for the first two chapters of HIS SECOND CHANCE, which features Matt and Gloria!
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Sneak Peek! His Second Chance Chapter One
Matthew Whettstein finished with his tie and went down the hall to the kitchen. Britt and Keith both sat at the tiny table pushed into a corner, each with a bowl of oatmeal in front of them. “How is it?” he asked his kids.
“Good,” Keith said, getting up. He too wore his best Sunday suit, but his tie sat askew at his collar. Britt gave Matt a thumbs-up, her mouth full of her lunch.
Matt hated that he’d made oatmeal for lunch, but it was easy, and they had a long day ahead of them still. Not only that, but he’d been out in the fresh snow, fighting the tractor and then the barn doors for far too long.
If they didn’t leave in the next five minutes, they’d be late to the wedding.
Matt did not want to be late for Hunter Hammond’s marriage ceremony. He loved the kid—now a twenty-six-year-old man, Matt supposed—as if he were his own, and he’d been working for the Hammond’s on their family farm for over fifteen years.
“Finish up, Britt,” he said, turning to his son. “Let me fix your tie, bud.”
Keith held still and let him do it, but he wore an edge in his eyes. Matt smiled at him anyway, because with a fifteen-year-old, it was either smile or snap. “It’s crooked. I’m pretty sure Hunter was dating Molly when he was fifteen, and look at them now.” Matt got the offending knot in just the right place and ran his hands down his son’s shoulders.
He’d definitely put on some muscle since they’d moved to Ivory Peaks eighteen months ago. Keith had been working the farm too, earning money and learning the ins and outs of horse care from one of the best—Gloria Munson.
Matt thought he was a pretty decent groomsman too, and his pride in his work had only increased since he’d made the move permanent.
Keith loved working with the horses, though he’d never said so. Matt could just tell by the way the boy got up in the morning and took care of them before school, rain or shine. He could sometimes be found leaning against a fence, talking to a horse. He led them all to their therapy appointments, and he’d even agreed to participate in the equine therapy program that Hunter and his soon-to-be-wife, Molly, had started last year.
Pony Power had opened her doors to children with a variety of needs in May of this year, but Matt, Gloria, Molly, and Hunter had been working on the program for almost a year before that. He loved watching the kids come and go on the farm, and he loved that his two children had been getting the help they needed too.
Behind him, a crash sounded, and Matt spun to find Britt on the floor, her bowl still skittering toward his boots. “You okay?” He stepped over the dish to his daughter, gently putting his hands under her arms and lifting her up.
Tears filled her precious blue eyes, and Matt hugged her, wishing with everything in him that he could take her weaknesses and illnesses from her. He couldn’t, and most days, he’d accepted that. Sometimes, though, the ache in his father heart brought about a sense of injustice and sadness. He’d taken her to a half-dozen doctors, and none of them could give him an official diagnosis. With her stuttering and her poor muscle control, one had hypothesized she’d had a stroke at some point in her life.
Another had said her symptoms sometimes came from mental retardation, usually caused when the brain went without oxygen for too long. Another thought perhaps fetal alcohol syndrome. The real problem was, Brittany had not suffered any of those things, at least not that Matt knew of. No strokes. No time underwater or without oxygen. Her mother hadn’t drunk while she was pregnant.
“You’re okay,” he whispered to his daughter, pressing his eyes closed for only a moment. “Did your legs just give out?”
She nodded against his shoulder, being very brave and only sniffling. She suddenly pushed away from him, her eyes wide and afraid. “Is my ha-ha-hair okay, Dad-dad-daddy?” She reached up to touch her pretty hair, which Elise and Jane had come to braid that morning.
Jane was Hunter’s half-sister, and she was only a couple of years older than Brittany.