It's Never too Late - By Tara Taylor Quinn Page 0,97

Bierly, where I come from. Fire forensics have only been around about ten years, but I’m pretty up on the newest studies. I was thinking maybe, if I could re-create the fire for her—figuratively—if I could take her to the site, live through it with her, she could see it through the eyes of an adult instead of a traumatized child. I’d been thinking I’d have to travel to Colorado to accomplish that, but if it’s all right here...” He was talking faster than he was thinking. “Maybe, if we can help her there...she’d...consider staying...”

Because it was his only hope of keeping the love of his life.

After a long, piercing glance, the sheriff nodded, pulled a card from his top pocket and handed it to Mark. “Give me a call. I’ll see what I can do. There are some times us guys have to stick together.”

Richards grinned and Mark had a feeling he and the other man would get along just fine. He also knew that he would be the only one to help Addy through this. He’d figure out the truth of what happened, as best he could. He’d take Addy through the horror, and sit with her as long as it took her to lay the past to rest. No one else needed to know what her father had done. That secret would stay between the two of them.

Forever.

* * *

ADDY CLEANED UP her research. She checked in on Nonnie, who treated her as though nothing had changed, even complimenting her on her new outfit. When she returned home, she responded to email from her firm. There’d been a couple of requests for her services that looked interesting. She was ready for a new case.

She wrote back, requesting more information on both of them.

And she waited. She had to see Mark. In the morning she’d call Will. They were going to be in touch more regularly moving forward.

Maybe get to know each other as adults.

Someday, she’d like to meet the rest of the family again.

Not yet, though. She was too emotionally raw. Right now she just needed to be back home. To get her emotional footing back. She had what it took to make it on her own. She always had.

Maybe Mark would come see her in Colorado. Maybe he wouldn’t.

Maybe, in time, she’d forget him.

She doubted it.

One step at a time.

By five, she was thinking about taking another bath. When her doorbell rang before she’d had a chance to run the water, she went to answer it, happy enough for the distraction.

She should have thought. At least long enough to look through the peephole.

Addy pulled open the door and was engulfed by a burst of noise that overwhelmed her.

“Welcome home, Adrianna!” The chorus of voices was loud enough to be heard on the next block. Male, female, young, old, there were at least twenty people on her stoop and spilling into the front yard, all of them smiling up at her as if she was a member of their family.

She didn’t recognize a single one of them. Until one body separated from the crowd. And then a second, a third, a fourth and a fifth. Will Parsons. Randi. Becca—Addy knew her instantly. And the elder Mr. and Mrs. Parsons, as well.

Standing there, frozen to the spot, she had no idea what to do. Nothing to say. She hadn’t been a member of a family for so long.

“Psst.” The sound came from behind her. Nonnie was outside, on her porch. She must have been there all along—probably because she’d seen the crowd gathering and couldn’t resist finding out what was going on.

Or maybe she’d been in on the whole thing from the beginning.

“Go hug ’em, girl! Go on.” With one papery, blue-veined hand, Nonnie shooed Addy toward the five people at the bottom of her stairs. “They all know ya,” Nonnie said. “But them five, they’re family.”

With tears threatening dangerously close, Addy stared at Nonnie, as though the older woman could save her from a step she didn’t think she could take. How much did Nonnie know?

“Go on, girl,” the woman said in the most firm tone of voice Addy had ever heard her use. “You got to do this if you’re ever going to be able to love wholeheartedly again.”

She could love wholeheartedly....

“Go!” Nonnie moved her chair forward and Addy stepped out of the way—straight into Becca’s waiting arms. And Randi’s. And Mr. and Mrs. Parsons’s. She could hardly breathe. Weak and trembling, she couldn’t stand. But