LITMIR.BIZ

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her mind.

      Time for another photo session.

      “He’s talking to his friends farther down the river.” Liam was already reaching for the camera.

      “What’s he saying?”

      “He’s saying...” Liam tipped his head to one side and pretended to listen. “Look at those people over there! Aren’t they cute?”

      Cassie and Chloe giggled, but it was the grin on Liam’s face that sent Anna’s heart rocking back and forth like a raft caught in a swell.

      “It just went under the water!” Chloe exclaimed.

      “He’s looking for his lunch,” Liam said as the bird disappeared underneath the water.

      “Lunch.” Cassie sounded a little envious.

      Her comment reminded Anna they’d been on the river for well over an hour and her daughters hadn’t complained a bit about boredom, achy muscles or empty stomachs.

      Liam must have realized it had been a while since breakfast, too.

      “Is anyone getting hungry?”

      “I am!”

      “Me, too!”

      Liam looked at Anna, and whatever he saw in her eyes seemed to cast the deciding vote.

      “Okay, then.” He dipped his paddle in the water. “Next stop—Eagle Rock.”

      Anna had noticed the spot marked on Sunni’s map, but until they paddled around a small, tree-lined peninsula jutting out from the shoreline, she hadn’t realized Eagle Rock was a...rock.

      More like a small cliff, from what Anna could see. It jutted over the river, shading a wide stretch of beach like a sandstone canopy.

      As they neared the shoreline, Anna spotted a ring of stones and the blackened remains of a campfire, evidence that Eagle Rock was a frequent stop for paddlers.

      Liam, a few lengths ahead of her and Chloe, reached the shoreline first. He hopped out of the canoe, reached for Cassie and deposited her on dry land.

      “Are we going to have a campfire on the beach?” Cassie asked hopefully.

      “We could...” A smile kindled in Liam’s eyes. “But the view is better at the top of the rock.”

      He didn’t mean...

      Anna squinted up at Eagle Rock. She couldn’t even see a way to get to the top.

      Before she could suggest they stay on the beach, Cassie and Chloe bumped their fists together and broke into an exuberant little dance right there on the sand.

      “Can you take our picture, Mom? When Ms. Shapiro sees how high we climbed, maybe we’ll get our Be Strong and Courageous pin, too!” Cassie said.

      “We don’t know that verse yet,” Chloe reminded her sister.

      “I do! It’s in Joshua. ‘Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be...’” Cassie paused, her brow furrowing as she searched her memory for the rest of the words.

      “‘Do not be afraid,’” Liam quoted softly. “‘Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’”

      “You have to memorize verses, too?”

      Cassie’s open astonishment brought a smile to Liam’s face again.

      “I don’t have to,” he said. “But if you know what the Bible says, the verses are... They’re kind of like the signposts on the map we gave you. They keep you going in the right direction. And if you do get lost...well, they can help you find your way back, too.”

      Now it was Anna’s turn to stare.

      Because she hadn’t really expected Liam to know the verse? Or because the undercurrent of quiet confidence flowing through the words told Anna they were stored in his head and his heart?

      “I’d be scared if I got lost,” Chloe confessed in a whisper. “’Cause the bears might find me.”

      “I’m not a fan of bears, either.” Liam shot Anna a sideways glance. “Unlike your mom, who chased one off the high school football field once.”

      “A real bear?” Chloe clutched Cassie’s arm for support.

      Anna had forgotten all about that. And she wasn’t sure how she felt about Liam bringing it up now.

      “It was a very small one,” she muttered. “Not much bigger than a cub.”

      “But still...you chased it.” Cassie looked impressed.

      “Chased it away.” Anna shot a look at Liam. “When I screamed.”

      “She shook her pom-poms at it, too.” Liam obviously remembered more about the event than she did. “The other cheerleaders ran inside the school, but your mom stood her ground. Pretty ‘strong and courageous,’ if you ask me.”

      Strong? Courageous?

      For a moment, Anna wanted to cling to the words even though the girl Liam had just described was long gone.

      And the admiration Anna was startled to see in Liam’s eyes would be gone, too, if he knew the truth.

      When it really mattered, she hadn’t been either one of those things.

      * * *

      “Mom was a cheerleader?”

      The twins appeared more shocked by that information than they were about the bear.

      “Your mom made captain our freshman year.” Liam couldn’t believe Anna had never mentioned it to her daughters. “Her squad won an award for their halftime performance. It was pretty impressive.”

      “How would you know that?” Anna’s eyes narrowed. “You never went to any of the football games.”

      Liam realized he should have quit while he was behind.

      “I...” How to admit this without sounding like a total stalker? “I saw you practice once in a while.”

      Once in a while meaning every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, when Liam took a shortcut underneath the bleachers on his way home.

      For weeks after he and his brothers moved to Castle Falls, Liam had lived in constant fear that Sunni and Rich would realize they’d made a huge mistake and ship all three of the Kane brothers back to Detroit. Liam would be separated from Brendan and Aiden forever and become a file in some social worker’s drawer.

      Watching Anna preside over cheerleading practice had been the one bright spot in a day clouded with uncertainty. Outgoing and confident, Anna had had an unquenchable spark of life in her eyes and a smile bright enough to light up an entire room. The kind that declared I’m ready for whatever was to come.

      Only she wasn’t smiling now.

      When he’d told the humorous story about Anna’s encounter with the bear cub, Liam hadn’t considered it might resurrect painful memories, as well. The cheerleading award Liam had referred to was displayed in the trophy case, right beside the one Ross received when he’d taken the football team to the state championship.

      Way to go, Liam.

      Just when he had started to feel like the wall between them was beginning to break down, Liam had reminded Anna what had caused it in the first place.

      He pushed out a smile and looked at the twins.

      “Ready to climb Eagle Rock?”

      A loud whoop answered the question.

      Liam led the small procession up the winding, overgrown footpath. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d climbed Eagle Rock...which told him it had been too long.

      It would have been a lot easier to use the

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