The Wonder of His Love: A Christian Romance (Fostered by Love Book 1) Read online

  The Wonder of His Love

  Fostered by Love – Book One

  By

  Kimberly Rae Jordan

  Copyright ©2016

  Kimberly Rae Jordan

  ISBN-13: 978-1-988409-02-3

  A man, a woman & their God.

  Three Strand Press publishes Christian Romance stories

  that intertwine love, faith and family.

  Always clean. Always heartwarming. Always uplifting.

  Cover designed by Jay Aheer @ Simple Defined Art

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations being used in reviews or articles about the book.

  This is a work of fiction. The situations, characters, names and places are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to locales, events, actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment and may not be re-sold or transferred via any method to any other individual. If you are reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please respect the hard work of the author who has spent many hours creating this story for your enjoyment and purchase your own copy of this eBook. Please do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials by illegally downloading or sharing this eBook. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

  Available Titles

  By Kimberly Rae Jordan

  (Christian Romances)

  ~*~ The Callaghans & McFaddens ~*~

  A Handful of Flowers

  A Change of Heart

  ~*~ Fostered by Love ~*~

  The Wonder of His Love

  ~*~ BlackThorpe Security ~*~

  Guarding Her Heart

  Signs of Love

  A Matter of Trust

  Proof of Life

  Beauty from Ashes

  ~*~ The McKinleys ~*~

  This Time with Love

  Forever My Love

  When There Is Love

  ~*~ Home to Collingsworth ~*~

  Home Is Where the Heart Is

  Home Away From Home

  Love Makes a House a Home

  The Long Road Home

  Her Heart, His Home

  Coming Home

  ~*~ Those Karlsson Boys ~*~

  Waiting for Rachel

  Worth the Wait

  The Waiting Heart

  Marrying Kate

  Faith, Hope & Love

  A Little Bit of Love:

  A Collection of Christian Romance Short Stories

  For the latest news on releases and sales for Kimberly Rae Jordan’s books, please sign up for her newsletter.

  http://eepurl.com/WFhYr

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  1

  Noella Crawford heard the chirp of the email alert on her phone and had to grip the steering wheel tightly with both hands to resist fishing the cell out of her purse to check it. She’d gotten a ticket the previous month for using her phone while stopped at a light and had decided then that waiting to check an email was less painful than shelling out money for a fine. The fine had been even more painful because the email she’d pulled out her phone to check had been spam. And not the kind that came out of a can. She’d learned her lesson, but when yet another alert sounded, she almost gave in and checked. Almost.

  There was only fifteen minutes left in her drive home. Surely she could hang on that long. If she couldn’t, it was time to hire a chauffeur so that she could check her emails to her heart’s content while she tooled around the city. But there was no way she was going to do that, so she might as well calm herself down and focus on something other than the apparent flood of emails to her phone. Maybe she needed to get into the habit of turning off the ringer so she didn’t hear the alerts as she drove.

  Noella drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited for a red light to change. Traffic was worse than ever. It was still over a month ‘til Christmas, but it seemed that people were already flocking to malls and stores. She was grateful to whoever had invented online shopping because that was the only way she got hers done in recent years. Her shopping was, for the most part, finished. She started her Christmas shopping early each new year, taking advantage of the extra time to find the best deals for the people on her list. And she made sure to stock up on Christmas wrapping paper and cards during the previous after-Christmas sales.

  She tried to make sure that this crazy holiday impacted her bank account as little as possible. Christmas had never been her favorite holiday, mainly because it had always overshadowed her birthday. When there had been a toss-up between celebrating her birthday or Christmas…her birthday had always lost out. It had gotten to the point where, as a child of about eight, she hadn’t even wanted to acknowledge her birthday anymore.

  Once Noella reached her house, she parked in her spot in the double garage. She turned off the engine, but instead of getting out right away, she reached for her purse and grabbed her phone. Because she knew what was likely waiting for her in the house, Noella took her time reading through the new emails. None of them were urgent, and out of the five that had landed in her inbox, only one was work related. The rest were all junk.

  Knowing she couldn’t stay out in the garage forever, Noella gathered up her purse and laptop case then got out of the car. Grateful that the garage was attached to the house, she let herself into the mudroom where she removed her coat and boots. The scent of food made her stomach rumble, and she realized that she hadn’t eaten anything other than a cinnamon roll she’d grabbed from the batch her foster sister and housemate, Erin Kirkland had made earlier that morning. Her plan of escaping to her room to get a little more work done was now having a serious run for its money.

  In hopes of remaining undetected, Noella shuffled softly on her stocking clad feet into the kitchen to see if there was any food sitting out. She sighed when she only saw a bag of rolls that she recognized as being from the bakery. They must have taken the rest of the food downstairs to eat in the rec room. Well, at least she had a jar of Nutella that she knew would taste amazing on the fresh rolls.

