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Seven
Josh breezed into the cabin on a rush of cold air. Bracing a hip against the door, he closed and latched it before starting across the room toward the warmth of the fireplace.
He passed Grace, seated on die sofa, surrounded by a stack of letters and photographs.
„Getting cold out there. I didn’t realize just how cold until I stepped out of the shed and decided to wash up in the lake. I must be losing my touch. Even though I cleaned every single part, I couldn’t get that generator to…“ His words died in midsentence when he caught sight of Grace’s tear-streaked face. „Hey, I’m really sorry.“ His voice lowered. „I see you decided to free the genie. Is it something you can talk about?“
Before she could say a word, the tears started fresh.
„Here.“ He was beside her in an instant, his arms outstretched. „Let me help.“
Grace stiffened. It simply wasn’t her style to give in to any weakness, especially one involving something so private and painful. But his offer was too tempting. Right now, this minute, she was feeling so alone and so wounded. Where was the harm in allowing someone else to be strong for her, just for a little while? The moment the thought formed in her mind, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to accept the comfort he was offering.
On trembling legs she stood and nearly fell into his arms. „Oh, Josh.“
„Oh, baby, whatever it is, you’ll get through it.“ He gathered her close. Against her hair he whispered, „Hold on, Grace.“
The instant his strong arms closed around her, she felt a measure of peace and safety. Comfort. As though, simply by being held, she would, as he’d promised, get through this terrible pain that had shattered her poor heart.
The tears started again, and this time she allowed them to fall until there were none left.
At last she sniffed and lifted her head. „Sorry. I don’t usually blubber like a baby. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had a good cry. Now I’ve got the front of your shirt all wet again. I seem to do that a lot.“
„I don’t mind.“ He lowered his head to smile down into her eyes. „It was wet anyway, after my dip in the lake. Feeling better?“
„Yeah. Thanks.“
„My pleasure.“ Despite his smile, there was a huskiness to his tone that had her heart speeding up. He made no move to release her. „You feel good here.“
She blinked the moisture from her lashes. „I was thinking the same thing.“
„Great minds.“ His gaze burned over her face before settling on her mouth. „If you’d like, we could try that again, only closer.“
Why wasn’t she drawing away now that her tears had run their course? What power did this man have that he could hold her with nothing more than an inviting look, a charming smile?
Her voice was a whisper. „If you don’t mind, I’d like that.“
„Mind?“ On a sigh he drew her close and tipped up her chin. She felt the heat of his kiss even before his lips found hers.
He kept the kiss as light as air. As soft as the brush of butterfly wings against her mouth.
When she didn’t draw back, he took the kiss deeper.
With a little hum of pleasure she breathed him in. He tasted so good. So right. As cool as the night. As fresh as the evening breeze. With just a tang of the mysterious.
Grace sighed and gave herself up to the moment. If she could, she would stay here, just this way, being held in these strong arms, kissed by this wonderful, clever mouth, all through the night. In some dark corner of her mind she knew that she was playing with fire, in order to hold back the rush of emotions that had left her bruised and battered.
When Josh lifted his head, he touched a hand to her cheek. Just a touch, but she could feel the genuine warmth of him and was moved by it.
Now that her tears had begun to dry, he sensed her need to take her grief a step further and talk about whatever it was that had caused her so much pain.
Catching her hand he dropped down beside her on the sofa. „Want to share?“
She lifted a handful of letters. „These belonged to my mother.“
„Your mother? She was the woman who gave them to Wyatt Eagle?“
She nodded. „All of them were written to me.“
„Why go to all this trouble and mystery? Why didn’t she just mail them?“
„She did.“ Grace pointed to the envelopes. „Apparently they were all returned to her unopened.“
„You never got any of them?“
„I never even knew about them. Or about my mother’s attempts to contact me.“ Grace took a deep breath. „There are things about me… about my past…“ She was silent for so long, Josh thought she might be having second thoughts about opening up to him. Suddenly the words just tumbled out. „My mother left when I was three. I don’t even remember her. After she left, I was raised by my father.“
„Any brothers or sisters?“
She shook her head. „Just me and my dad. We moved a lot. From small town to small town. To say my life was sheltered would be an exaggeration.“
He chuckled. „There’s nothing wrong with small towns or living a sheltered life.“
„I wasn’t just sheltered.“ She paused a moment, deep in thought, before going on. „Looking back, I realize that I lived in total isolation. I can’t recall a single childhood friend.“
„What about the kids at school?“
„I was homeschooled. My father was a poet. A very successful one. That made it possible for him to be home with me, seeing to my education without the benefit of tutors. By the time I was ready for college, he took a job teaching creative writing at the local university. At the time, I thought he did it to make the transition easier for me. Now I realize that he had other reasons, as well.“
„What reasons?“
She shrugged and avoided looking at Josh. „Now that I know how desperate my mother was to find me, I suspect he wanted to see to it that she didn’t succeed.“
„And you never searched for her?“
„I had no reason to. My father raised me to believe that she wanted no part of our lives.“
„Now that’s some kind of anger. Did you make friends in college?“
„I guess it was too late to change. By then I’d become so comfortable being alone, I found it hard to reach out to the other students. So I continued to be pretty much alone, except for my father. But when I couldn’t stand being smothered by his need to control me any longer, I chose a career that would take me as far away from him as possible. We had a terrible fight.“
„He’ll get over it. You have a right to your own life.“
„My father passed away while I was photographing the people of a small village in the Sahara. We were still estranged and never got a chance to make peace.“ She gave a dry laugh. „I’m not only as obstinate as my father, but as unforgiving.“
Josh closed a hand over hers. „You can’t stay locked in guilt, Grace. What happened in die past doesn’t have to affect your future.“
„But don’t you see? Whether I like it or not, the past has shaped me. Having read these letters, I realize that there was another half of my life. A piece of me had been missing, and I didn’t even know about it.“
He could feel her pain in every word and wished with all his heart that he knew how to ease it. „What do the letters say?“
Grace’s fingers traced the edge of an envelope. „They’re all the same. An outpouring of love from a woman whose heart is broken by the separation from her only child. In every letter my mother asks how I’m doing, and what sort of person I’ve become. And she begs me to forgive her for not being a part of her life.“
„Does she say why she chose to leave?“
Grace shook her head. „She gave little explanation, except to say that she’d met a man who had been her soul mate. When my father learned of it he told her she would never see her daughter again. In one letter she claims to have obtained court-mandated visitation rights, but by then we’d left the state, and for years her efforts to find us were thwarted.“