Page 2 of Theirs to Treasure

The Skype rang, saving Chance. Betty positioned herself in front of her computer screen while he got up and leaned against the kitchen counter with his ever-present cup of coffee.

“Betty, both Sarah and Rebecca got scholarships! Can you believe it?” Josie literally bounced, and for a moment her face wasn’t in the screen. She got herself together and positioned herself back into the center of the camera.

“They both worked so hard. Sarah got an academic scholarship, and Becca got a scholarship in volleyball. Now, neither of them is full scholarships, but with the money we’ve saved and help from financial aid, they’ll both be able to go to school! Can you believe it?” Her smile was wider than the Mississippi.

“So, it’s just like you planned, they’ll room together at the dorms there in Florida, right?” Betty asked.

“Yep, they’re so excited. I mean, they say they’ll miss me, and I’m sure that they will, but this is it, it’s the start of their new lives.” For a moment Josie choked up, but then she continued. “They’ve both worked so hard. They deserve this. They really do, Betty.” Chance watched Josie’s smile fade a little as she thought of her younger sisters leaving.

“Listen to what you just said,” Betty stated. “The same can be said for you. You’ve worked just as hard as they have, Josie. It’s time for you to start a new life, too. Time and again, you’ve talked about starting your own business, how you’re tired of managing someone else’s. Now is your time, Josie.”

“But Washington state is so far away,” Josie protested. “I can’t stand the thought of being that far away from the girls.”

“I know, Honey. But they have each other. If they need you, you can be on the next plane to Florida. Now’s the perfect opportunity for you. It’s like fate has taken a hand and is guiding you to Fate Harbor. Did you catch that pun?” Betty chuckled.

Josie laughed, just as Chance’s mother intended.

“Sweetheart, Butch and I love it up here, away from the hustle and bustle of California. What would make it even more perfect is having our chicks around us.”

“I wasn’t even with you two full years,” Josie protested.

“You’re one of ours. Never think differently. Butch wouldn’t be working so hard to negotiate with the Matushkas, otherwise. He’s been trying to get a good deal on that bakery for the last three and a half months on your behalf.”

“I know, I can’t believe it.” Josie shook her head in bewilderment.

“Well, believe it.”

“He’s gotten them to agree to a perfect price and he’s talked to the local banker regarding a business loan. You won’t believe the rate he has waiting for you. Josie, it’s meant to be.”

Chance chuckled to himself at the thought of his foster father negotiating anything more than a prime fishing spot on Lake Snomish. Butch Hutchins was many things, but a negotiator was not one of them. Chance, however, excelled at negotiations. And Betty excelled as an actress, because she maintained a straight face as she worked to convince Josie that her future waited in Fate Harbor.

In the last month, as Josie’s sisters were getting ready for college, Betty increased the Skype calls to twice a week. Chance made sure to be at the house for each one of them, and he was damn near positive that once Zee’s sisters had been accepted into Florida State University, she would move. At least he prayed she would. Betty wasn’t lying about the fact that Butch wanted his chicks home to roost as much as Betty did. Chance marveled at the beautiful bond Betty and Butch had created with all the children they’d fostered.

Chance listened as Betty provided Josie with the contact information for the Matushkas and Evan Stuart, the local banker, satisfied that things were going along as planned. Her file told him that a sense of family and security—the two things that she had sorely missed with her birth mother—would draw Josie to Fate Harbor now that her sisters were leaving for college. Betty, Butch, and Josie’s sisters were the four people who represented those things, and Chance hoped that Josie remembered him as one of the people in that circle as well.

“Josie, you’re going to make those calls, aren’t you, Honey?” Again, Chance smiled at the woman’s tenacity.

“What choice do I have, Betty? It’s fate.” Chance stifled an involuntary snicker as the two women laughed aloud again.

After the call ended, Betty turned to him. She watched silently as he finished his coffee. Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore. “What?”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Chance saw both mischief and real concern on Betty’s face.

“What did you always tell me when things got difficult growing up, Mama Betty?” Chance asked, using his childhood name for the woman who raised him.

“I told you trusting chance was always the right decision for you.” She smiled fondly at the big blond man leaning against her kitchen counter.

“That advice never let me down, Betty, and this time I think it’s going to make my wildest dreams come true.”

Betty closed the laptop, got up, took the empty mug out of Chance’s hand, and put it into the sink. She turned, looked up at Chance, and cupped his cheek. Pride shone in her eyes. “I think you’re going to end up making a couple of other people’s wildest dreams come true, too. You just let me know how I can help.”

Chance smiled down at Betty Hutchins and grinned. “Well, now that you ask…” he began.

The two conspirators spent the rest of the morning figuring out how to coordinate the next steps.

Chapter 2

Sam pushed the split wood off the stump and bent to pick up another uncut log, gritting his teeth so he wouldn’t groan as a spike of agony drove through his temple.