Renegade Father (20 page)
Authors: RaeAnne Thayne
His chest rose and fell against her as he took a deep breath and then his gaze met hers. “I didn't kill my father,” he murmured. “I wanted to, but I didn't.”
She touched his beautiful, rugged face, to the muscle twitching along his jawline. “I know you didn't. Not on purpose.”
“No, you don't understand. I didn't touch him. He was already dead when I walked in the door.”
Shocked questions buzzed through her mind, then the answer came to her, sending them all scattering.
“Your mother,” she whispered, a statement not a question.
Joe nodded. “She was in the kitchen baking cookies as if nothing had happened while he bled to death.”
“Oh Joe. I'm so sorry.” She wrapped her arms around him, finally able to give the comfort he had always rejected.
Holding her tightly, he rested his chin on her head. “I think he hit her one too many times and she finally snapped. She didn't remember a thing about it. Nothing. She never did, even up until she died four years ago.”
“So you took the blame for her.”
“It seemed the right thing to do. I couldn't let her go to jail, not when she had already been through so much. I figured I couldn't protect her from him while he was alive but maybe I could protect her once he was dead.”
They were silent for several moments, accompanied only by the rattling of the chains on the porch swing and the beating of their hearts. Finally he kissed her again, so tenderly those tears came sneaking back.
“I love you, Annie. I came back to town all those years ago to tell you that, to see if you might feel the same way. But everything changed after I found my father.”
For all of them, she thought. If he hadn't taken the blame for his mother, she never would have married Charlie. But then she wouldn't have had C.J. and wouldn't have discovered how truly strong she could be.
She looked up at the big, hard man she had loved since she was a little girl and her heart overflowed.
It was time to break free of the past, time to move forward and seize the promise life offered them.
And they would do it together.
The knowledge filled her with sweet, healing peace.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6273-1
RENEGADE FATHER
Copyright © 2001 by RaeAnne Thayne
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit Silhouette at
www.eHarlequin.com
