Nightingale Way: An Eternity Springs Novel by Emily March Read Free Book Online

help with lunch?”
    “No, thanks. Nic is bringing it with her.” Jack hesitated, then watched her closely as he added, “I know Gabe through work. He stayed here at Eagle’s Way a few years ago when he was going through some tough personal times. His first wife was killed in an auto accident, and their son died of his injuries months later. Gabe stayed up here at Eagle’s Way for a while afterward.”
    Cat sat back in her chair. So, was he telling her that as a warning or as a test of some sort? It was the closesthe’d come to mentioning Lauren since he’d snatched Cat off the street.
    She supposed that she should reassure him that she didn’t break out in hives or erupt into tears or sink into despair every time she spied a child. Not anymore, anyway. However, being around Jack had brought all those emotions closer to the surface—along with the old, deep resentments—so she managed only a noncommital “That’s very sad.”
    When she didn’t elaborate, he said, “They’ll be in here twenty minutes or so.”
    “Okay. I’ll finish up what I’m doing and join you then.”
    Taking that as the dismissal it was, he nodded curtly and left. Cat blew out a breath, her thoughts racing.
    So, this Gabe Callahan guy was someone Jack knew from work. “Work” could mean a whole lot of things. He could have been a bureaucrat or he could have been a spy. He could know Cat’s mother.
Oh, golly gee. Wouldn’t that be nice?
    Cat shut off her computer, then made a quick trip upstairs to brush her hair and check her makeup. She knew she hadn’t made a good first impression on the Reeses, the first—and only—Eternity Springs residents she’d met. Pride made her want to redeem herself.
    Fifteen minutes after Jack knocked on the sunroom door, Cat joined him outside. He carried a box of toys from the pool house closet and set them on a lounge chair as an SUV came up the road toward the house. The driver pulled the vehicle to a halt in the spot where Sarah Reese had parked on the day they’d arrived in Colorado. A handsome man wearing swim trunks and a Texas Rangers baseball jersey exited the driver’s side door, then retrieved a curly-headed blond toddler from a car seat in the back. At the same time, a pretty, ponytail-sportingblonde removed an identical child from a second car seat on the passenger side.
    Jack approached the couple, shook the man’s hand and kissed the wife, then gladly accepted the handoff of a child from her mother. Upon seeing Jack holding the toddler, emotion knifed through Cat and she caught her breath. Whoa. She hadn’t expected that.
    She realized that in all the years they’d been together, she’d never seen Jack hold a child.
    Stupid of her, though, not to consider the possibility. Had she thought ahead, she would have braced for the blow, and she wouldn’t be walking toward the group with a fake smile pasted on her face, trying to look anywhere else but at Jack, but unable to tear her gaze away.
    Jack said, “Gabe and Nic Callahan, meet Cat Blackburn. Cat, the Callahans and their daughters, Meg and Cari.”
    Gabe’s greeting was friendly enough. Nic’s was both friendly and unabashedly curious. “I have to confess that after Jack told us you were up here, I went online and read about your investigation and the bomb going off and how you’ve … um …” She cut a glance toward Jack. “… gone into hiding until your safety can be assured.”
    Cat’s fake smile transformed to a genuine smirk. “As a career newspaper reporter, let me advise you not to believe everything you read in the papers.”
    “Yes, well, our friend Sarah did mention that Jack said something about a kidnapping.”
    “I knew she wouldn’t keep her lips zipped,” Jack said.
    Nic’s grin was unabashed. “She swore me to secrecy.”
    Wryly, Jack asked, “Who did you tell?”
    “Just Sage Rafferty.”
    “Just do me a favor? If anyone asks, her name is Catherine Davenport.” Cat frowned at Jack, who