by Kally Ash
“There’s no room,” her dad finished. “How did you ever get involved with them?”
“I just…” She shrugged. “I felt like I had to go in there one day. Anyway, the buildings are getting renovated and another wing is being added and Mother Catherine Marie asked me to head up an education program in an effort to give the kids a fighting chance before they’re forced to leave at eighteen. A lot of the kids leave uneducated, unemployed, and without anywhere to stay.”
“And what do you hope to achieve there?”
If he’d asked her that question a year ago, she would’ve gone on the defensive, but now she could tell he was genuinely curious.
“I’m going to be running a program that gives these kids options for vocation and get them into accommodations so they can get on their feet. I want…” She stared at him with conviction. “I want to help them have a good life.”
He touched her cheek gently. “Oh, Natasha. You will achieve anything you put your mind to, including this.”
She swallowed. “Thank you.”
“I think I should like to come and see the building when it’s finished. Would that be... okay?”
She threw her arms around her dad and said, “I would love that.”
Thirty
Twelve Months Later...
Natasha stared up at the building John had designed for the orphanage and smiled. It was finished. It was twelve months of hard slog, but it was done.
And it was perfect.
John wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, his body a wall of heat at her back. Kissing her on the side of the neck, he said, “That’s what you did.”
Shaking her head, she spun around in the cage of his arms. They’d been dating officially ever since Beau and Vee’s wedding and she couldn’t be happier giving away the one-night-stand lifestyle. John had transferred from his San Diego architecture firm to the LA office and he’d moved into her new, much smaller apartment with her. Life was pretty much as perfect as it could get. That’s not to say that there weren’t any ups and downs because there were, but with John in her life, they all seemed so much smaller than before.
“We did this, John,” she said, kissing him.
“I’ll never get sick of this,” he told her. “Holding you. Kissing you whenever I want.”
Man, he was in serious trouble once they got home.
Someone cleared their throat and Natasha turned to find her parents standing there. John let her go immediately, holding out his hand to her father. Natasha hugged her mother, kissing her on both cheeks before doing the same to her dad.
When they broke apart, her dad looked up at the new wing. “So, this is it? Finished.”
She turned around to look at it too. “Yep. Finished. Finally. I can’t wait to get the kids into their new rooms and get these education programs running.”
All around them were the kids that lived at the orphanage along with the nuns who provided for them and a dozen reporters and two local news crews. The expansion was big news, but the impact it would make on the community and these kids’ lives was even bigger.
Mother Catherine Marie walked to the front of the building and a hush fell over the crowd. She didn’t even have to say a damn word.
“Thank you all for coming here today,” the elderly nun said. “We’re here because today is a day that will go down in our history. To some of you, this is just an orphanage, but to the kids who live here, it’s their home and perhaps the only home they’ve ever known.
“It’s a landmark in this neighborhood. It’s a lifeline in a sea of doubt and despair.”
Catherine Marie fixed her eyes on Natasha and smiled.
“Sometimes God brings people into your life when you least expect it. Sometimes God brings you an angel on earth, one who gives so much and asks for nothing in return.” She turned to look at the red-brick building, touching the wall closest to her. “This building wouldn’t have been possible without a number of people. Firstly, I want to thank Robert Bandy from RDM Architecture. Robert, can you please come up here?”
John’s boss clapped John on the shoulder as he passed on his way to the makeshift stage.
“Robert was once like these children here. He rose to greatness though, becoming our first ever boy to go to college. Now, he’s the owner of a large architecture firm with offices both here and in San Diego. His firm is responsible for the design of this building, but the man who did the hard yards, as it were, was John Baxter. John, can you also come up here, please?”
The audience gave him a round of applause, which he accepted with a shy smile. And Natasha thought she couldn’t be any more in love.
“Are we late? Did we miss it?”
Natasha turned to find Vee and Beau there.
“You made it!” she said, wrapping her arms around Vee.
“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t miss this for all the world.”
She squeezed her best friend’s hand and turned back to Catherine Marie.
“Of course, without these two men behind me, this building couldn’t have been designed, but the one person who championed this whole project and who funded it all is Natasha Fraser.”
Beside her, her parents, Vee, and Beau all gasped. She could feel them staring, but she kept her eyes on John. She approached the Mother Superior and hugged her.
“We couldn’t have done this without you,” the nun said into her ear and Natasha blinked away the tears. She’d never been good with gratitude, happier to just blend into the background if possible.
Turning back to the crowd, the Mother Superior continued, “I’m also pleased to say that Natasha has been working tirelessly to get our vocational education programs off the ground, and as of tomorrow, we will have our first electricians course and hairdressing course starting here.”
Cameras clicked and the crowd clapped, and Natasha felt like she wanted to shrink away from it all. John’s hand found the small of her back though, bolstering her, even though she didn’t ask for it. That was John though—strong, dependable, and always there for her.
“Now,” the nun said, handing her a comically large pair of scissors, “would you do the honor of officially opening the Fraser Wing of the Our Lady of the Rosary Orphanage?”
With a shaking hand, she cut through the red ribbon, aware of the photographers snapping away, of the kids who were anxious to get inside and check out what was now all theirs.
As the kids surged forward, Natasha stepped back and watched them. John came to stand beside her.
“I’m so proud of you,” he murmured, kissing her hair. “So proud.”
“Me too,” she replied, leaning against him.
Someone took her by the hand and she turned to find her father there, tears sitting unshed in his eyes.
“Oh, Natasha,” he said. “You didn’t tell me you were funding this, that this was your project.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t think it was important where the money came from, just that it was there for these kids.”
He thumbed away the tears that were now flowing freely down her cheeks. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. Your heart should be soaring.”
“It is,” she told him. “These are happy tears.”
His eyes went up to the plaque beside the door and smiled. “The Fraser Wing. It has a nice ring to it.”
“Doesn’t it?” she said with a laugh. Hooking her arm through his, she added, “Do you want to come and check it out?” And as they stepped over the threshold, she said, “This is my legacy, Dad. I hope it makes you proud.”
Also by Kally Ash
Temptation Series
Tempt Me
Tease Me
Taste Me
Vipers MC
Taking the Fall
About the Author
Kally Ash is a USA Today Best Selling Author whose passions include curling up with a good book, devouring chocolate and getting kitty cuddles.
Tempt Me is her debut novel, and the first book in a three book series.
Some of her unicorn authors include Sawyer Bennett, Elizabeth Hayley and Haley Jenner.