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"Yes, they're very nice"

"I almost ruined my new jacket, but Dad says all we have to do is take it to the cleaners"

"Well, you're certainly looking chipper"

"I feel real good, but the doctor said I have to stay here overnight Dad's going to coto fix ood cook, and I have so much I want to show you"

Catherine's eyes shot to Royce's It was clear she didn't kno to answer Kelly It was also clear, at least to Royce, that she wanted to be there just as much as he and Kelly wanted her with them

Chapter Five

"Okay, Dad, we're ready," Kelly called out excitedly from the family room

Catherine shared a smile with the ten-year-old as Royce wiped his hands dry on a dish towel and wandered in from the kitchen He was busy with the dinner preparations while Catherine was keeping Kelly entertained

"See?" Kelly held out her areous?"

As a surprise for Kelly, Catherine had brought along press-on nails, and the two had spent an hour working the dragon-length fire-engine red nails onto the girl's fingers

"How'd you do that?" Royce blinked and seeenuinely a up at hi before dinner?" Kelly demanded "I'm starved Hospital food leaves a lot to be desired, you know" She was dressed in her paja on the L-shaped sectional with a thick feather pillow propped at one end According to Royce, the doctor had given instructions to keep Kelly quiet for a day or two A feat, Catherine was quickly learning, that was easier said than done

"Hold your horses," Royce teased "I' touches on dinner now"

"Can I help?" Catherine offered

"I want to help, too," Kelly chie, yellow and brown hand-knit afghan

"Stay put, the both of you," Royce insisted "The table's set All I need to do is dish up It'll only takein the kitchen had done funny things to Catherine's heart If the wardroom could only see him now! A dish toas tucked around his waist in apron fashion, yet it did nothing to disrupt the highly charged effectiveness of his es of his character were shter, Catherine noted Gone was the constrained, inflexible commander who ruled with a harsh, but fair hand Royce Nyland was said to be a ainst it more than once herself He was also said to be a man with an inner core of steel, but what few realized, what feas that Royce Nyland also possessed a heart of gold A old

Catherine had assumed she'd feel uncomfortable in Royce's hoether like this didn't border on an impropriety, an indiscretion that could have serious consequences for them both But Royce had been the one who'd seconded Kelly's invitation They'd all wanted it so badly that Catherine had thrown caution to the wind

"Dad hetti and meatballs," Kelly explained

"Meat-a-balls," Royce corrected from inside the kitchen "You can't eat Italian unless you speak it correctly Try again"

"Meat-a-balls," Kelly returned enthusiastically For someone who'd been hospitalized only a few hours earlier, the youngster revealed aor

"Catherine" He pointed a sauce-coated wooden spoon in her direction

"Meat-a-balls," she said, i to stop talking about the all day for this"

"Now" Royce appeared and waved his arhan on Kelly's legs went flying across the back of the sectional as she bounced to her feet She sauntered into the dining room with her arers splayed in an effort not to touch anything in case her nails weren't dry yet

"Are you sure she can eat with those things?" Royce asked Catherine out of the corner of hisshe'll find a way"

Kelly had a proble her fork without her nails interfering, everything went sh, Catherine had to ad out of a Marx brothers movie

After dinner, Catherine and Royce cleared the table and lingered over a cup of coffee in the family room

"I can't remember when I've tasted better ht, you're an excellent cook"

Royce bowed his head, graciously accepting her coaze drifted to the fireplace and the fraraph of Royce, Kelly and a dark-haired wo-featured feaze followed hers "That was taken a couple of years before the accident"

"She was beautiful"

Royce nodded, but it was clear to Catherine that the subject was a closed one He didn't want to speak of his e any otten engageraph onto keep the emotion out of her voice She didn't often speak of her father, but she felt coh with Royce and Kelly to share this painful part of her life When she'd finished, Catherine noted that Kelly was struggling to keep her eyes open

"I think it's time I put her to bed," Royce whispered

Catherine nodded, stood and took their e Kelly into his ar her mouth as she yawned When she finished, she held out her arhter into the kitchen, and Catherine quickly gave Kelly a squeeze Standing that close to Royce, however, feeling hiainst his forears to her equilibrium She had barely touched hi to life with yearning