Fortune Found by Victoria Pade Read Free Book Online

died?”
    Not when it was asked so gently, so compassionately, so mindful of it being difficult for her to talk about.
    She sighed. “It was an accident at a building site. A faulty crane, a dropped girder…” But she couldn’t bring herself to go into the details, so she said, “We were both working for the same construction company— I ran the office, Pete was the electrical foreman, so he was in the field most of the time. Sometimes I had paperwork that would take me into the on-site office—that was always set up in a trailer that stayed on a big job—”
    â€œWere you there when it happened?” Flint asked, his frown lines deep with horror on her behalf.
    â€œI was,” she said, her voice cracking even though it was barely above a whisper. “Thankfully I didn’t see it, but I heard workman shouting, running, yelling for someone to call for an ambulance, which I did before I ever left the trailer or knew it was Pete I was calling for…”
    â€œI’m so sorry,” Flint said with heartfelt sympathy.
    â€œHe literally never knew what hit him, which was a blessing, I think. And I didn’t have to see him—the owner of the company kept me away until they had Pete in the ambulance. I rode to the hospital holding his hand…”
    Okay, she couldn’t talk about that without breaking down, and she didn’t want to break down. She’d done more than her share of crying. So she swallowed hard and said, “Things are pretty much a blur for me from there.”
    â€œThat’s probably a blessing, too, in this case.”
    â€œI know my folks were at the hospital by the time I got there. Kelsey wasn’t living in Red Rock then, but she wasn’t far away and she was at home with the kids by the time my folks brought me back. Telling them was the hardest thing I’d ever done.”
    â€œThis was how long ago?”
    â€œA little over two years.”
    â€œWere the kids even old enough to understand?”
    â€œAdam was only a baby, so no. He doesn’t even remember Pete except through pictures and stories I’ve told him. Braden and Bethany were two and a half, so they didn’t really get it either. For a long time they just kept asking where Daddy was, when he was coming home, and we’d have to tell them all over again, try to help them understand—”
    â€œBut Ella, she was five, right?”
    â€œRight. She knew exactly what was going on, poor thing.” And that, too, brought the sting of tears to Jessie’s eyes. But in two years she’d learned well how to hold them at bay. “Ella went back and forth between her own grief and putting up a strong front. Half the time sheplayed parent—helping with the other kids, making an attempt to look after me…”
    â€œRoss.”
    Jessie raised her eyebrows at Flint in question to his oldest brother’s name.
    â€œRoss did that in my family,” Flint explained. “We all took care of each other, but it was Ross who led the way, who played parent.”
    Again Jessie wasn’t sure exactly why that had been necessary, but not knowing the details, she assumed that it had something to do with his mother’s overall less-than-stellar reputation.
    â€œI suppose,” Jessie said then, “that that’s what’s going on now, too— Ella is feeling protective. And maybe a little territorial.”
    â€œSo we’re being pushed and pulled,” Flint said then with a knowing smile.
    Jessie thought she knew what he meant, but she didn’t want to assume too much so she merely repeated, “Pushed and pulled?”
    â€œElla wants to pull you away, to keep you to herself. But there’s a lot of pushing going on with Kelsey, and now Coop and tonight your parents, too…”
    â€œI know, I’m sorry,” she apologized for the second time. “I was hoping maybe you hadn’t