  A sudden burst of laughter coming from the basement had Noella looking in the direction of the stairs. Thankfully, it didn’t sound like anyone was coming upstairs. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be part of the gathering, but she was tired—having been up since five that morning—and her immediate plan was to eat some food and answer some emails before crawling into bed.

  Noella opened a lower cabinet then got down on her knees so she could reach into the back corner, past the bulky plastic containers, and grabbed the large jar of Nutella she’d hid there a couple of weeks ago. If she didn’t hide the scrumptious chocolate spread, Erin would likely use it in some baking experiment. Noella had learned early on that if she wanted to have Nutella for her bread or toasted bagels, she had to hide it.

  “Ah, Noella!”

  Noella jerked her hand out, clutching the jar of Nutella, and in the process
sent some of the plastic containers that had been on the shelf in front of the Nutella tumbling to the floor.

  “I was wonderin’ where you might be.”

  Fighting the urge to shove the Nutella back into the cupboard, Noelle set the jar on the counter and put the plastic containers back into place before getting to her feet. She turned to look at the man standing a few feet away, feeling a now familiar knot of anticipation in her stomach. His black hair curled slightly around his ears and the nape of his neck, and a chunk of it lay on his forehead. It looked longer than she had seen him wearing it since they’d met a year ago. His seafoam green eyes sparkled with warmth as he smiled at her.

  As she pulled at the hair elastic around her wrist, letting it snap back against her skin, Noella really wished she didn’t notice things like that about Finlay Kinnaird. The Scotsman moved a little closer, forcing Noella to tip her head back a bit in order to continue to meet his gaze. He stood about five inches taller than her and had broad shoulders and muscled arms which were currently covered by his light gray long-sleeved T-shirt.

  Her fingers fumbled again for the elastic as she averted her gaze from him then turned to reach for the bag of rolls she planned to eat with the Nutella.

  “That be what you’re planning on for supper?” Disapproval was clear in Finn’s voice. “I thought you might not eat something good for you.”

  Before Noella could respond to the man’s comment, he moved to open the fridge. After grabbing a container from inside, he reached into a nearby cupboard and snagged a bowl. With easy movements, he dumped the contents into the bowl and then put it in the microwave. As she watched him, Noella tried to ignore the warmth that flooded her heart at the sight of him preparing food for her.

  “This is a special family recipe,” Finn said, his words only slightly revealing his Scottish heritage. His accent was always present to some degree, but Noella didn’t know what prompted it to become stronger. Most times he just had an accent but didn’t use a lot of expressions that she would have pegged as being Scottish. Whether his accent was strong or light, listening to him speak was something she enjoyed more than she should. “I think you’re gonna love it. Take a seat.”

  Noella thought about arguing, but the aroma coming from the microwave was hard to ignore. There was no sense in denying herself the chance to taste it, especially when she was hungry. With a nod, she moved to the other side of the island counter and settled on a stool. “Just tell me it’s not Haggis and we’re good.”

  Finn chuckled as he tossed her a quick look before going to open the microwave. “I’ll get you to try Haggis one of these days. It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

  Noella wrinkled her nose. “I’ve actually heard that it’s worse.”

  “Och. It’s they wimpy foreigners wha listen too much wi’ their ears and nae enough wi’ their taste buds.” Finn’s accent had deepened considerably but when he grinned at her, Noella knew he’d done it on purpose and probably had exaggerated some of the words. He gave the bowl a quick stir before setting it in front of her. “It’s actually beef stew. I made a big pot of it earlier today and brought some over.”

  Since the main person Noella had hoped to avoid now stood before her, she wasn’t going to decline the meal, especially since its aroma was so enticing. “Thank you. It smells delicious.”

  “It tastes even better.” Finn propped a hip against the edge of the counter and crossed his arms. “I promise you that.”

  Shooting him a skeptical glance, Noella lifted a spoonful to her mouth. As she chewed, she realized that he hadn’t been lying. Spicy flavors and warmth flooded her taste buds. He watched her with one lifted brow, as if challenging her to not like it. He was right, of course. It did taste even better than it smelled. The man knew how to cook, that was for sure. And he looked like a dream with his dark hair and light green eyes. Even wearing a pair of faded jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt, the man still looked fine, and to top it all off, he was a genuinely nice guy.

  Which spelled trouble for Noella.

  She lowered her hands into her lap and snapped the elastic on her wrist. Every time she was around Finn lately, she had to fight to keep her crush on him from growing into something more. He might be an attractive –and super nice—guy but he wasn’t the man for her. She had a plan, and she would stick to it, even when her heart might object. It was too easy to make mistakes when the heart led the way, and she would be a fool to not learn from those mistakes, even if she wasn’t the one who had made them.

