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

and observed, “Gabe has known Jack a long time. He said Jack was tight-lipped about his personal life. He didn’t know about the divorce.”
    Cat snorted.
    “The man never has been one to share much about himself.”
    “How long were you married?”
    “Five and a half years. We’ve been divorced for four.”
    Cat wondered how much Nic Callahan would indulge her own curiosity, and she was trying to decide how much to reveal when Nic surprised her by saying, “I was married and divorced before I met Gabe. There is no way on earth that I would sit down to lunch with my ex. I might be tempted to pick up my knife and do harm.”
    “And you think I wasn’t?” Cat drawled.
    Nic grinned. “I think I like you, Cat Davenport.”
    “Blackburn. Cat Blackburn. I think I like you, too, Nic Callahan.”
    Nic must have taken that as tacit permission to be nosy, because she then said, “So, my first husband cheated on me. Why did you and Jack split?”
    “He didn’t cheat.” At least, not that Cat knew. Those first weeks after the miscarriage he could have brought a woman home and done her on the living room floor and she wouldn’t have noticed. She gave Nic her usual response whenever anyone asked. “He traveled a lot. We grew apart.”
    At Nic’s speculative look, she asked, “What?”
    “
You
cheated?”
    “No!” Cat scowled at her. “You Eternity Springs people are nosy, aren’t you?”
    Nic grinned unapologetically. “I think you should probably know that I have a soft spot in my heart for your ex. More than a soft spot, actually. Jack is my hero. I wouldn’t have my life if not for him.” Nic refilled her glass of iced tea, then silently offered more to Cat.
    Cat nodded and asked, “Jack saved your life?”
    “He saved Gabe’s life.”
    Nic Callahan went on to tell her the story of how Jack accomplished Gabe’s rescue from a Balkan prison. Cat realized that it had happened during one of those unexplained absences during their marriage, and her gaze shifted to the twins napping peacefully in their beds.
    She’d always known that Jack did important work. That had never been in doubt. But she’d grown up with an absentee mother, and because of that, she’d never wanted an absentee spouse. Unfortunately, Jack Davenport had been a force her heart had been unable to resist.
    The failure of her marriage couldn’t be summarized as easily as that of Nic’s first one. Even if she’d wanted to spill her guts to this woman whom she’d only just met, too many factors had contributed to the breakup to be neatly enumerated. Cat wasn’t sure that she could identify all of them herself, even if she tried.
    “I’ve always known that Jack was someone special,” she said, honestly touched by Nic Callahan’s tale. “I imagine there are dozens of stories similar to yours that only a handful of people have ever heard. Unfortunately, it’s hard to be married to a hero. We simply weren’t able to make it work.”
    “That’s too bad,” Nic said softly, as one of her daughtersstirred in her bed and let out a little snuffle of a snore.
    Cat had nothing more to say.
    The room in Eagle’s Way that Jack used as an office was on the ground floor off the great room. Designed with the need for secure communications in mind, the office was the one room in the house that didn’t boast floor-to-ceiling windows. The furnishings were sleek, functional, and comfortable, though the room was not designed or utilized for relaxation.
    Now Jack stood behind Gabe, who was seated at a drafting table. He studied the sketch his guest had penciled on the blank sheet of paper and nodded. “You are good, Callahan.”
    “I know.”
    “I never would have thought of adding that sundial.”
    “That’s why you pay me the big bucks to design your landscape.” Gabe reached up and switched off the light illuminating the drafting board.
    In a droll tone, Jack replied, “Last time I checked, I hadn’t paid you anything. I wish you’d