Dead Silence (Stillwater Trilogy #1)(43)
Author: Brenda Novak

“I know!” Heath cried. “Brook!”

She gave his shoulder a pat. “Good job.”

“Now let’s do six across,” Teddy said. “A bedtime what?”

“Story?” Heath answered, then immediately corrected himself. “No, it can only be four letters, and there’s an i in the middle.”

“Kiss?” Kennedy said.

Grace glanced up to find him looking at her. When their eyes met, the fluttery sensation in her stomach reminded her entirely too much of the hero worship she’d experienced when she was younger—so she immediately bent over the puzzle again.

“Hey, you’re right, Dad,” Teddy said. “I think it is kiss.”

“What’s the next one?” Kennedy asked.

“Nine down,” Heath said. “What you say on Valentine’s Day. Will you be what?”

“My Valentine!” Teddy shouted.

“That’s two words, dummy,” Heath said.

“It was a good guess,” Grace said to soften Heath’s criticism. “But in this case, I think it might be ‘mine.’”

Once again, Grace felt Kennedy’s gaze on her but refused to acknowledge him.

“Do you have a Valentine?” Teddy asked as she watched him write the letters.

She scooted over because Heath was trying to squeeze between her and a knot on the log. “You mean a boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

She thought of George’s neglect. “No, not really.”

“Not really?” Heath repeated.

“We’ve broken up,” she explained.

Teddy leaned forward to see around the fall of her hair. “But you like him?”

“Sure, I like him.”

“Are you going to marry him?” he said, his meaningful smile making Grace laugh.

“Maybe someday.”

“Why not now?” Heath wanted to know.

Grace wished Kennedy would stop his boys from asking her such personal questions—but she doubted he would. Although he appeared to be focused on cooking dinner, she suspected he was listening as intently as they were. “I—”

“Don’t want to get married?” Teddy inserted.

“It’s not that. I just…I’m not ready, I guess.”

“Oh.” Teddy seemed to consider her answer. “When will you be ready? Next week?”

She laughed again. “Maybe when I move back to Jackson in a few months.”

“I don’t think you should ever move away.” If Teddy had made this comment, Grace might not have been surprised. But hearing it from Heath, who didn’t show his emotions to the same extent, took her aback.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because then you won’t be able to go camping with us anymore.”

“I see. Well—” she grinned at Kennedy “—I’m sure there’ll be another nice lady to take my place.”

“My mom’s the only one who’s come with us before,” Heath said.

The mention of Raelynn cast a sudden pall over the group, confirming to Grace how vital the wife and mother of this family had been to all of them. She put one arm around Heath and the other around Teddy. “I’ll bet she’s gazing down on you from heaven,” she said.

Teddy searched the sky as if he hoped to see her. “You think so? Right now?”

“Probably. She was so good she must be an angel. I believe God allows angels to look after the ones they love.”

Teddy blinked quickly, obviously fighting tears, and Grace decided to give the Archer men a moment of privacy. “I’m going to take a walk,” she said. “You two help your dad, okay?”

“Okay,” Heath said, but no one seemed particularly eager to focus on anything besides her. She could feel all three pairs of eyes staring after her as she slipped away.

Grace loved the cool lap of the water against her ankles, the sand squishing between her toes. But Teddy’s questions about her boyfriend, and the strange way she felt whenever Kennedy looked at her, had her thinking of George. What was going on with the man she planned to marry? He knew she wanted to talk to him. Surely he’d had a moment to contact her since she’d called yesterday morning—late last night, if no other time. For the past two years, they’d been close enough to call each other regardless of the hour.

Taking her cell from the pocket of her shorts, she checked once again to make sure she had service.

Her signal was as strong as ever. Her battery was fine, too.

So much for that excuse, she thought, and punched George’s number. His recorder answered almost before the phone could ring. “Hello. This is George E. Dunagan. I’m unable to come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message I’ll get back to you shortly.”

She waited for the beep. “George, why haven’t you called me? I’d really like to hear from you, so give me a ring when you get a minute, okay?” she said and hung up.

It was Saturday evening. She and George generally went out with friends, to a movie or to dinner. Where was he tonight?

“Grace?” Kennedy came through the trees behind her. “Dinner’s ready.”

She nodded but continued to admire the reflection of the sunset on the glistening water. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” she said.

When he didn’t respond, she glanced back at him. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he replied, but he never took his eyes off her.

Kennedy watched Grace from across the fire, marveling at how comfortable she seemed to be with his boys. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t the laughing, patient, doting woman he and his children had enjoyed for most of the day. When she was around Teddy and Heath, all trace of the hostility he’d witnessed at the pizza parlor disappeared. So did the distrust that entered her eyes the moment the boys wandered off and left her temporarily alone with him.

For the past fifteen minutes, the four of them had been roasting marshmallows, and she’d been smiling the entire time. Teddy and Heath kept accidentally setting their marshmallows on fire, but that didn’t stop them from stuffing their mouths full or proudly offering the charred results to Grace.

For Grace’s part, she accepted whatever Teddy or Heath gave her and pretended to like it.

“That was a good one, wasn’t it?” Teddy said as she licked her fingers after eating another of his blackened gifts.

“Excellent,” she said. When her eyes briefly locked with Kennedy’s, he sent her a wry grin and she responded with a little shrug that made him wonder how Joe or anyone else could think anything but the best of her. Maybe she had a prickly exterior, but her heart was soft. Probably too soft for her own good.