Silent Killer Page 0,111

starts dating someone else, it’s going to break your heart just a little, isn’t it? You’re taking a chance by liking Missy. That’s what I’m doing with Jack. I’m taking a chance that in the end, we’ll feel the same way about each other.”

Seth stared at her, and for a moment she wasn’t sure she’d gotten through to him. Then suddenly she noticed a change in his expression.

“You don’t care that everybody knows?” Seth asked. “I mean, you were a preacher’s wife and here you are having sex outside of marriage. Granddad’s going to call that fornication.”

“Granddad can call it whatever he wants to call it,” Cathy said. “And no, I don’t care if everybody in town knows that I’m sleeping with Jack Perdue. Who I have sex with is no one else’s business. Not even yours.”

Seth swallowed. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. I don’t know. It’s just that I wish…I wish…” He turned from her, and she knew he was on the verge of crying.

She walked over to him, placed her hand on his shoulder and asked, “What do you wish?”

“I wish my dad were still alive. I wish he hadn’t died. I wish we were still a family. How stupid is that? Wishing for the impossible.”

Cathy wrapped her arms around her son and hugged him. “It’s not stupid at all. And if I could bring Mark back to us, I would. But I can’t. And we both have to find a way to go on without him. We have to build a new life for ourselves.”

“And that new life includes Jack Perdue, at least for you.”

“Maybe. And if that happens, I hope you’ll give Jack a chance to be a part of your life, too.”

Seth pulled away from her. “I’m not making any promises.”

“I don’t expect you to. Just be the wonderful, kindhearted and caring young man I know that you are. That’s all I ask.”

“If he hurts you, he’ll have to answer to me.”

Cathy barely managed to stop herself from smiling. How very sweet that Seth saw himself as her protector. Her heart sighed. She hadn’t lost him. He was still her son.

And in time…

Chapter Twenty-four

Maleah had enjoyed the time that Nic and she had spent with Nic’s brother in San Francisco, where he lived and worked as an up-and-coming young artist. His paintings had in the past few years garnered numerous wealthy patrons, including Nic’s husband, Griff. Of course, Maleah couldn’t afford the price of even one of Charles David’s sketches. She’d been surprised when, several evenings ago, he had asked her permission to sketch her and then only this morning had presented the sketch to her as a farewell gift.

If Nic’s brother wasn’t already involved with a very lovely woman—almost twice his age—Maleah might have fallen for him. He was handsome, intelligent and talented as well as kind and sensitive. Why were all the good ones unavailable?

While Maleah had filled her days with sightseeing, shopping and indulging in sleeping late and eating too much—she’d probably gained five pounds since they’d been here—Nic had simply put on a happy face. Each time Nic had spoken to Griff, she had come away from his phone call moody and depressed. It seemed that his business trip to Europe, which had been supposed to last only a few days, had required him to stay much longer than he’d intended. When he called yesterday and told Nic that he was coming home via San Francisco to pick up her and Maleah, you’d have thought that the news would have made Nic happy. It hadn’t.

“As long as he was out of the country, I could halfway pretend everything was all right,” Nic had said. “But once we’re face-to-face again…He’s keeping secrets from me, secrets that have to do with his past. Something’s happened in Europe, something I think Yvette and Sanders know about, but Griff hasn’t shared with me.”

Maleah understood her friend’s frustration. If her husband shared a mysterious past with another woman, she’d probably be as jealous as all get-out. And if he shared things with that woman he didn’t with her, and if that woman knew more about what was going on with him than she did, she’d be pissed enough to contemplate cutting off his balls. By nature, Maleah wasn’t a violent person, but by God, she had learned that if you didn’t stand up for yourself against the bullies of this world, they would knock you down and walk all over you. Not that Griff was by any