A Child's Gift. Linda Warren

patted his back. “It’s okay, buddy. You’re going home with me...and Anamarie.” He looked over at her and her smile was everything he wanted to see.

      ANAMARIE MARVELED AT Rico’s gentle nature with Dusty. He eased all of the little boy’s fears. And somehow he eased hers, too.

      He slid into the driver’s seat, his hands on the steering wheel. “It’s getting late so how about if we go to Temple and have supper?”

      “Sounds great,” she said with a slight smile. “I really don’t mind cooking. I don’t know why I said that.”

      “No cooking. Right, Dusty?”

      “Uh-huh.”

      “Where do you want to go?” Rico asked her.

      She had hoped that he would choose a place, but he probably didn’t go out all that much and didn’t know of any restaurants in Temple.

      “Pizza,” Dusty shouted from the back seat.

      “Anamarie gets to choose.”

      “Why?” Dustin wanted to know.

      “Because she’s a girl and we always let girls go first.”

      “Oh.” Clearly Dusty was baffled by the answer.

      “There’s a nice Italian restaurant that I used to go to with Angie and Rachel and it has a kiddie menu. It was Angie’s way of getting me out of the bakery and the food was delicious.”

      “Pizza it is then.”

      Excitement ran through her veins at the light in his dark eyes; her first date with a dark, mysterious stranger. Except he wasn’t a stranger. He was the man of her dreams and the man she wanted to share her life with. They’d talked enough and it was time to take their relationship further. It was long overdue.