  After a few more bites, Noella glanced at Finn and asked, “Is Bennett here tonight?”

  Finn’s eyes narrowed as he shook his head. “Gabe is, though. Regaling us all wi’ stories from his latest adventure.”

  Noella shuddered. She’d heard a few of those stories, and they were scary. Why anyone would willingly put their lives at risk simply for the sake of entertainment was beyond her. She was as interested in the world as the next person, but she wasn’t going to kill herself in the process of enjoying it.

  Before she could say anything further, there was a muffled ring from the depths of her purse. She popped one more bite into her mouth, chewing quickly as she pulled the bag toward her and searched for her phone. A smile crossed her face when she saw who was calling.

  “Hello, Mama Kay. How are you doing?” If there was one person who could be guaranteed to put a smile on her face, it was her foster mom, Kay.

  “Hello, sweetheart. I’m doing great.”

  They chatted for a few minutes about their day while Noella continued to work her way through the bowl of stew. Finn had moved away from the counter and was looking through the fridge once again.

  “I actually have a reason for calling, honey.” Kay’s tone had turned serious, and Noella had a feeling she knew where this was headed. “Your mom contacted me tonight. She wants to talk to you. I told her I wouldn’t give her your number but that I’d pass on her message. I’ll text you the number.”

  Noella slumped against the counter with a frown. “Okay. Thank you.”

  They chatted for a few more minutes before Kay reminded her of the annual cookie exchange that she expected Noella and Erin to attend. “I’ll try my best to be there.”

  “There’s no try, darling, only do. I’ll see you there.”

  Noella couldn’t help but smile at Kay’s comment. “Okay. Love you.”

  After they had said goodbye, Noella finished up her stew, suddenly noticing the glass of milk sitting in front of her. She looked up to see Finn once again leaning against the counter, watching her.

  “It’s good for you,” he said with a nod toward the glass. “And it goes well with the dessert.”

  “There’s dessert?” Working in a bakery meant that Noella was often tapped out on sweet treats so she was curious what Finn might have for her.

  “I know you girls are pros at the baking stuff, so I decided to fall back once again on an old family recipe from my gran.” With a flourish, Finn presented her with a plate that held two cookies. “These are her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, otherwise known as the best cookie you will ever eat.”

  Noella arched a brow at that claim. “You do remember I am part owner of a bakery where we do, in fact, make cookies.”

  “Aye. I do recall that, but you don’t sell these.” Finn gave her a grin as he pushed the plate toward her. “I didn’t steer you wrong with the stew now, did I?”

  No, he certainly hadn’t. Noella reached for one of the cookies and took a bite. For a moment, as she chewed, she was able to forget about the difficult phone call that lay ahead and just enjoy a truly delicious cookie. Crispy on the outside but wonderfully chewy on the inside with chocolate chips that tasted divine with the oatmeal. Maybe they needed to hire the man to work for them and only bake these cookies.

  “These are amazing! Why haven’t you baked these before now?” Noella asked. They’d known Finn for about a year now. Her foster brothers had met him at a men’s group at their church and invited him hom
e one evening. He’d been part of their lives ever since.

  Finn shrugged. “Just thought maybe it was time to up my game. To bring more than just a casserole and boxed mix cake. Plus, I had some time on my hands today.”

  “Work was slow?” Noella didn’t know much about the car repair business, but Finn did since it was his job. And while she’d appreciated knowing someone she could trust to work on her car, it pretty much guaranteed that Finn would never land on her list of potential husbands. As did the fact that he lived in a trailer park. It was a nice trailer park, but most people who were financially secure didn’t live in trailer parks. As much as she hated to exclude him, Noella refused to repeat her mother’s mistakes of marrying for love—several times—only to have the men end up taking her to the cleaners and leaving her broke in both her bank account and her heart.

  Her mother may not have learned from her own mistakes, but Noella was going to. That meant that she needed any potential husband to be successful in his own right. He needed to have his own money so that he wouldn’t need hers. Unfortunately, a car mechanic wasn’t likely to have a bank account balance that equalled or exceeded hers. She had no interest in a man’s bank account beyond making sure that he wouldn’t need hers.

  “Yeah, work was a bit slow.” Finn took the bowl that had contained her stew and rinsed it out before putting it in the dishwasher. “Had a couple of meetings I had to deal with as well.”

  Noella took a sip of milk and then took a bite of the second cookie. “Well, if you ever lose your job at the repair shop, you can come make chocolate chip cookies at the bakery.”

  “Ah, Noella. You tryina get close to me?” Finn gave her a lopsided smile and a wink.