A Family to Come Home To (Saddle Falls) Read Online Free

unknown word with a frown. “Is that a week, Mama?” Riley asked hopefully, making Hannah laugh again. They’d been having this same discussion since the first time Riley had laid eyes on Timmy and Terry Ryan’s dogs, Ruth and Ditka. Timmy and Terry were Jared Ryan’s six-year-old twin sons—and substitute brothers to Riley. And their misbehaved mutts had captured her daughter’s heart the moment she’d laid eyes on them.
    More than anything in the world, her daughter wanted a dog. And as much as she’d tried to give Riley everything she’d ever wanted or needed, as a single parent responsible for the sole support of herself and her precious daughter, she’d learned to be practical.
    And right now, adding an animal to their little family might not be the best thing. They wouldn’t have much time to spend with a dog, not to mention the extra expense of another member of the household.
    Although her new salary from Tommy was more than generous, allowing for some much-needed necessities and a few indulgent luxuries like the brand spanking new pink two-wheeler Riley was riding, Hannah always erred on the side of caution, especially when it came to financial matters.
    “A week?” Hannah repeated, glancing down at her daughter, who had the face of an angel and the occasional temper of a tornado. “Hmm, maybe a bit longer than that, honey,” Hannah said, adding another sheet to the clothesline and watching it billow gently in the slight breeze.
    “You always say that, Mama,” Riley accused with a pout and a long, weary sigh as she struggled to finish turning her new bike back around.
    “I know, sweetheart, but remember how I explained that a dog needs to have company? Someone who will be here all day to feed and take care of it.”
    “Like a baby, huh, Mama?” Riley asked dejectedly. “That’s why we can’t have a new baby like Terry and Timmy have, right? ’Cuz we can’t stay home and take care of it.”
    Hannah tried not to laugh at her daughter’s logic. “That’s right, honey.” Ever since Jake, Josh and Jared, Tommy’s grown grandsons, and their wives had begun having babies, Riley, not wanting to be left out of anything, had been begging for a new baby sister or brother as well.
    The thought was so ludicrous it always made Hannah laugh. Explaining to her adorable five-year-old, why she, a twenty-five-year-old single mother barely scraping by couldn’t even consider having another baby, let alone that she hadn’t either the time nor the inclination to date, or, for that matter, get involved with another man, seemed far too complicated. Explaining her rationale for not getting a dog suddenly seemed far less harmless.
    “I’ll tell you what, honey. Why don’t we wait and see how school goes first? And then we’ll see about getting you a dog. Let’s give it a couple of weeks and then we’ll talk about it again, okay?”
    “’kay,” Riley said with a sigh, apparently appeased as she climbed back on her bike.
    “Stay in the driveway, now,” Hannah cautioned.
    “I will, Mama. I could almost get all the way down the driveway by myself,” she added proudly, shakily pedaling the bike. Hannah bit her lip, resisting the urge to go to her daughter and help her, knowing that as much as she detested the fact, if she wanted Riley to grow up to be strong and independent, she had to let her do things on her own, at her own speed.
    Hannah sighed again, realizing that at times she was too cautious, too overprotective of her only child, but then reality sunk in and she realized that there was no more important job in her life than being a good mother. And if that meant being overprotective of her daughter, so be it.
    Besides, she’d never been a gambler or a risk taker. Especially when it came to her daughter. It just wasn’t in her nature.
    She liked to think of herself as a pragmatic, practical woman who dealt in common sense. It had become a habit to think through every step, every move twice and