Read Online Finding Their Son by Debra Salonen - Free Book Online Page A

girls to her parents’. E.J. moved in with a friend. Eli spent every waking hour somewhere else, unable to walk through the empty rooms without feeling consumed by anger.
    He squared his shoulders. He wasn’t proud of the way he handled things. Too much self-righteousness and not enough forgiveness, his grandmother would have said. Bobbi had accepted her guilt. “Yes, I slept with Robert when I was seeing you, but I was sure you were E.J.’s father. I wouldn’t have married you if I didn’t think so.”
    Eli didn’t know if he believed her or not. He was pretty sure he could never trust her again. A moot point because Bobbi had decided that their marriage had become stagnant and unfulfilling. “All we do is work and dash around to thekids’ activities,” she’d told him as she packed their daughters’ things. “The passion between us has been gone for years, Eli. Maybe you choose not to see that, but I can’t pretend anymore.”
    Pretense . A word he hated like no other. His father had accused him of pretending to want a college career. On her deathbed, his mother admitted that she’d pretended to love his father as a way of escaping her brutal father. And his wife, who slept with another man while dating him, accused him of faking his commitment to his family.
    He’d lost it. The guy who rarely argued, let alone lost his temper, blew up. His daughters were so scared they called 9–1-1. The cops who raced to his house were friends, coworkers, but they’d looked at Eli as if he were a stranger.
    Bobbi and the girls moved in with her folks in Reliance. His captain ordered Eli to take six weeks of personal leave. The first two weeks, Eli spent in an alcohol-induced fog of self-pity. Then, out of the blue, Uncle Joseph showed up.
    Given a little time and distance, Eli was certain he could rebuild a relationship with his daughters. Even E.J. might come around eventually. Unless some new dynamic added a fatal blow to his already tenuous hold on his family.
    What Char was suggesting might be the last straw, but could he ignore the possibility? If it was true.
    That was the question, wasn’t it? he thought, pushing to his feet. Did I really screw Char Jones and conveniently forgot about it for seventeen years?
    He looked in the mirror again, pulling down the skin under one eye to examine the red web of veins. He’d cleaned up his act years ago, thank God. Joining the Marines had provided a serious wake-up call. He’dcoughed up green phlegm the first three days of boot camp—the result of too much senior partying after basketball season ended.
    He’d kicked the habit. He didn’t drink or smoke. He couldn’t say the same for his extended family. Bobbi was still a bit of a party girl. Eli’s father had been a full-fledged alcoholic right up to the day he died. Joseph seemed half-looped most of the time, but he still managed to drive around the state to attend ceremonies and powwows.
    A light knock sounded on the door. “Eli?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Would you like a quesadilla with your soup?”
    The immensity of his earlier hunger returned. “Sure.”
    “I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready. I’m setting a pair of moccasins beside the door.”
    “Moccasins?” he said, opening the door. “How could you have a pair my si—”
    She was gone, but a shoebox answered his question. Her shop. She’d run next door and picked out a pair for him—probably using his hiking boots to determine the correct size.
    Crap. He scowled at his image in the mirror one last time. He didn’t deserve this kind of hospitality. And he had no idea when he’d be in a position to repay it.
    He picked up the box and started to walk in the direction she’d pointed out when they first entered the home. While the hallway wasn’t that chilly, gooseflesh appeared on his bare legs. Sleeping outdoors the night before had introduced a permanent chill in his bones.
    He quickly returned to the bathroom and opened the box. The moccasins