ve still got some growing to do before you get a big horse. You’re only four.”

She pulls back and frowns. “But Aunt Leann was riding big horses when she was four.”

“Maybe so, but I wasn’t her daddy.” I wrinkle my nose and rub it against hers. “You’ll be riding big horses in no time. I promise.”

She sighs, and her shoulders sag. “But when? I’m a good rider. I can do it.”

“Yes, you’re a very good rider. But you’re still little, and I worry. Horses can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“But I know—”

“Emmie.” I lower my eyes so I’m level with her. “I know you’re a safe rider. But I still worry. I want you to get a little bigger first. If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I know.” She drops her head, defeated. “Because you love me, and you’d be sad if I got hurt.”

“That’s right. I just need you to be patient with your old man. Give me time to catch up with you. You’re all I’ve got.”

“I know, Daddy.” She pulls back and rests her little hands on my shoulders. She looks up at me like she’s about to scold me, and I have to fight back my smile. The seriousness of her expression is too cute. “You can’t keep me little forever.”

My smile grows, and I can’t help but chuckle. “Now you sound like your Aunt Leann. I think she’s a bad influence on you.” I poke her in the sides and make her giggle. “It’s time for bed. We’ll talk more tomorrow about a treehouse, okay.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

She slides off my lap and runs upstairs. I start to clear the table when there’s a knock on the door. Checking the time, it’s almost eight o’clock. We never get visitors this late unannounced and my heart rate kicks up several notches with worry.

When I open the front door, I’m surprised to see Uncle Jimmy’s attorney standing on the other side. “Richard, what are you doing here so late? ”

“Hey, Matt. Sorry to call upon you like this, but I have some news that couldn’t wait.”

I nod and open the door wider to let him in. “Why don’t you wait for me in the kitchen? I need to get Emmie in bed. Then we can talk.”

I watch him walk into my house—shoulders slumped, tired eyes, and a tense jaw. He’s not here with good news.

I stare after him until he disappears around the corner, then I rush upstairs to get Emmie in bed. If Uncle Jimmy changed his mind, I swear I’ll kill him. I’ve kept this from Emmie for months because I didn’t want to get her hopes up. The last thing I want to do is disrupt her life any more than it already has been.

Emmie never knew her mother—Emily died in childbirth—but the absence of a mom has had a huge impact on her. I do my best as a single dad, but there are some roles I’m incapable of filling. Not having a mother in her life has left a gaping hole in her heart that I can’t fill. When Emmie is around other kids and their parents, I see the longing in her eyes. It breaks me every time. Mainly because there isn’t anything I can do to fix that loss for her.

From the moment I found out Emily was pregnant, I tried to do the right thing to make sure my child would never experience anything remotely close to the pain I’d felt as a kid. I never knew my father, and my mother died when I was young. Not knowing or losing a parent is some hard shit. I never wanted that for my kids.

All I’ve ever wanted was to spare any child of mine of that kind of pain. I failed at that on day one. Not that I could control what happened to Emily, but it still makes me feel like a failure as a parent. Despite my efforts, Emmie still experiences my greatest pain every day.

At least she’ll always have me and the family that adopted me. If the Langdons hadn’t taken me in and given me a home when they did, I’ve no doubt I wouldn’t be the man I am today. Thanks to them, I know how to be a father to Emmie. That’s a gift I’ll never be able to repay.

By the time I make it upstairs, Emmie is in the bathroom brushing her teeth. Her little arm stretches to its limit to reach the faucet to turn off the water. I shake my head and hide my smile. She refuses to use the step stool I got her. Using it is an admission that she’s little and that’s the last thing she wants to be.

She turns to me and smiles. “All ready.”

She bounces across the room and hops into my arms. At least she hasn’t decided she’s too little to let me carry her. I dread that day.

With a kiss on the forehead, I tuck her in bed. I stand at the doorway for a moment and smile. My life may not have turned out the way I expected, but with this kid in my life, everything feels all right. “I love you, kiddo.”

“Love you, too, Daddy.”

I leave the door cracked and head back downstairs. A heaviness falls over me as I get closer to the kitchen. Richard is on one of the island barstools with his elbows on the counter and his head buried in his hands. This isn’t a good visit.

I open the refrigerator and grab a beer. “Do you want one?”

He shakes his head no. He drops his arms but still doesn’t look up at me.

“Please tell me Uncle Jimmy didn’t change his mind.”

He looks up at me, his eyes red and swollen. “I wish it were as simple as a changed mind. I’m afraid we’ve got bigger issues than that, Matt.”

The sinking feeling in my gut turns to nausea. I’ve known Richard since I was a kid, and I’ve never seen him look so weak and emotional. He’s known for being a cold, emotionless asshole. But he’s a damn good attorney and does right by all his clients, so we keep him around. “Well, get on with it then.”

He takes a deep breath and looks down at his hands clasped in front of him. “Jimmy was found dead in his bunk earlier this evening.”

My eyes immediately well up with tears, and I almost drop my beer. Uncle Jimmy’s been a permanent fixture in my life—everyone’s life for that matter. Watercress Falls won’t be the same without him.

“How did …” My voice cracks and I swallow back my tears. “How did he die?”

“We don’t know for sure, but they think a heart attack. The farmhand that found him said he wasn’t feeling well, so he’d gone to rest. When he checked on Jimmy a few hours later, he found him unconscious. By the time the paramedics arrived, it was too late.”

“Well, shit.” I fall into the chair opposite Richard and stare at the empty space in front of me. I quickly wipe away the tears that run down my cheek.

“Matt, I need to tell you,” Richard pauses. When I look in his direction, he refuses to make eye contact. I lift my beer to take a drink when he starts again. “Jimmy never signed the papers.”

My arm freezes midair. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, he didn’t sign the contract. Meaning, he didn’t sell you the house. It’s not yours.”

My arm falls and my beer hits the island counter with a loud clunk. “But we had an agreement.”

“Maybe so, but without his signature, it doesn’t mean anything. The decision reverts to the eldest Evans child. If you want to buy this house, you’re going to have to convince Jessica to sign the contract.”

All I can see in this moment are endless tears running down Emmie’s face. I just told her this house was ours forever and now I have to tell her I was wrong. There’s no way in hell Jessica will agree to sell me this house. “Well, fuck.”