Forever Grace Read Online Free Page B

she yelled whenever I tried to take the rest away. I guess I should have tried harder.”
    “You did a great job,” Grace told him as she unbuckled the safety harness on Annabelle’s booster seat and lifted the toddler free. “Seriously, Josh. Thank you for taking over for me. Now, if I get the munchkin bathed and into pajamas, will you be okay to read her a story and get her into bed?”
    “Won’t you need help getting the man up? He looked pretty big.”
    Josh had a point. In Grace’s estimation, their neighbor was well over six feet tall and close to two hundred pounds, but she preferred not to dwell on the how just yet. Besides, he looked to be in decent enough shape, so surely once he had both crutches back, he could do most of the work himself. She hoped.
    She settled Annabelle on one hip. “I’d love your help, to be honest, but I need you here more. Someone has to watch the girls for me.”
    Josh nodded, and she turned her attention to her nieces.
    “Lilliane and Sage, can you get yourselves ready for bed tonight?”
    Sage, never much of one for words, nodded solemnly.
    “We’ll clean the table and wash the dishes, too,” said Lilliane. “Won’t we, Sagey?”
    Sage nodded again.
    “That would be amazing, ladies. Thank you! And now, Miss Annabelle,” Grace made a face as she picked a glob of potato out of the littlest one’s hair, “it’s off to the bath for you. Or maybe two baths.”
    It took half an hour to accomplish bath, pajamas, and general organization, and then Grace was back on the path to the other cottage, her hurried steps propelled by guilt and a serious chill in the air that had settled with the dark. She’d given him enough blankets, hadn’t she? And she hadn’t heard a gunshot, so she assumed there’d been no attempted bear attack.
    Her fingers tightened on the flashlight as she emerged from the trees into the cottage clearing. A few minutes to wash the poison ivy oils off his crutch for him, a few more to help him back onto his feet and into his cottage, and then—
    “If that’s you and not a bear, you should probably say something,” a deep baritone drawled from the deck. “Me being armed with a shotgun now and all.”
    “It’s me. Are you holding up okay?”
    “Apart from having to pee something fierce, just fine,” he said. “I totally should not have had that tea I brought out with me.”
    Despite herself, Grace’s lips twitched. “I’ll be as quick as I can,” she promised briskly. “Are you warm enough?”
    “Snug as a bug, thanks.”
    “Good. I’m going to get the crutch and give it a bath, then I’ll be out to help you. You do have hot water?”
    “I do. I also have a tub in the bathroom, first door off the kitchen. That might be easier than using the sink. There’s shampoo there you can use.”
    With her hand swaddled in one of the rags she’d stuffed into her coat pocket earlier, Grace extracted the crutch from its resting place and carried it into the cottage. Like the rest of the place, the bathroom was basic but clean, with plywood walls whose white paint looked relatively fresh, open shelves holding towels and facecloths, a mirrored cabinet over the sink, and as promised, a bathtub. She set the crutch in the bottom, turned on the hot water, and squirted a spicy-scented shampoo along its length. Then, kneeling at the side, she unwrapped her hand and set to scrubbing the crutch’s wooden length, turning it over to do both sides, paying the closest attention to the pad at the top and the handgrip.
    Several hot water rinses later, satisfied she’d erased all trace of toxic oils, she dried off the crutch with a hand towel and then carried it through the living room to the sliding doors. The man on the deck floor looked over as she stepped outside.
    “All safe again?”
    “All safe. Ready to be upright?”
    “You have no idea.” He pushed aside the blankets and reached for the crutch at his side.
    Grace watched him roll onto his good hip and