Annabelle's Angel Read Online Free

too, like—a baby? At least, a clean baby…
    Baby powder?
    “Brody!”
    Brody jumped to the floor, his cheeks pink, but he was still laughing.
    Annabelle advanced on him, and Rick felt an urge to block her. Maybe because she looked so adorably embarrassed more than to shield the boy.
    “Why on earth would you dump baby powder on him?”
    She glanced at Rick, looked away, and then reached up to bat the white off his shoulders. He stood still and let her.
    “Sorry. But Torie said she wanted him to turn into a snow angel.”
    “Did not. I thaid he ith a th’now angel.” Victoria marched past the three bunched in the doorway and slid a chair from under the table. “And it’th my turn to thit next to him.”
    “Aren’t you afraid he’ll get powder in your food?” Mattie asked, reaching for the same chair.
    “No arguments.” Annabelle pointed. “Grandma’s eating with us tonight, so she gets to sit beside our guest.”
    “And Annabelle gets to sit on my other side,” Rick said.
    Joe and Brody gave him surprised, delighted stares.
    Rick raised his eyebrows at them and then shrugged. He took Annabelle’s elbow and led her to a seat two down from her grandmother, held her chair for her, then sat between the two.
    As they’d done the previous night he’d shared dinner with them, the younger children brought in dishes and set them on the table.
    The entire meal’s conversation centered on snow angels and how to make them, and how to get snow. Joe suggested having it delivered to the front yard, but considering the current temperatures, it wouldn’t last long enough to make anything out of it.
    When things looked as if they’d descend into an argument, Rick intervened. “If you’re so interested in snow angels, why don’t we take a trip up into the mountains? I can teach you how to make them. It’s not hard.”
    “All of us?” Brody asked.
    “Of course.”
    “Even Annabelle?” Liam speared him with narrowed eyes.
    He almost explained how this was his way of getting Annabelle out of the house and off somewhere—well, somewhere somewhat romantic—with him. Not that all those extra bodies would make for a whole lot of romance, but really, wasn’t that the way to Annabelle’s heart? But with all those eyes on him—some challenging, like Liam’s, others trusting, like Victoria’s, and some plain shocked—at least, Annabelle’s expression was shocked—he was glad his tongue tended to trip over itself and keep him from an embarrassing reveal.
    “If I’m taking six kids up to the mountains, I need backup.” He grinned, pleased with his strategy.
    “It’s not like Joe and them are little kids and can’t take care of us—” Brody started.
    “No, it’s a good idea,” Joe said. “Then we don’t have to worry about babysitting.”
    Not quite the plan Rick had in mind, but then Joe winked.
    Surprised, Rick stared at Joe while around them, the kids made plans.
    “OK, so, this Saturday, right? We can all get up real early and go. Right, Annabelle?” Joe asked.
    Annabelle looked at her plate, and her hand hovered near her cheek. “Rick hasn’t agreed yet.”
    “It was his idea,” Liam pointed out.
    “Yeah.” Rick jumped in, terrified she’d back out before he had her completely committed. “And Saturday is the perfect day to go. Next weekend is the church Christmas Bazaar. No one wants to miss that, do we?”
    A chorus answered him, the general agreement that no one wanted to miss it, and as Christmas fell the week after that, they needed to go as soon as possible.
    “If you’re OK with that?” Rick asked Annabelle.
    She looked up. “Oh, sure.”
    “We’ll need snow suits,” Faith said.
    “And boots,” Mattie added.
    Joe and Liam looked at each other. “Thrift stores.”
    Annabelle laughed. “You guys grow too fast to spend full price for something you won’t use much.”
    Rick spent half a second resenting how the whole family treated Annabelle and then let it go. Maybe it