Always Devoted Read Free Page B

Paige and the empty car and dark nights when she couldn't sleep wondering where her sister was, crying because she was afraid Paige had been hurt, crying because she was afraid she was dead.
    "Let's walk back," she said, needing to think about all of this.
    Linc didn't initiate conversation as they walked, as gulls screeched, as waves pounded the shore.  The tide was coming in, creating puddles in the sand that she was barely aware of as she sloshed through them.  Linc stayed by her side, walked where she walked, a force to be reckoned with himself.
    She would have kept walking, but Linc tapped her shoulder and pointed to his house across the expanse of loose sand and grass.  When they reached the steps, she wiped the sand from her feet and slipped them into her shoes.  He let her precede him.
    Once they were standing on the deck, she made a decision.  The ocean wasn't as loud up here but it still carried a resonant voice, a pounding that was a backdrop.
    When she turned to face Linc, for a few moments the sound of the ocean faded away.  The brush of the breeze on her face hardly registered because she got lost in his green eyes.  But then she remembered why she was here, at his house on the beach.
    Her voice was loud and clear above the sound of the surf.  "I'd like to meet Gillian."

Chapter Two
     
    When Linc pulled up in front of Emma's bungalow, pretty much the same as every bungalow on the street except for the orange poppies and Redbuds around the foundation, the pretty wreath on the door, he was feeling disconcerted to say the least.  He didn't like his attraction to Emma Henderson.
    Plain and simple, he didn’t trust most women.  His parents' divorce had been brutal.  His mother had only wanted custody of him to win the war.  She made up garbage about his dad, how he lost his temper, how he was never home, how he went to the bar with his buddies to drink.  But Linc knew his dad only lost his temper when his mother ran up their credit card bill or when she forgot about Linc's track meet or when she had too many drinks at a party they attended.  And as far as working late?  He'd had to pay for their debt.  A drink with his buddies at a nearby sports bar on Friday afternoons was as far as that went.
    Linc had been old enough to know the truth.  By twelve he'd learned to distrust his mother's motives about everything.  She'd wanted a huge divorce settlement and she'd gotten it.
    Emma hadn't been able to find personal information on him because he was careful not to put it out there.  And if it got out, Nathan's internet skills managed to block it or make it disappear.
    Once he'd thought he'd risk getting married.  Colleen had seemed not to care about his money or his name or his success.  But he'd been bamboozled by her and had learned the truth the hard way.  She'd had an abortion and hadn't told him.  He'd found out by accident when she'd been in another room and he'd picked up her cell phone, thinking he was doing her a favor.  He'd answered a call from a clinic confirming a follow-up appointment.  When he'd looked into that clinic and then confronted Colleen, he'd learned the truth.  She didn't want children.  She wasn't about to lose her figure to a baby or be chained down caring for one.
    How had he been so blind?  Maybe he'd just wanted a family too badly.
    He loved spending time with Nathan and Gillian, enjoying their kids, and with Jake and Sara and their little boy.  Over the past few months he'd been seriously considering adopting kids of his own.  Why not?  There were plenty of kids out there who needed a home.
    As Linc stared at the front door of the bungalow, he somehow knew in his gut that this was a home.
    Linc hadn't been able to reach Gillian on her cell.  Sometimes she went hiking with Nathan where there wasn't any cell phone reception.  Sometimes she and Jake had to make a trip to search for missing persons.  If she was flying, her cell would be turned off.
    "Why