Read Online Forever After by Catherine Anderson - Free Book Online

never caught her daughter in a lie, and she had no reason to believe the child might be fibbing now. Even so, she looked deeply into Sammy’s eyes, searching for…what? Some sign of duplicity? She was dealing with a little girl who wouldn’t turn five for several more weeks, not an accomplished liar.
    “Sweetheart…”
    Meredith hesitated. She couldn’t spout dire warnings. Did she want the child to be terrified to go outdoors? “Hmm,” she mused, looking back down at her bowl. “This is too weird. I guess you’re still picking up dog hair on your clothes when you play outside.”
    Sammy hunched her shoulders, looking as bewildered as Meredith felt.
    “Well, so much for my finishing breakfast,” Meredith said with a sigh. “Somehow, a dog hair in my mush doesn’t do great things for my appetite.”
    A few minutes later Meredith settled down at her desk to put in her daily four hours working. Telephone solicitation was a dead-end, no-brainer job, and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t muster much enthusiasm. But working in computer programming, the field she loved, simply wasn’t possible right now, not when she had an emotionally unstable little girl who needed her mother at home. Sammy had just been taken from the only world she’d ever known and plopped smack-dab in the middle of an unfamiliar one.She needed time—time to heal and time to forget.
    Later when Sammy was stronger and able to attend school, Meredith would return to her field. There were mail order places where she could purchase a fake diploma to get her foot in the door at a company, and once there, her experience would carry her. For now, though, she was content to call strangers and book them for a free carpet shampoo, compliments of Miracle Kleen. For every shampooer her customers purchased from the sales rep who did the demonstrations, Meredith received a commission. She wasn’t getting rich, but the paychecks kept the wolves from their door.
    As she was making her first phone call of the morning, Meredith noticed several dog hairs on her desk blotter. Seeing them stunned her.
    “Hello?”
    The irritated voice at the other end of the line startled Meredith into speech. “Uh, hello, Mrs. Christiani? This is Meredith Kenyon, your local Miracle Kleen representative. My company’s offering a few carefully selected dogs in Wynema Falls a free carpet cle—”
    Before Meredith could say more, the woman hung up in her ear.
     
    Two nights later, Meredith was jerked from a sound sleep by a piercing scream. Then, “Mommy! Mommy!”
    Accustomed to her daughter’s nightmares, Meredith was on her feet before she came fully awake. Not taking time to search for her slippers, she raced through the house, tugging on the chenille robe she’d grabbed from the foot of her bed.
    “I’m here, sweetie!” she cried as she flung open Sammy’s bedroom door and flipped on the light. “It’s okay, punkin. Mommy’s—”
    Meredith’s words died in her throat, and she reeled to a halt. Heath Masters’ dog lay in the middle of her daughter’s bed, a hulking black presence. Meredith glanced at the double-hung window, which had been pushed open, then jerkedher gaze back to her daughter, who was hugging the dog’s stout neck, her tear damp face pressed against his ruff. The Rottweiler lay with one foreleg curled over Sammy as if to return her hug, his massive head resting on her shoulder, his jowls dripping drool down the back of her pink pajama top. Every time Sammy sobbed, the dog whined softly, snuffling the child’s hair and licking her ear.
    Always before, it had been Meredith’s job to comfort Sammy when she awoke from a nightmare. Now, it seemed, Heath Masters’ Rottweiler had assumed that role.
    Amazement coursed through Meredith. How many times had Sammy let the dog in? Judging by the way she clung to Goliath, the two had done some serious bonding.
    Meredith took a cautious step toward the bed. Goliath emitted a low, rumbling growl.