Protecting His Witness by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella [Ferrarella, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Police, Man-Woman Relationships, Women Physicians, Romantic Suspense Fiction
ISBN: 9780373275854
Google: ocCtAGJlvsEC
Amazon: 0263882039
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2008-05-31T20:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 9

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The silence in the room was deafening and seemed endless. Mike Cavanaugh's old family stared, dumbfounded, at his new one—and vice versa.

And then Patrick broke the silence as he turned toward his uncle. "How long have you known?" he asked, his voice low, as if trying to contain his temper.

Andrew met his nephew's heated demand. He didn't blame Patrick for his reaction. This was a hell of a piece of news to take in.

"A couple of weeks."

Feelings of being betrayed materialized out of the shadows. "And you didn't tell us?" This time Patrick didn't bother hiding the accusation in his voice.

Andrew was the one person they'd counted on for the truth. Andrew was the father he'd always wished he had. Now he wasn't so sure.

"I was looking for the right way to break the news to you and Patience. Obviously I didn't find it."

Shock might have been restricted to one side of the room, but anger wasn't. It was obvious to Andrew that the newcomers felt it, too.

Kyle squared his shoulders as he turned to his brother and sister. "Let's go."

"Hold it," Andrew ordered, moving into the center, between what had swiftly become opposing sides. There was no mistaking the authority in his voice. While he shot a silencing look toward Patrick, his words were addressed to the trio he'd asked to his house for this meeting. "Declaring your existence is not a bad idea. Getting the family together as a whole is not a bad idea—"

Kyle cut the former chief of police short. "Then why's he looking at us as if we've just crawled out of the gutter?" he demanded, waving a hand at Patrick.

Andrew could see both sides. Sympathize with both sides. It was up to him to reconcile those sides and make them whole. "Maybe because Patrick had thought he'd seen the worst that his father could do, and to his devastation has just discovered that there was more."

Greer moved forward. Of the triplets, she was the most even-tempered, but this situation tested her. The last one born, youngest by five minutes, she was still exceedingly protective of her brothers.

"Are you saying that fathering us was the worst thing that Mike Cavanaugh ever did?" Even now, a month after being told who their father really was, the man's name felt awkward on her tongue.

"No." Patience spoke before Andrew could answer. "But keeping you a secret all these years was." Rising from her seat, she came forward, her hand extended to this young woman through whose veins her father's blood ran. "Hi, I'm Patience."

Greer looked at her half sister's hand for a long moment, trying to come to grips with such a wealth of emotions zigzagging through her that she couldn't begin to sort them out. Finally, drawing in a long breath, Greer took the offered hand and wrapped her long, slender fingers around it.

"Greer," she said.

It occurred to Greer that she no longer knew her last name. For twenty-three years, it had been O'Brien, her mother's name.

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