Page 4 (1/2)

Hooking

"I…uh…" Stephanie staive you two a minute alone"

Brady releasedher blond curls away before gently cupping the curve of her jaw He whispered so soft in her ear that caused her lids to flutter shut When he was done talking, she tipped her head slightly, offering her husband her , "I love you"

It was so sweet and unlike anything I knew of Brady, so much so that it momentarily made lided to the door, and then, with one last glance over her shoulder, she was gone

Brady turned back to ed breath

He stared at me

And I stared at him

Neither of us uttered a word, but it was as far froet

Finally, in a shaky voice, he said, "It’s over It’s really over"

But it didn’t feel like it was over tostarted

And I had no one who could understand that feeling I was getting everything I wanted and it still scared the shit out of me

And, for reasons that could only be explained by the staggering loneliness caused by Porter’s sudden departure from my life, I chanced a darkness confessional with Brady

"I’ether "What? Why?"

Questions

I focused over his shoulder at the door "I have no idea"

"That’s crazy, Charlotte This is e’ve been praying for since day one And it’s finally happening Don’t be scared"

Judg the pain in ht"

Faking it

He inched closer and lowered his voice, but it wasn’t the soft one he’d used with his wife It was as if he hispering over gravel "You have to get that shit out of your head I don’t want hi Because it is a good thing Lucas is coet it together"

Apologies

Noise at the door drewin, two cups of coffee in her hands

"Hey, Brady," she said, suspiciously glancing between the two of us

She’d been without of the roo on And the other about ten ain to check in with Toht to me "Brady tell you?"

"I hadn’t had a chance," he replied,away

Alarm pricked the hairs on the back of my neck "Tell me what?"

Tom’s face softened as he whispered, "It’s him"

"I know," I replied

I could have told hile doubt about it I don’t kno I had known, but the minute I’d seen him with fresh eyes, I had known he was mine Yet Toined

"No, Charlotte It’s really him Remember the prints we lifted off his toys when he was first taken? They’re a match He’s yours"