Janelle Denison: Ready-Made Bride

A book in the Whirlwind Weddings series, 1998

The world is made up of words, which most of us read and take for granted. After all, learning to read is taught to us at an early age. But how does someone who sacrificed their education to help support their family cope with not knowing how to read?

Ready-Made Bride is a story that touched my heart from the moment of its inception. So did the gruff hero, who harbored a shocking secret. I knew it would take a special heroine to reach him, a woman who believed in him when he’d long since stopped believing in himself. With the help of one mischievous little boy, these two lonely people learn what love is all about. And with love, anything is possible.

I hope you enjoy Lane and Megan’s story as much as I loved writing it

Happy reading!

HIS dad needed a wife, and he wanted a mom. Seven-year-old Andrew Fielding had found the perfect woman for both of them.

Sitting at the oak desk his dad had made for him and chewing on the eraser end of his pencil, Andy reread the letter he’d written inviting Megan Sanders to come and visit his second grade class for his eighth birthday next month. They’d been penpals for over a year and a half, ever since he’d written to tell her how much he liked the books she wrote called Andy’s Adventures.

They were great adventures. Just the kind he got into. And the boy in the pictures looked like him, too, with blond hair and brown eyes. Andrew liked to pretend he was Megan’s Andy, fighting imaginary pirates and building fortresses to ward off Indians.

She wasn’t married and didn’t have any kids. She’d even written in one of her letters that she wished she had a little boy as wonderful as he was.

He wanted her for a mom, to take care of him and his dad and bake cookies on rainy days.

His dad needed a wife, to make him laugh and smile more often. Someone to convince him to make up with Grandpa and Grandma Linden.

Megan could do all that, and Andrew knew his dad would love her as much as he did.

It was the perfect plan.

Now all he had to do was get his dad to fall in love with her.

“DAD! She’s coming, she’s coming!” Andy bounded down the porch stairs just as Kane exited his pickup. He waved a piece of paper in his hand, his face wreathed in excitement. “She’s coming for my birthday next month!”

Kane Fielding eyed his son curiously as they headed for the back door leading into the house. “Who’s coming for your birthday?”

Andrew skipped next to his side. “Megan is!”

His brows rose in surprise and a little disbelief. “Megan Sanders? The woman who writes those books you read?”

“Yep!”

Kane knew who Megan was. How could he not when that’s all his son ever talked about-Megan Sanders and the Andy’s Adventures stories she wrote. Some days he regretted the day he’d walked into the bookstore in the city and had asked for a good children’s book for his son, who was just starting to read. The clerk had told him that Andy’s Adventures was the hottest series for young boys. The catchy title had amused Kane and enthralled his son enough to write the woman a fan letter that had evolved into a friendship.

“Care to tell me how this came about?” Kane asked, not certain he really wanted to know.

“I wrote her a letter and invited her to come and visit for my birthday.” Andrew grinned at him, seeming pleased with himself. “And I told her she could stay with us and that you wouldn’t mind.”

Kane held open the screen door for Andrew, then followed him into the kitchen. Maintaining a long-distance friendship with the author was one thing, but to actually invite her to Linden? “Andrew, you don’t even know her.”

“Yes, I do, and you do, too.” A frown creased Andrew’s forehead. “She calls all the time, and you’ve talked to her on the phone.”

Kane set his lunch box on the counter, unable to refute Andrew’s claim. After his and Megan’s initial introduction, he only spoke to her briefly each time she called, just enough to let that soft voice of hers tie him inside out and make him wonder, for a second or two, what she was really like before he handed the phone over to Andrew. He’d never minded her talking to his son because Andrew received so much pleasure from their conversations.

“Talking to her on the phone and receiving letters from her isn’t the same thing as really knowing her,” Kane tried explaining.

The pure and simple joy in his son’s eyes slowly died, and his shoulders slumped. “You don’t want her to come visit?”

Kane scrubbed a hand over his jaw, hating the disappointment in Andrew’s voice, and that he’d caused it. “No, it’s not that-”

“Will you at least read the letter she wrote?” he asked, a hopeful catch to his voice.

Kane stared at the piece of paper Andrew extended toward him, then casually moved to the sink and turned on the tap. “Why don’t you read it to me while I wash up?”

Kane listened to his son recite the letter, about Megan telling him she’d love to drive out and visit and stay with them as long as it was okay with his dad. Kane cringed. Great, she was leaving the decision up to him.

Once Andrew was done, he looked at Kane expectantly. “So, can she come, Dad, please?”

Wiping his hands on a dish towel, he released a long breath. “I don’t think her staying with us is a good idea.”

“Why not?”

He gave Andrew a pointed look. “Because it’s not proper.” He hadn’t so much as dated since his wife, Cathy, had died, at least not anyone in town. He could just imagine what a field day the gossips would have if they discovered he had a woman staying with him, no matter how platonic the arrangement.

Tears welled in Andrew’s eyes and his throat bobbed as he swallowed. “This is all I want for my birthday. I was gonna take her to school to meet all my friends. I told them she was coming, and if she doesn’t, they’re gonna think I was lying.”

Kane’s heart twisted. Andrew rarely asked for anything, and he hated denying him the one thing he wanted so badly. Pushing his fingers through his thick hair, he turned his head and glanced out the kitchen window. He knew people would talk and speculate, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been under scrutiny. And when did he care what the small-minded people of Linden thought, anyway?

“Please, Dad?” Andrew whispered.

How could he say no? Making Andrew happy was his main concern. And if having Megan nearby meant so much to his son, he was willing to take a little heat to give him his wish. Megan was, after all, just a friend visiting. A purely normal occurrence, he told himself, just as long as she didn’t expect him to entertain her.

“She can stay here,” Kane said on an expelled rush of breath.

Andrew’s eyes grew round with delight and he danced around excitedly. “Yippee! Come on, Dad, let’s go call her!” He raced into the living room.