Picture Perfect Family

Picture Perfect Family
Renee Andrews

“I MADE A PROMISE.”Intending to keep her vow to raise her orphaned nephew, photographer Mandy Carter is concerned when the boy’s uncle appears in town. Handsome youth minister Daniel Brantley is determined to take over little Kaden’s upbringing. Once upon a time Mandy was in love with Daniel, but he left her behind to do mission work overseas.Now he’s back—and seems to think she’s the same girl she once was, with big dreams a small town and motherhood can’t fill. Turns out marriage and motherhood are all Mandy wants. It’ll take winning Daniel’s heart, though, to make this family complete.

Why did the sight of Daniel Brantley still cause her knees to sway, even when he’d upset her?

She took a deep breath and told him exactly what was on her mind. “I’m not going anywhere, Daniel. I’m staying right here in Claremont with our nephew.”

“Me, too.”

“Then we need to come up with how this is going to work, because I promised my sister I’d take care of Kaden, and I’m not about to break that promise. I love Kaden.”

“I know.” He pulled out a chair from the table and sat down as though he totally belonged here in the middle of her home and in the middle of her life. Suddenly Mandy realized that if he was determined to help raise Kaden, too, then that’s where he’d be, in the middle of her life from now on.

Mandy and Daniel, working together to raise a child, forever.

Dear Reader,

When Jacob and Mia died, Mandy Carter’s world was upended, her dreams were thrown out the window and she had to put another person’s needs—her nephew, Kaden’s—above her own.

This is the kind of challenge that everyone wants to believe they could handle. That this-is-what-my-life-is-now moment, where a person sees that they’ve been tossed onto a different path than they anticipated, and they accept that test and excel. Mandy grew emotionally and spiritually because of the hardship, and she became Kaden’s princess, the one who took care of him when his mother couldn’t, much like Pharaoh’s daughter took care of Moses.

I enjoy mixing facts and fiction in my novels, and you’ll learn about some of the truths hidden within the story on my website, www.reneeandrews.com. You can enter a contest on my site to win a painting by Gina Brown, the artist mentioned in the book and the person to whom this book is dedicated.

Additionally, my site includes alternate beginnings for some of my novels and deleted scenes that didn’t make the final cut. If you have prayer requests, there’s a place to let me know on my site. I will lift your request up to the Lord in prayer. I love to hear from readers, so please write to me at renee@reneeandrews.com.

Blessings in Christ,

Renee Andrews

Picture Perfect Family

Renee Andrews

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Whoever welcomes a little child like this

in my name welcomes me.

—Matthew 18:5

This novel is dedicated to Gina Bowers Brown,

my amazing and beautiful sister.

“A sister is a little bit of childhood

that can never be lost.”

—Marion C. Garretty

Chapter One

“So I guess Kaden’s excited that Daniel Brantley is back in town, huh?”

Mandy Carter couldn’t control the natural flinch that Jessica Martin’s question provoked. Consequently, the perfect photograph she’d been about to take turned into a distorted mess when her normally steady hand jerked the camera. Instead of capturing Nathan and Lainey Martin giggling atop two bales of hay by the pond at Hydrangea Park, she got a blurred picture of the grass around her feet.

“Wait, hold on, let’s try that again,” she coaxed the kids, but the two-year-old had turned her attention from her brother to the buckles at the top of her pink overalls, and a group of bicyclists passing by had piqued Nathan’s interest.

“Oh, sorry,” Jessica apologized. “I should have known better than to talk to you while you were photographing the kids.”

“It’s okay, really.” Normally Mandy wasn’t affected at all by conversation while she worked. There was plenty of background noise at the park, and none of that disturbed her concentration. But Jessica’s statement had been far from typical conversation.

“Oh, no,” Lainey said, her tiny brows furrowing when she accidentally unhooked one of her buckles.

Nathan turned back toward his little sister. “Here, Lainey, I’ll help you.” He guided her small hand through the process of fastening the strap while she watched in awe.

“Thanks, Bubba,” she said, giving him a full baby-teeth smile.

Mandy snapped away, capturing the precious gesture and getting even better photographs than she’d planned.

“Oh, wasn’t that adorable? Did you get that?” Jessica asked.

“I sure did,” she said, grinning.

“Chad’s going to love photos of the kids for his birthday present.”

“I certainly hope so,” Mandy said, while a tiny poke in her back told her Kaden’s patience had run out.

“Hey, Aunt Mandy, are you done yet?” Sky-blue eyes—Brantley blue eyes—squinted up at her in the sun.

“I am now,” she said, packing up her camera. “Thank you for being so good while I took the pictures.” She ran a hand over his sandy waves.

“So we can go play now?”

“Sure.”

Kaden pumped a fist in the air. “Yes!” He ran toward Nathan. “You want to slide or swing?”

“We’ll slide first, and then we’ll swing,” Nathan said.

“Okay!”

Nathan, at seven, was three years older than Kaden and therefore “major cool” in her nephew’s eyes. Mandy loved seeing him so excited, so happy. Nine months ago she’d worried that she’d never see that sweet smile again, but there it was, stretching from cheek to cheek as he ran after his new friend toward the wide red slide. Maybe she was getting a better handle on this parenthood thing than she thought.

Jessica scooped up Lainey from Mandy’s hay props and kissed her soft blond curls. “I’m so glad you brought Kaden along today so he and Nathan can play.”

“Me, too,” Mandy said. It wasn’t as if she really had a choice, since he was with her 24/7, but she didn’t mind.