A Father For Zach by Irene Hannon Read Free Book Online Page B

in primary colors hid much of the worn hardwood floor. Canvas swags at the windows were draped over stuffed giraffe heads, and the bedspread was done in a zebra pattern. Throw pillows shaped like safari hats were propped against the head-board, and a child-height coat rack was topped by silk palm leaves.
    It was a little boy’s dream room.
    “Wow.” He didn’t know what else to say.
    The whisper of a smile softened Catherine’s tense features as she entered behind him and threw back the covers. “He’s been into zoos and animals and safaris for the past year. When we moved, I decided to recreate his room here. I thought having one familiar place in the house might ease the transition.”
    She stepped aside, and Nathan moved forward to lay the boy down. But the youngster tightened his grip around Nathan’s neck.
    “Are you leaving?” His words came out slurred with sleep.
    “No. I’ll be downstairs. Remember, we’re going to have pizza when you wake up.”
    “Oh, yeah. Mom?” He looked over Nathan’s shoulder, and Nathan felt Catherine come up behind him.
    “I’m here, honey.”
    “Okay. Just checking.”
    His eyelids drifted closed, and Nathan set him down, then stepped back as Catherine drew the covers up to Zach’s chin. Leaning close, she pressed her lips to his forehead, brushing back a wisp of his blond hair with fingers that still trembled.
    “I think I’ll stay for a few minutes to make sure he doesn’t wake up.” She stood and faced Nathan across the bed, her gaze flicking to his bare chest. And lingering for a second on the jagged scar on the upper right side.
    He’d forgotten about that. And the fact he was shirtless.
    Time to exit.
    “I’ll wait downstairs.”
    She gave a slight nod and turned back toward her son.
    As Nathan retraced his steps, determined to rinse out his shirt and put it back on before she reappeared, he cast another look at the room where she slept. There was a forlornness about it, a sadness, that seeped into his pores. The feeling of aloneness was so visceral it permeated his soul.
    Yet despite the tragedy she’d endured—and only a tragedy could have induced the kind of scene he’d just witnessed with Zach—she was carrying on. Trying to make a new life for herself and her son.
    He admired that. A lot.
    But he was also curious.
    And he hoped that in addition to offering him some pizza tonight, she might also offer him a glimpse into her heart.
     
    As Nathan disappeared down the steps, Zach’s even breathing told Catherine her son was already sound asleep. That it was safe to go downstairs.
    But safe was a relative term.
    Because a man with questions in his eyes would be waiting for her.
    And that was scary.
    She limped over to the window and stared up at the deep blue sky. Not once in the past two years had she talked about the traumatic event that had changed her life. An event that still felt as raw as if it had happened yesterday.
    Maybe it always would.
    As she watched, a gull soared high above her on a wind current, suspended halfway between earth and sky, belonging to neither. That’s how she’d felt for the past twenty-four months. In limbo. Apart. Isolated.
    She’d shared her feelings with no one, though. Not her high-powered lawyer sister on the West Coast, who kept pushing her to get counseling. Not her career–Army chaplain father, now stationed in Germany, who continued to urge her to get right with God. Not any of the well-intentioned acquaintances she’d left behind in Atlanta, who’d kept sending her social invitations she didn’t want and coaxing her to get out and meet new people.
    And the reason for her reticence?
    Fear.
    She’d been afraid that once she let go, once the words started to tumble out, she’d be unable to stop them. And they would reveal the dark corner of her heart where grief and rage and hate lived.
    It wasn’t a pretty place.
    But she couldn’t ignore what had just happened, either. And she’d prefer Nathan get the