Wait for the Wind Read Free

curled her feet on Jack’s lap, while Ryan took the chair opposite them next to the fire. “We’re due in about a month.”
    “And the baby?”
    “Is doing well and so is the little mother. Let me add my welcome, Ryan.” Kate shifted in her seat and crossed her ankles.
    He had a mental flash of her slim and pale, rising above him in the moonlight. Impossibly blue eyes burning through his, then he killed the memory like a spider.
    “Ma tells me you’ve opened a clinic near here. May I say I hope to never need the service? No offense intended.” Idle conversation . Just pretend like she was never more than your sister’s friend. She didn’t mean anything to you.
    “None taken, but I’ll be there just the same. Speaking of work, it’s time I got back to the clinic. Come by when you’ve the time and I’ll give you the grand tour.”
    Liv might not have noticed the private conversation going on mentally, but Ryan caught the look Jack gave him, which clearly said he’d pick Liv for information later. Writer, ex-cop and psychic were a dangerous combination when there were secrets to be kept. Jack must have sensed the tension in the air. Could Jack read his thoughts, too?
    Liv saw Kate to the door and then lumbered back to the couch. Ryan didn’t stay long. He needed some space until he had his emotions under control. Seeing Kate again had turned him upside down. This time around, they didn’t have the luxury of avoiding each other with distance. He was going to have to deal with Kate and the feelings he insisted he didn’t still have.
    * * * *
    Jack turned on the kitchen faucet and filled a glass with water. Liv had started this health kick since she found out she was pregnant. No more peanut butter fudge, coffee, and caffeine-loaded drinks for her. Last night she’d awakened at three o’clock craving garlic bread, cheese pizza and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. What a ghastly combination. His darling wife was nearing the middle of the third trimester of her pregnancy and each day was filled with new wonder for him and new strange happenings for Liv. She was already having Braxton Hicks contractions at barely the beginning of her seventh month. It worried him, but Kate had assured him Liv was doing wonderfully. Everything was fine. Still, he couldn’t shake the thought something wasn’t right.
    He’d seen early on, thanks to his gift, they would welcome a little girl. Skye had confirmed his vision. Skye was fast becoming the brother he’d never had. Jack had slipped into his new life like an old shoe with a comfortable fit. Did he miss being a cop? Sometimes, when he looked back and remembered the good he’d done during his career. He’d never go back to that and or return to the States unless Liv asked it of him. With Ryan home, that wasn’t likely.
    Now, Ryan was another matter entirely. They’d gotten close during Liv’s ordeal with Gueraldi. Working together, they’d managed to find and rescue her from the kingpin’s stronghold. His mental gifts didn’t have the reach Skye’s did, so he wasn’t able to ‘check in’ on Ryan mentally while his brother-in-law was overseas. He sensed storms brewing around him. Storms that circled and centered on Kate O’Connell. Jack had hoped Ryan would find some peace now that the trials were over.
    Jack walked back to the living room and handed Liv the glass before he sat down by her and pulled her feet into his lap.
    “You’re worried about Ryan. So am I.” Liv arched her foot against his hand.
    “I am, but he’ll be fine. He’s home. We’ll take care of him. He just needs time and space to figure out what comes next. I have a feeling it won’t be accounting, though. I keep seeing hammers. Maybe carpentry?” Jack started rubbing slow lazy circles on the soles of her feet.
    “Speaking of carpentry, Skye’s doing a fine job with the addition, so he says. I don’t know. When are you going to allow me back in that part of my house?