Between Strangers by Linda Conrad Read Free Book Online

spoke.
    â€œOh? Were you a Boy Scout?” Marcy sank back into the passenger seat and nearly groaned in pleasure. This SUV was luxury all the way. Compared to her old rattletrap, Lance’s transportation seemed like a limo.
    â€œNope. As a child I was never in one place long enough to get the opportunity. But I spent my teen years on the rez learning the responsibilities and duties required of an adult male member of the Dine.” He kept on staring straight out through the windshield. “Most of that stuck with me.”
    â€œThe ‘Dine’?”
    â€œThat’s the name the people of the Navajo Nation use when they refer to themselves.”
    Lance fell silent, and she glanced into the back seat to check on Angie. The rumble of the SUV’s big engine had lulled the baby to sleep.
    Marcy ran her hand over the smooth surface of the tan leather seats and sighed. The snow had stopped falling hours ago and this back road they were traveling had been plowed quite recently. Everything would be fine.
    She wondered if Lance would like some conversation for a while. He was probably rather tired from only managing a short nap last night, and perhaps heneeded companionship to help him remain alert. She wanted to do her part.
    â€œYou said you didn’t stay in one place as a child,” she began tentatively. “I’ve always wanted to see the world. Travel. Can you tell me about where you lived while you were growing up?”
    A few long seconds of silence had her wondering if he wouldn’t rather that she keep her mouth shut and leave him alone to concentrate on his driving. But then he cleared his throat and began to speak in hushed tones. She guessed it was an attempt to keep from waking Angie.
    â€œMy father is a naval officer. Before I was born he graduated from Annapolis…and all the very special things that go along with that.” The sarcasm in his voice let her know what he thought of the occupation she’d always greatly admired. “After I was born, he was stationed in ten countries in eight years. My mother and I didn’t go to all of them, but we did follow him to most of the places. Italy, Japan, Korea, Hawaii, the Philippines. It’s all a blur now.”
    â€œThey sound great,” she told him. “I was raised in a backwater town in southern Illinois. I dreamed of seeing all those wonderful places. Of going anywhere, actually.”
    He shook his head slowly and slanted her a glance out of the corner of his eye. “It was no dream for me. I always longed for a place to settle. For a big home that I would know so well it would become almost boring. And for a chance to get to know other kids long enough to be able to call them friends.”
    â€œSorry,” she squeaked in as small a voice as shecould manage. “I hadn’t thought about it that way. What happened after you turned eight?”
    â€œMy mother died.”
    Oh, man. Talk about stepping out of one mess and going right into a pile of dog do-do with the next step. When would she learn to keep her mouth shut?
    â€œAfter we buried Mother, my father took me to his mother’s home in New Orleans and dropped me there so he could proceed on with his career,” Lance continued. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t get to be at home with my grandmother either. She had never been terribly thrilled with her son’s choice for a wife and was appalled by my lack of schooling and knowledge of the social graces. I was barely alone with her for a couple of weeks before she sent me off to a series of boarding schools.”
    Hmm. Didn’t sound like the loving grandmother that Marcy had always wished she’d had. This poor guy hadn’t had much of a family life at all.
    She should’ve known better than to open her big mouth. But no…
    She twisted under her seat belt to face him. “Then how did you get to a reservation from the boarding schools?” The