With these three uplifting stories
Harlequin Superromance is thrilled
to celebrate the mothers among us,
who bring love and laughter
to their children’s lives.
“Mommy for Rent” by Lori Handeland
After being hired by young Dani Delgado to help plan the Mother’s Day picnic, Kelly Rosholt wants to make a real family with Dani and smitten dad, Scott. But Kelly can’t let herself believe that dreams might come true….
“Along Came a Daughter” by Rebecca Winters
It’s love at first sight when teenager Brittany Jakeman begins to work for restaurateur Abby Chappuis. Now, if the motherless girl can only get her dad to fall for the beautiful widow…
“Baby Steps” by Anna DeStefano
Lily Brooks can’t—won’t—believe her dream of having a baby is over. Now it’s up to her husband, Tyler, with some help from an unlikely accomplice, to help Lily see there’s more than one way to become a mother.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Lori Handeland is a double RITA® Award winner for her novels The Mommy Quest and Blue Moon, as well as a Waldenbooks, BookScan and USA TODAY bestselling author. Lori lives in southern Wisconsin with her husband, two teenage sons and a yellow Lab named Elwood. She can be reached through her Web site at www.lorihandeland.com.
Rebecca Winters, mother of four and grandmother of five, has won a National Readers’ Choice Award, a B. Dalton Award, many Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers’ Choice nominations and awards, a RIO Award for excellence and was named Utah Writer of the Year. When she was seventeen, she went to boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland, which led her to study languages and eventually teach high-school French back in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her first book was published in 1978. At last count she had written ninety-eight books, ninety-four of them with Harlequin Enterprises. Rebecca welcomes feedback and invites her readers to check out her Web site at www.cleanromances.com.
Romantic Times BOOKreviews award-winning author Anna DeStefano volunteers in the fields of grief recovery and crisis care. The rewards of walking with people through life’s difficulties are never-ending, as are the insights Anna has gained into what’s most beautiful about the human spirit. She sees heroes everywhere she looks now. The number one life lesson she’s learned? Figure out what someone truly needs, become the one thing no one else could be for that person, and you’ll be a hero, too!
MOTHERS OF THE YEAR
Lori Handeland
Rebecca Winters
Anna DeStefano
TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON
AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG
STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID
PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND
CONTENTS
MOMMY FOR RENT
Lori Handeland
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
EPILOGUE
ALONG CAME A DAUGHTER
Rebecca Winters
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
BABY STEPS
Anna DeStefano
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
EPILOGUE
MOMMY FOR RENT
Lori Handeland
Dear Reader,
I’m so excited to be a part of the Harlequin Superromance Mother’s Day anthology. Mother’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. Since I am the only female in a houseful of men, I make this day count.
Of course, my favorite Mother’s Day celebration ever was when we went to a baseball game. We had seats in a restaurant overlooking the outfield and they brought us drinks and food for nine straight innings. My three favorite things combined—my boys, food and sports. What a day! So when my editor asked me to write a novella incorporating Mother’s Day, my first thought was baseball.
When former pro baseball player Scott Delgado lands a dream job coaching in the minor leagues, he brings his daughter, Dani, to Kiwanee, Wisconsin. Dani gets into a bind by volunteering her mother to plan the annual Mother’s Day picnic. Only problem is, Dani’s mom took off when she was a baby. Ever practical, Dani decides to rent a mommy. Lucky for her, there’s a new business in town that does just that.
Kelly Rosholt began Rent a Mommy soon after every dream she had for her life was dashed. She was doing just fine until she came to Kiwanee and met Dani and Scott. Then she begins to dream again of the home and family she always wanted.
I hope you enjoy reading Mommy for Rent as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I’d also like to invite you to check out a series of books I’m writing. The Nightcreature Novels from St. Martin’s Paperbacks are paranormal suspense novels featuring werewolf hunters. I like to think of them as Buffy with werewolves. Thunder Moon is available now.
Lori Handeland
For information on future releases and a chance to win free books, visit my Web site at www.lorihandeland.com.
CHAPTER ONE
“ARE YOU A GIRL or a boy?”
Dani Delgado contemplated the kid in front of her. About Dani’s size, which meant taller than most and skinny with it, his hair was so dark it seemed to have blue streaks in the uncombed mess.
“Whaddya think I am?” she sneered. There wasn’t much Dani hated more than being asked if she were a boy, but it happened all the time.
“If I knew, I wouldn’t ask ya.”
He wiped the sleeve of his coat across his runny nose. Two weeks into April and Dani could still see her breath on the air. What was up with that?
Sure, she’d been a little excited when her dad said they were moving from Boca Raton to Kiwanee, Wisconsin. What kid didn’t want to see snow? But Dani didn’t want to see it right now.
“What’s yer name?” the boy asked.
