Angel's Rest(107)

“I don’t want to discuss Gabe.”

“Okay, we don’t have to talk about it. You just need to read this letter from Celeste.” Lori pulled an envelope from her bag and handed it to Nic. “She said to tell you she thought it best you read the letter first, then you should call her if you have any questions.”

Nic set the envelope down without opening it.

“She said it’s important,” Lori added. “A matter of life and death.”

Nic pursed her lips and frowned. She didn’t want to read the letter. She didn’t care what defense her women friends mounted in his behalf; it wouldn’t change the way she felt.

“Please, Nic?”

Nic scowled. How downright sneaky of Celeste. She knew that Nic had no will against Lori’s puppy dog eyes. She’d never been able to tell that girl no about anything. Releasing a long, heavy sigh, she picked up the envelope, removed the letter, and began reading.

Pam had called Celeste because she was worried about Gabe. She’d told Celeste that when Gabe was keeping vigil with her at her husband’s hospital bed, he had confessed a frightful tale about a near suicide attempt last fall. As Nic read the details, her blood ran cold.

That had been right before she’d met Gabe. Oh, my. The information landed a solid blow against her anger at her husband.

“Now he’s holed up at Eagle’s Way again all alone,” Lori said. “You know how you said that Tiger had claimed Gabe as his person? Well, now the dog’s cut him loose. Tiger won’t stay with him. That’s why we brought him down to you.”

Nic worriedly eyed the dog. “Gabe didn’t mistreat Tiger. I can’t believe he’d do that.”

“No, that’s not it at all. I think Tiger is as fed up with Gabe as you are. Now, though, Gabe doesn’t have anybody. As far as I can tell, he just sits around brooding. Sage went up to Eagle’s Way on an errand for Celeste. She said he wouldn’t talk to her, he looked like he’d been drinking, and he hadn’t shaved in a while. You have to talk to him.”

Nic stood up and started to pace the room until she remembered she was supposed to be sitting down and returned to her chair. Lori didn’t understand what she was asking. “If he’s shutting people out, what makes you think I’ll be able to reach him?”

“Because he loves you! It’s obvious.”

Nic rubbed her belly with both hands. She didn’t want to call him. She’d sworn to herself that she wouldn’t contact him until the babies were born, and even then all she intended to say was that they were healthy. But if he’d really considered killing himself in the past …

“Please, Nic.”

She blew out a sigh, took a sip of lemonade, and said, “Oh, all right. Hand me the phone.”


Gabe sat on a boulder beside the bubbling mountain creek downhill from Eagle’s Way and tried to work up the enthusiasm to fish. Davenport was coming out on Saturday and he’d promised him trout for supper. Considering that he’d yet to stock the freezer with a single fish since his return to Eagle’s Way, he needed to get a hook in the water.

But fishing wasn’t any fun anymore. Not without Nic. Without his family.

Gabe watched a small green leaf turn and swirl its way downstream

“Carried along to its destiny by forces beyond its control,” came a voice from behind him. “Do you feel that way, John Gabriel?”

Startled, he almost fell off the boulder. “Celeste? Where did you come from?”

She waved toward where her Honda Gold Wing stood in the parking area, not fifty yards from where he sat. How had he not heard her arrive?

Immediately a more pressing thought occurred. Why had she come? His blood turned to ice as the likely reason exploded like a nuclear bomb in his brain. Nic. Celeste had his phone number. She’d have called unless it was something big. Something bad.

Had Nic gone into labor? It was too early. Despite the miracle of modern medicine, the babies might not survive this early. Was that why Celeste had come? To deliver that news?

Gabe shoved off the rock and turned to face her, his hands fisted at his sides, bracing himself against the news he’d anticipated for weeks. “What happened?”

“Nic and the babies are just fine, Gabe. I spoke with her this morning. You, on the other hand …” Celeste clucked her tongue. “Aren’t you a sorry sight. Have you misplaced your razor?”

Gabe dragged his hand down the two-week-old beard he’d started growing for no good reason and ignored her question to ask one of his own. “Is there a problem at Angel’s Rest?”