LITMIR.BIZ

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anniversary. Christmas two years ago. Vicki’s birthday the first year they’d been married.

      She had wanted to visit Courage Bay more often, but each time they’d tried, his job had seemed to interfere. Vicki hadn’t bought his explanation that murderers didn’t take off on holidays. She’d accused him of manufacturing excuses, saying he didn’t want to go with her because he hated her family.

      She’d been half right. Sometimes he had used work as an excuse, but not the way she thought.

      His problem was actually the opposite of her complaint. He loved Karen and Jack Hunt but in the L.A. world he’d come to consider his own, people like them just didn’t exist. Years of working Vice and now Homicide had made him forget how to act around moral and sane individuals. The only way he could deal with the situation seemed to be by avoiding them.

      Then there was Andrea. Vicki’s little sister.

      The first time he’d met her, he’d been shocked. He’d never seen two individuals, including twins, who resembled each other so strongly.

      A striking woman with thick honey-colored hair and dark-blue eyes, Vicki had brought the JP’s office to a standstill the day they had walked in to get married. Grant had felt eyes on him, too, everyone wondering why in the hell someone like her would be marrying someone like him. Andrea shared that beauty but there was more to her than there had been to Vicki, something deeper, something darker.

      After he’d gotten to know her a bit, Grant had relaxed enough to hold a decent conversation with Andrea, but he’d always found himself wondering if she’d feel the same, kiss the same, make love the same…as Vicki. He knew his disquiet came from somewhere other than just the uncanny resemblance the two women shared yet he hadn’t wanted to examine his reactions too closely. He had been married to Vicki, after all.

      In the end, he had let his wife visit her family alone. They had all been so happy to see Kevin, no one had really noticed his father was absent and that had been fine with Grant.

      He gripped the steering wheel and prayed the little boy would be okay. Kids had never figured much in Grant’s life until Kevin had been born, then he’d begun to understand what all the fuss was about. Despite the circumstances, Grant couldn’t have possibly loved Kevin any more than he already did—it had damn near killed him when they’d packed up and left.

      Kevin had been four, almost five, at that point. Grant shook his head. Where had the time gone? He and Vicki had been divorced a bit more than a year and Grant hadn’t seen Kevin once during that time. Would he even remember who Grant was? Would he still throw his arms around Grant’s neck and hug him tight?

      Grant had expected little from his marriage, and he hadn’t been disappointed. He’d known the score from the very beginning, however, and he had no right to complain. Vicki could have had any man on the planet yet she’d picked him. He still didn’t know why but he no longer cared, either. Kevin was all that mattered.

      Reaching the outskirts of Courage Bay, Grant realized that his love for Kevin was all he had left. With sudden resolve, he promised himself he’d take care of this once and for all. He’d be the kind of father the little boy deserved.

      And that was a promise Grant Corbin would keep.

      CHAPTER THREE

      ANDREA’S MOTHER AND FATHER stood by the edge of Kevin’s gurney while his doctor and the hospital’s orthopedic surgeon discussed his situation. At the foot of the bed, Andrea listened, as well. The two physicians came to a consensus quickly. An operation might be necessary, but it would be simple and straightforward, a matter of aligning Kevin’s bones. Pending the outcome of the X rays, they might even be able to avoid surgery completely.

      The radiation technician came to take the child for his tests and Jack leaned over his grandson. “I think I’ll come along with you, big guy,” he said. “If you don’t care, I’d like to see how they do this.”

      Kevin blinked twice and his expression cleared. He couldn’t have spoken and made his relief more known.

      Andrea watched them leave, her mother at her side.

      “We might as well go to the cafeteria and get something to eat,” Andrea said. “He’ll be in X ray for a while. I’ll tell the nurses where we are and they can come get us.”

      Taking off the mask of cheerfulness she’d put in place for Kevin’s sake, Andrea’s mother let her features collapse into the shell-shocked expression she’d worn earlier. She held up her hand at Andrea’s suggestion and shook her head. “No. No food. I don’t want anything to eat. I want a cigarette.”

      Karen Hunt hadn’t smoked in ten years. Andrea opened her mouth to protest but she swallowed her words. They all needed whatever help they could get, wherever they could find it.

      They walked across the street to a convenience store and bought a package of cigarettes, returning a few minutes later to the benches near the ambulance bay doors. Her mother lit up while Andrea sat in silence.

      Karen Hunt smoked with determination, repeatedly drawing on the cigarette until she started to cough. After a bit, she dropped the butt, ground it beneath her heel, then looked at Andrea. There was steel in her voice. “Tell me what happened. And I want the truth.”

      Andrea gave her mother as many details as she could remember. “I didn’t have time to check before we left,” she said as she finished, “but I think Vicki was probably trying to anchor the armoire to the wall and that’s when it went over. It always was unstable and top-heavy.”

      Her grief segued into anger and she hit the bench with her fists. “I told Vicki it was silly to cart that damn thing all around the state. She should have left it—”

      Her mother, revealing a strength that surprised Andrea, reached out and covered Andrea’s clenched hands. “Drop it, Andrea. The reason the armoire fell over isn’t important. What matters is that…” She paused and drew a shaky breath. “What matters is that Vicki is gone. What she’d want us to do now is take care of Kevin. That’s what we have to concentrate on. Kevin.”

      Andrea struggled to pull herself together. The effort took the last of her energy. “You’re right,” she said. “You’re right…. In fact, Kevin’s the first thing she mentioned when I called and offered to help her unpack. She said she’d take the help, but she needed advice regarding him more than she needed anything else.”

      Her mother nodded. “About his silence?”

      Andrea stared at her mother in surprise. “You knew?”

      “Vicki told me of the problem several months back. I advised her to talk to a therapist.”

      “Why didn’t you tell me?”

      “Vicki asked me not to say anything.” Her mother wrapped both hands around her package of cigarettes, then looked into the distance. “She was upset. She felt it was her fault for being a bad mother and said you’d never have a problem so lame and she didn’t want you to know. I guess her concern for Kevin finally overran her embarrassment and that’s why she told you.”

      Andrea felt her mouth drop open. “But Vicki was a good mother! And I would never have said anything regardless of—”

      Karen Hunt held up her hand. “I know that and you know that, but Vicki didn’t. She was very insecure, Andrea. She always looked up to you. She thought you were perfect.”

      “Perfect? Me? Oh, God…” Andrea buried her face in her hands. “Why on earth would she think that?”

      “Mrs. Hunt?”

      A voice broke through Andrea’s anguish. She looked up to see a woman from the front office approach her mother with an outstretched hand.

      “I’m Wendy from Intake. We need some information about Kevin and since his father isn’t here yet and his mother…is gone, I need your help. If you could come with me…?”

      Andrea’s

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