“Dani.”
He made a face. “That ain’t any help.”
Actually her name was Danielle, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.
The bell rang, and all the children filed into Kiwanee Elementary. Dani hung back. This was the fourth school she’d gone to, not countin’ preschool, and she was only seven. But her dad said they were here to stay—at least for a season or two.
Dad had been a semifamous pitcher for the Marlins. Then he’d done something wonky to his arm, and he couldn’t play no more.
For years they’d moved from city to city as he went from job to job—assistant pitching coach, head pitching coach, back to assistant again. Dani had thought they’d never stop. Then he’d gotten a job managing the minor league Kiwanee Warhawks.
Dad said this was his big break, his dream job, his life choice. Whatever that meant. All Dani knew was that he was smiling more than she’d seen him smile ever before.
Determined to fit in this time, Dani marched into Mrs. Henning’s second-grade classroom. She’d been here last week with Dad. They’d walked all over the building so Dani would know where things were, then they’d met Mrs. Henning, who’d shown Dani which sea
t would be hers.
Dani took it, eyes narrowing at the boy from the playground. He had the desk right behind hers. She wasn’t sure yet if he was mean or not, but he wouldn’t be able to pull on her hair, because she’d chopped it off this morning. She knew better than to give nasty kids something to yank on.
Her dad wouldn’t be happy. She’d had to sneak back to the house after he left in order to do it—he never would have let her—but Dani had been determined.
Mrs. Henning, who looked old to Dani, though Dad had said she was only forty—as if that were young—smiled brightly, and Dani winced. She knew what was coming.
“We have a brand-new student today.”
Dani prayed the teacher wouldn’t make her stand in front and talk about herself. She’d had to do that a few times already, and it never went too good. Kids would whisper and point. Dani’s voice would get quieter and quieter until she mumbled. No one cared about the new kid anyway, unless it was to tease him or her.
She’d done her best to dress right today, though Dani wasn’t sure exactly what “right” was. The definition seemed to change at every school she attended.
Dani had worn jeans, sneakers and one of the pink shirts her mom always sent for her birthday, even though Dani hated pink. But girls wore pink, or so it seemed. Dani wasn’t very good at bein’ a girl.
“Everyone, welcome Danielle Delgado, all the way from Florida.” Mrs. Henning clapped, and the class joined in halfheartedly.
“You’re a girl?” the boy behind her whispered.
Dani turned. “Do a lot of boys wear pink in this town?” She smirked. “Do you?”
For a minute Dani thought the kid might slug her, and her fingers curled into her palms, ready, even as she bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything else smart.
Then he laughed, smacked her on the shoulder, hard, and said, “Good one.”
Dani faced front and slowly let her hands relax. She tried, she really did, to be nice, to keep her lip zipped, but she couldn’t help it. Sometimes stuff just came out.
She’d been in fights at other schools, and her dad had said, “No more,” and “Be a lady,” but he never told her how.
Mrs. Henning finished taking attendance—the boy behind Dani was named Jeffrey Braun. People spelled their names weird here—Braun instead of Brown, Mueller instead of Miller—Dad said it was because everyone was German, but Dani didn’t understand why being German gave them license to misspell. When she’d asked, Dad had sighed and rubbed his forehead. He did that a lot when she talked.
The morning went okay. She had no problem keeping up in class. Her mouth wasn’t the only thing smart about Dani. But when lunch came, she thought again about how hard it was to go to a new school. ’Specially when the entire year was almost done. Everyone had their best friend already, and their second best friend and their group of friends. They didn’t need her.
Dani ate alone, then went onto the playground, shivering in her too-thin coat. Who would have thought she’d need to wear a winter coat in springtime? She didn’t have one anyway.
She stared at the other girls, who were all dressed in skirts and colored tights with matching sweaters and low-heeled shoes, their winter jackets unzipped to show off their outfits.
Dani glanced down at her own clothes; she’d chosen wrong again. Not that she had a lot of skirts, or any tights or a single pair of shoes that had a heel. She was a failure as little girl.
Tears burned, and she blinked to keep them back. Dad hated it when she cried. He’d mutter his favorite line from League of Their Own, “There’s no crying in baseball,” and Dani would swallow every sob.
She liked baseball well enough. She was good at it; her dad was a professional. But what she really liked was dancing. What she really wanted was to take ballet lessons.
’Cept no matter how many times she hinted, Dad never got it. He just kept treating her like one of the guys. For her birthday, he’d bought her a miniature version of the Warhawks blue-and-gold baseball uniforms. She’d definitely wanted to cry then.
Dani continued to watch the girls, who stood in a circle at the edge of the playground talking and giggling. They sounded like birds flapping and squawking after being startled from the trees. She wasn’t sure how to talk to them or if she should even try.
