Gift of Grace by Inglath Cooper

Author:Inglath Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

CALEB FELT LIKE HELL and looked worse.

For the past few days he’d had a migraine headache that had kept him locked in a dark room for thirty-six hours. Only by Friday morning had it softened to a dull roar.

He forced himself out of the house behind a pair of dark sunglasses, his bloodstream struggling to process a maximum dosage of Advil.

Since the meeting in front of Judge Hartley, Caleb had tried to go about his normal life, forcing his thoughts away from the course of events he had set into motion.

But it was as if someone had tied a two-hundred-pound weight to his ankle, and he struggled for every inch of forward movement.

The whole thing had been far worse than he’d ever imagined. Or maybe that was just it. He’d never thought it would feel as if he were personally leading Sophie Owens to her own execution.

And then the day after the hearing, the reporters had started calling. He’d deflected three of them so far, but he knew how they worked. If he refused to play, they’d write what they wanted to write anyway.

Caleb drove to the store with a cup of coffee in one hand, Noah on the other side of the seat with his head out the window.

It was early still, not quite seven, but Macy was already at the counter putting cash in the register when he walked through the door.

“Morning,” he said.

She looked up at him, then quickly dropped her gaze. “Good morning.”

“Something wrong?”

Macy sighed once, reached beneath the counter and pulled out a newspaper, handing it to him. “Sorry, Caleb.”

He glanced at the front page and read the headline. Adoption Contested.

His stomach dropped.

Without glancing at it further, he went upstairs to his office, closed the door and sat down at his desk.

The words glared out at him. And suddenly, he was in the middle of it all again. Saw the lights of Sheriff Overby’s car swing into his driveway when he’d been expecting Laney. Heard the sorrow in the older man’s voice when he took off his hat and said he had some bad news to deliver.

He forced himself to read the article start to finish. It was like immersing himself in acid, peeling back skin and sinew until there was nothing left to eat into but bone.

Noah came up the stairs, nudged the door open, crossed the office with wagging tail and put his head on Caleb’s knee. He made a short whining sound, his dark eyes questioning.

Noah had always had a sixth sense for detecting distress. Whenever Laney had been upset about something, the world wasn’t right for Noah until he felt she was okay.

Caleb rubbed the top of the dog’s head, pierced by a knife of loneliness that cut so deep he thought he could never possibly be whole again. “It’ll be all right,” he said, wishing he could believe it.

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