Family to the Rescue. Lissa Manley

and no one else. Otherwise, she’d be vulnerable again, and that…well that just wasn’t an alternative.

      “So, tell me what happened,” Aunt Rose said as she set the teakettle to boil.

      Listening intently as Kim told her the whole story, her face somber, Rose fired the tea and set the steaming cup on the table, along with a plate of sandwiches.

      “Gracious,” she said when Kim was done talking. “Sounds like Seth was quite the hero.”

      “He was. His bravery…astounds me.” She swallowed and twisted her hands together, profoundly touched and deeply awed by what he’d done. “I never would have made it to shore without him. I’m sure of it.”

      “We can thank God for sending Seth out to get you,” Rose said, sitting down next to Kim at the table. “This was His work, you know.” Aunt Rose had always been a believer and was on the Moonlight Cove Community Church’s council. It was no surprise she attributed Kim’s survival to divine intervention.

      “Oh, trust me, I’ve already given my thanks to Him.” Her prayers had been answered several times today. Luckily, God was pretty dependable. Kim didn’t know how she would have survived the unexpected disintegration of her marriage without her faith.

      God would never let her down. Unlike men.

      Aunt Rose regarded her for a long moment, then took a sip of tea. Very deliberately, it seemed, she set the mug down. “I need to say something,” she said, her voice tinged with seriousness.

      Kim froze, her tea halfway to her mouth. Ominous words. “Okay.” She put her mug on the table, wondering what was on her aunt’s mind.

      Aunt Rose drew in a deep breath. “The thing is, I saw the way you looked at Seth.”

      Kim’s cheeks heated. Ah.

      She paused, thinking that she would have preferred to keep to herself how Seth’s charm discombobulated her. Absolutely nothing was going to come of her notion that he was the best-looking, bravest guy she’d come across in ages. Mooning over him was pointless. And foolish.

      “Do you like him?” Rose asked pointedly.

      “Um…I don’t know him well enough to like him,” Kim said, scrambling to downplay the situation to Rose. Anything was better than admitting Seth got to her.

      “But you do think he’s handsome, right?” Rose picked up a sandwich and took a bite. “A woman would have to be dead not to.”

      No kidding. “I suppose,” Kim said, hedging, although her aunt hadn’t said anything Kim hadn’t already thought. Seth was gorgeous. And unfortunately, Kim’s judgment had always been disgustingly poor around handsome guys. Scott had been too good-looking for her own well-being. And look where that relationship had gotten her. “You suppose?” her aunt said, her eyebrows high. She waved a hand in the air. “Oh, pshaw.”

      “You don’t believe me?” Kim asked, trying to sound a bit offended to head off her aunt’s suspicions.

      “Honey, I was in the room with the two of you. I saw the look you exchanged, and the way you almost fell over.”

      Kim gazed down at the table. Guilty. There was no use denying she thought Seth was handsome. And she certainly wasn’t going to lie. “Okay, so he’s good-looking. That doesn’t mean I want to date him. I’m not interested in any kind of romantic relationship. With anyone.” Being left brokenhearted once was bad enough. Twice would be unbearable.

      “Are you sure? Seth is very appealing…” Rose said, looking worried.

      “Of course I’m sure. You know how devastated I was when Scott left.” While their marriage had been rocky from the start—at nineteen neither one of them had been mature enough to get married—and they’d grown apart since Dylan had been born two years to the day after their wedding, Kim really hadn’t seen Scott’s abandonment coming. Or hadn’t wanted to see it…

      Another costly mistake, putting her head in the sand, hoping love would conquer all. Of course, it hadn’t. Instead love had backhanded her.

      Kim went on. “I can’t put myself in a position to ever go through that again, and I certainly can’t put Dylan through the loss of a father figure a second time.” She frowned. “He cried every night for weeks after Scott left.” Talk about gut-wrenching.

      Rose’s eyes softened, lit with sympathy. “I know Scott hurt you badly.” She looked off into space as if she was in the grip of a bad memory. Something that had wounded her. “A broken heart is terribly painful. It’s not something anyone wants to go through more than once.”

      Kim peered at her aunt, suddenly curious. “It sounds like you speak from experience.”

      Rose’s eyes got misty. “I had my heart broken a very long time ago,” she said, her voice coated in sorrow.

      Kim’s chest tightened, and she could hardly breathe. Obviously there was a lot of sadness behind Rose’s revelation. “What happened?”

      “Oh, back when I was young—a girl, really—there was a boy I loved. His name was Arthur.” Rose smiled sadly. “Arthur Bennett. We met at a dance in town.”

      “Go on,” Kim said. She needed to hear the story. Making a connection with her aunt via the pain of shared heartbreak seemed important somehow.

      “His family was very wealthy, and mine wasn’t. His parents didn’t think I was good enough for him. They had a family friend’s daughter in mind.” She drew in a deep, shaky breath. “He told me that he loved me, but then he married her instead.”

      A knot of empathy filled Kim’s chest. She’d had no idea about any of Rose’s past romantic turmoil. “Oh, I’m so, so sorry.”

      “Thank you, dear.” She patted Kim’s hand. “So, you see, I understand your wounds and I understand why you don’t want to put your heart on the line. After Arthur left me, I never want to take that risk again, either.”

      So that explained why her aunt had never married. “Being alone is better than hurt and broken in two,” Kim said, her chin raising. Rose’s revelation had confirmed that belief quite well. Staying uninvolved romantically was the right path.

      “So true, so true,” Rose agreed, her eyes reflecting a lifetime of sadness. “And I don’t want to see you get hurt again.” She stood and started cleaning up the kitchen.

      Kim sat back, gripping her mug of tea. Who would have guessed they had so much in common? Her aunt was more like her than she’d realized.

      “Oh, I forgot,” Rose said, picking up a large manila envelope from the counter. “This came in the mail for you today.”

      Kim took the envelope, scoping out the return address, her heart skipping a beat. “It’s from the community college in Seattle.”

      “Are you still planning on taking early education classes there?” Rose asked, gathering up the empty tea mugs.

      “Yes, in time.” Kim had put her dreams of becoming a teacher on hold when Dylan had been born, choosing instead to stay at home with him. She didn’t regret that decision at all, but it was time to follow her dream.

      “But not right away, correct?” Rose asked. “I’m not ready to lose you and Dylan just yet.”

      Kim smiled. “No, not right away.” But eventually, she was moving to Seattle to be near Grant and to take advantage of the early education program at Seattle City College, which wasn’t available anywhere near Moonlight Cove. For sure.

      Rose picked up her glasses and put them on. “Oh, good. I’ve been lonely. It’s wonderful to have you two around.”

      “It’s nice to be here, Aunt Rose,” Kim said, meaning it. She stood and started helping Rose clean the kitchen.

      Rose shooed her away. “No, let me do this. You go ahead and relax. You