The Wish List Read Online Free

than an order. Nathan’s eyes were cold, blanketed, masking the pain she knew she’d find if she looked deep enough. His words were a plea. He’d had a child. He’d lost a child.
    Faith understood.
    “I’ll find someone reliable,” she agreed.
    For two seconds Faith felt Nathan’s gaze burning into her back as she walked away. Then just as quickly, the door closed, severing the contact.
    She’d agreed to something she hadn’t wanted to do. She’d set the ball rolling with Nathan. But at least she now knew that she needn’t worry. Nathan Murphy was well on the way to hating her. What’s more, he couldn’t ever be around children—or families. It was sad.
    It was a godsend.
    She would have no trouble maintaining a purely professional relationship with a man like that. And she would never have to worry about this man getting too close.
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    Just a few hours later, Faith got Cory ready for bed. She put the book aside that they’d been reading and pressed a soft kiss on his brow as she arranged his covers.
    But Cory sat up straight in bed. Fighting sleep. “Did you think any more about show-and-tell—about my daddy?” he asked.
    Folding down a corner of the sheet, smoothing it, Faith nodded. “I’ve thought about it a bit, Cory. And I’ve decided that I would very much like for you to have a daddy. But these things take time, and it’s not as simple as you’d think.”
    “I don’t understand.” He tugged at her hand. “You meet somebody and kiss him real good. Then you get married. Don’t you watch TV, Mom?”
    Faith couldn’t help smiling. She wondered what kind of television he was watching during the daytime when she couldn’t screen his viewing. But now wasn’t the time to belabor that point. Instead, she turned to him with a mock fierce expression. “Cory, you know that television isn’t real, don’t you?”
    Frowning, Cory nodded. “I know. You to’d me once. But how do you find a daddy?”
    She didn’t have the slightest idea, but there was no way she was going to burst his balloon or his confidence in her.
    “Well,” Faith leaned close and smoothed the hair back from her son’s forehead. She picked up his teddy bear from the foot of the bed and handed it to him. “Maybe we should start by deciding what kind of man we’re looking for. He’d have to be right for us, someone we both liked and could live with, you know.”
    “I know. He’d have to be someone who liked broccoli,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “Cause you like to cook broccoli.”
    Faith chuckled and nodded. “We wouldn’t want him running away in fear of my cooking, would we? But what I meant was, what kind of a person do you think you’d want for a daddy? If we’re going to look, then we should take our time and be very careful about what we’re looking for. And you have to be aware, right up front, that we might not find anyone. It could happen, you know.”
    She waited, watching him until he raised his chin and looked at her. “I know,” he said grudgingly.
    “All right, then.” Hoping that her warning really had been enough, Faith took a breath. “So…let’s see. You try to describe to me what you think a father should be like and we’ll make a list, a wish list.”
    “Okay.” Cory scrambled out of bed. He came back with a storybook—one of his favorites—as well as a torn piece of paper and a stubby pencil with teeth marks on the eraser.
    “You write,” he said. “Put down, ‘The Daddy Wish List’ so we don’t forget what it is.”
    Dutifully Faith took the piece of paper and scribbled the words at the top.
    “First off,” Cory said, “I want him to look like Mr. Benson in this story. I like Mr. Benson. Besides, he looks a lot like me. He’s got black hair and brown eyes. I want my daddy to look like me the way Billy Wilkins’s daddy does.”
    “Black hair and brown eyes,” Faith repeated, writing the words down.
    Cory nodded.
    “What else?” Faith asked.
    Cory looked