Dad always said to “just do” things—hit the ball, ride that bike, make those friends. So she walked over and said, “Hi.”
They’d been discussing some picnic, she caught that much, but at the sound of Dani’s voice, everyone went silent.
One girl, the one Dani figured for the leader, since she had the nicest clothes, the blondest hair and the loudest voice, lifted her eyebrows. “Does your mom want to do it?”
Instead of saying I don’t have a mom, which, after only being in town a few days, Dani already knew made her weird, she asked, “Do what?”
“Plan the Kiwanee Mother’s Day Picnic. The mom who was supposed to do it got her leg broke on the ice.”
Dani frowned, trying to figure out how ice could break a leg.
“They need someone to volunteer, but all the other moms already have a job.” The golden girl smiled. “Except yours.”
“I…uh—”
“We have to have a Mother’s Day picnic,” the girl exclaimed, and all the others nodded like the wives Dani had seen in that Stepford movie Dad hadn’t wanted her to watch. “It’s the best time all year.”
Dani was going to tell the truth—that her mom had walked out when Dad had quit playing baseball and Dani hadn’t seen her since. But when she opened her mouth, what came out instead was, “Sure, she’ll do it.”
THINGS WENT DOWNHILL from there. The golden girl, whose name was Ashley Wainright, let out a shriek and hugged her. Dani stood stiff and shocked as the rest of the girls patted her and cooed just like the birds she’d been comparing them to.
Stepford birds, her mind whispered, which was kind of creepy.
Then they all trooped back to school, and Ashley, the big mouth, told Mrs. Henning, who frowned at Dani—after all, Dani’s dad had brought her to school and if he’d mentioned a mom at all it would have been to say that Dani didn’t have one.
“But Dani, I thought—”
“She isn’t here yet,” Dani blurted. “She had to sell the other house.”
“Oh.” Mrs. Henning scrunched up her lips, then glanced back and forth between Dani and Ashley. “I see.”
Dani kind of thought Mrs. Henning did see, but at least she didn’t say anything more. The same could not be said of Ashley. She told everybody.
By the end of the day, twenty people had thanked Dani for her mother’s help. She’d been invited to a birthday party, a roller-skating party and a sleepover.
As Dani headed to her sitter’s house, only six blocks away, Ashley skipped past and called out, “I’ll have my mom call your mom.”
Dani waved, smiled and muttered, “Good luck with that.”
She began to feel sicker and sicker. Ashley’s mom would call, and Dani’s dad would spill the beans, then Ashley would hate her and so would everyone else, and Dani’d never have a single friend in this town.
Why hadn’t she just told the truth? Better to be the weird kid without a mom than the liar who’d invented one. Unless…
Dani stopped walking and several kids behind her scooted around. No one told her to “move it,” and no one gave her a shove. First day and she was already okay, and all it had taken was volunteering her “mom” to plan a silly picnic. Maybe Dani could plan the picnic and pretend her mom was doing it.
Nah. She’d never pull that off. Somewhere along the way, someone would want to meet Mrs. Delgado, and then what would Dani do, rent a mommy?
The thought made her forget she was supposed to go to the sitter’s. She gasped; she giggled; then she ran all the way home and pulled out the local paper, turning to the center and reading out loud the ad she’d seen that morning.
“Grand opening,” she read. “Need help? Don’t
have enough hands? Time to rent a mommy.”
Dani picked up the phone.
CHAPTER TWO
THE PHONE RANG as Kelly Rosholt was leaving for the day. Her partner, Paige Jensen, was on another line and didn’t even glance up.
Their rule was to deal with the customer you had. They never put anyone on hold so that the caller felt devalued. People could leave a message, and Rent a Mommy would get back to them. When they did, that customer would be treated as if they were the most important human being in the world at that moment, which they were.
Kelly and Paige had turned their brainchild into a very profitable business. Catering to the twenty-first-century working mother, Rent a Mommy specialized in the kind of reliable, efficient and loving care usually found only in a mother. A mommy could be rented to cook, clean, babysit, tutor, sew or even take over a frazzled parent’s shift at the local concession stand or bake sale. Anything to make life easier, Rent a Mommy did.
They’d been asked to do some pretty odd things. If the requests weren’t illegal, immoral or just plain moronic, Kelly, Paige and their army of mommies did their best to oblige.
Kelly snatched up the phone. “Rent a Mommy. This is Kelly.”
“Kelly! Thank God.”
Kelly recognized the voice of one of her newest employees, Lisa Lindermeyer, above the background shrieks.
“What’s going on?” Kelly demanded. From the volume of those screams, bloody murder wasn’t out of the question.
“The kid’s flipping out.”
“What kid?” Kelly glanced at Paige, who’d hung up with her client. Paige shrugged at Kelly’s silent question. She had no idea where Lisa had gone, either.
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