Time to Run by Marliss Melton

Author:Marliss Melton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: United States, Man-Woman Relationships, Chase (Fictitious Character), McCaffrey, Oklahoma, General, Romance, Romantic Suspense Fiction, Suspense, Wife Abuse, Fiction, Runaway Wives
ISBN: 9780446614818
Publisher: Forever
Published: 2005-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Pouring herself a bowl of cereal in her mother's miniscule kitchen, Sara heard a key slide into the lock at the door. It was just past six in the morning, the time when Rachel returned home from the hospital where she worked as a night shift delivery nurse. Her cat, a Russian Blue named Mosby, sprinted to the door to greet her.

With Kendal sleeping on the couch between them, Sara and her mother greeted each other wordlessly. Rachel deposited her purse on the coffee table and scooped up her cat as she crossed the room. "You're up early," she commented in a hushed voice.

"How was work?" Sara asked.

"Eventful." With a tired sigh, Rachel eased onto one of the two seats at the tiny dinette table. The window beside her overlooked the narrow plot of land in Willow Woods Trailer Park. "Eleven babies were born last night. Must be the full moon."

Sara transferred her bowl of cereal to the table to sit across from her. "Goodness, it must be."

"Trouble sleeping?" Rachel asked her, with a searching look.

"Not really. Back at the ranch, there was a rooster that woke me up at the crack of dawn every morning. I guess I'm still in the habit." As she chewed her cereal, hearing it crunch between her teeth, she was conscious of her mother's close regard.

During the first forty-eight hours of their reunion, all they did, it seemed, was stare at each other. Sara had been astonished to discover how much she resembled her birth-mother, right down to the second toes on their feet, toes that were slightly longer than the first.

They'd bonded on sight, unconditionally, in a way that bordered on psychic. But with seventeen years between them, their relationship was more sisterly than that of parent and child.

"What's on your mind, Sara?" Rachel asked her gently. "You're not still worried about being a burden to me, are you?"

Sara had mentioned that misgiving within minutes of her arrival. She sent Rachel a fleeting smile and shook her head. "No," she admitted. "It's a couple of things."

"Like what?"

"Like the school that Kendal is supposed to attend. It's huge," she added, with a tug of dismay. "He's shy around large groups. I feel like he's going to be swallowed whole."

Rachel nodded her understanding. "And what else?" she prompted.

Sara rubbed her forehead. "I don't know."

"Yes, you do," said her mother coaxingly.

"I miss the ranch," Sara admitted. "It was peaceful there—not that it's awful here or anything. It's just... there was so much open space, so much quiet." And the trailer park where Rachel lived was just off the beltway, where the traffic circling the city of Dallas created a muted roar that never went away.

"And you miss Chase," Rachel guessed, prompting a startled look from Sara. Never once had she hinted of any deeper feelings for Chase than gratitude.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked, aghast.

Rachel smiled a little smile. "Only if you've been in love before."

Sara balked at the word love. She couldn't love a man who, in a week's time, might be on the other side of the world annihilating terrorists.

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