Broken Ties by Gloria Davidson Marlow

Author:Gloria Davidson Marlow [Marlow, Gloria Davidson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Suspense, Action-Suspense
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2014-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The meadow beyond his parents’ yard was still surrounded by the split rail fence he and Teddy had helped their dad build twenty years ago. A swaybacked bay and a black-and-white paint pony his mom had recently rescued from being euthanized grazed nearby, having taken the place of the old gray mare they built the enclosure for. Under the huge live oak in the middle, Butter, the Shetland pony, stood watch. Since they’d fenced it in, the meadow had been home to at least a dozen rescue horses living out their last days in peace and comfort as his mother’s beloved pets.

The sun cut through the chill in the air, and the silence of the meadow was broken only by the occasional nicker of the horses or call of a mockingbird. One of the neighbors had a fire going, and the smell took him back to the past, to the days when he and Teddy had roamed this neighborhood on their bikes, staying out until their mother called them home at the end of the day.

He had lived in the city for thirteen years now, and although he rarely missed living here, the past year of exile had been hard on him. He hadn’t been exiled by his family, of course. His mother had begged him to come home, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to face them. He had barely been able to face himself.

He was only here now because of Sidra, because the danger to her had outweighed his need for self-preservation. The thought of losing her, of having to face the rest of his life without her, terrified him. So perhaps self-preservation had still been a driving force behind his return.

From here, he could research her past, try to piece together who wanted her dead and why, without having her within their reach. He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief and tell himself that was the case, but he knew they had been followed at least as far as the strip mall where Philippe had found her. They would have killed her there if Philippe hadn’t knocked her to the ground. He owed the man for that even if he couldn’t stand him, and every bone in his body burned with jealousy at his supposed relationship with Sidra.

He turned to stare at the house he’d grown up in. When this was over and Sidra was safe, maybe he’d come home to Gulfview for good. The Lawrence house had been for sale for a couple years. Maybe he would buy it. If ever a house was built for a princess, it was the pretty Dutch colonial with its gambrel roof and rose-covered entryway.

He stopped short as he realized once this was over Sidra might well have her own life to return home to, a life that didn’t include him. What would he do then?

The faint sound of a car coming up the drive sent a chill up his back, and he turned toward the road as Coda started barking up a storm.

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