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What Mary Jo particularly reentlest touch and thevoice She could still hear it if she closed her eyes The way he’d knelt at her side and the protectiveness of his manner had calmed her, physically and e

"Roy McAfee is a retired Seattle detective turned private investigator, and his wife, Corrie, works in his office"

"Really" She recalled seeing Mr McAfee’s sign on Harbor Street What a fascinating profession She suspected Mack’s father got soh, especially in such a small town Maybe she was just influenced by the mystery novels she loved and the shows she watched on television

"I suppose I should change clothes before dinner," Grace said, rising fro here chatting with you"

"Me, too," Mary Jo told her It’d been thepart of her day--except, of course, for her nap

"I’ll be back in a few nal to leave "I’ll go to the apartment"

"Are you sure? I know Mack said you should rest, but Cliff and I would really like it if you joined our fa over one shoulder, assuht

"He’s out with his horses They’re his first love" Grace sarded his wife He plainly adored Grace and it was equally obvious that she felt the saathered they’d only beenpicture on the piano looked recent, and it was clear that their adult children were fro herself to consider the appropriateness of her question, Mary Jo said, "About what you said a few ain She didn’t speak for aand then, after ain It was a whole neorld toCliff?"

"Yes He’d been divorced for years and dating was a new experience for him, too I’d been married to Dan for over thirty years, and when another man--besides Cliff--paid attention to h school"

"Did Cliff know about him?"

"Not at first You see, this other man lived in another city and we e-mailed back and forth, and he beca that he was married and yet I allowed our Internet ro a divorce"

"It was a lie?"

"Oh, yes, but I believed him because I wanted to And then I learned the truth"

"Did Cliff find out about this other ret flashed in her eyes "Yes--and as soon as he did, he broke off our relationship"

"Oh, no! You nearly lost Cliff?"

"As I said, I’d learned the truth about Will by then and was crushed to lose Cliff over hiullible and naive I’d lost a wonderfultime I could hardly look at my own face in the mirror"

"That’s how I feel now," she ht She’d heard that naet better, Mary Jo, I promise you that Will, the man I was…involved with, did eventually lose his wife She divorced his formore to do with him So you see, he really was the one who lost out in all this"

"Cliff forgave you?"

"Yes, but it took tiain We were married soon after that and I can honestly say I’ve never been happier"

"It shows"

"Cliff is everything I could want in a husband"

The door off the kitchen opened and Cliff ca by the door, then reht where you are now, talking away"

Grace se et back, will you?"

"Sure thing"

Grace hurried out, and Cliff claimed the chair next to Mary Jo As he did, he eyed the cruood heart-to-heart"

"We did," she adh told him, "I’ve been very foolish"

"I’m sure Grace told you we’ve all e is to learn from those et ain," Mary Jo said fervently "It’s just that…" She hesitated, uncertain how much to tell hi me I have three older brothers and they all seem to think they knohat’s best for me and my baby"

"They love you," he said simply

She nodded "That’s what one, they feel they should be the ones directing my life"

"And naturally you take exception to that"

"Well, yes But when I tried to live my life my oay and prove how adult I was, look what happened" She pressed both hands over her sto down at it "I …interesting after I found out I was pregnant"

"What’s that?" Cliff asked He stretched his long legs out in front of hi She noticed that his hand-knit socks had a whimsical pattern of Christmas bells, at odds with his no-nonsense jeans and shirt

"Well, at first," she began, "as you can iine, I was terribly upset I was scared, didn’t knohat to do, but after a while I started to feel really excited There was a new life insidewith his or her own personality This tiny person’s going to be part David, partto accept her brothers’ certainty that the baby was a boy