Read Online Home to Harmony by Dawn Atkins - Free Book Online Page B

days, we got along great. David was kind and thoughtful, a good friend, reasonably responsible, and he talked to me…about everything. Now…” She shrugged, feeling as lost and small as she did surveying the cold black sky with its icy spikes of stars.
    Marcus watched her, waiting for her to speak.
    “I’d heard puberty was hell, but I didn’t expect this. It’s like someone switched off the lights in a strange room. I keep banging my knees on sharp corners I can’t see.”
    “That’s an interesting image.”
    “I wish it weren’t so apt.” She slapped at a mosquito that had landed on her upper arm, then scratched at the other bites. “Mosquitoes are driving me nuts.”
    “You’ve got quite a collection of bites, I see.” Marcus reached for her arm, turning it this way and that. “Six just on your forearm.” She liked the gentle warmth of his fingers.
    “Only the beginning. Twenty-five yesterday, plus five news ones tonight.” She showed him the places. “And the calamine I bought is useless.”
    “In that case…I make a salve that works pretty well.”
    “You make a salve? Really?”
    “I grow some herbs at home and mix a remedy or two.”
    “You have some with you? Here?”
    “In my room, yes.”
    “Then let’s go.” She jumped to her feet.
    Marcus sat there blinking at her.
    “Come on. This is an emergency.”





CHAPTER FIVE
    W HY DIDN’T HE JUST bring the ointment down to her? Marcus asked himself, following Christine up the stairs, his gaze caught by the lift of her calves, the curve of her backside.
    He knew when she got into his room, she’d treat his belongings like she treated him—poking, prodding, asking too many questions. The woman was so full of heat and crackle, she made him want lie in the dark under an ice pack.
    Upstairs, Lady waited outside his door. When they approached, she let out a gut-wrenching howl, then galloped away, down the stairs and across the yard toward the trees.
    “What was that about?” Christine asked.
    “She misses…her previous owner.” He opened the door and strode inside.
    “So how did you get her?” She moved in front of him, wanting the whole story. There was no point evading her.
    “Lady belonged to my stepson, Nathan. He died a year ago and my ex-wife couldn’t bear to have her around.”
    “Oh, I’m so sorry.” She looked as though she’d been punched.
    “It’s all right. You had no way to know.” He shouldn’t have been so blunt. “So, about the salve…”
    “How terrible for you both. Were you close to Nathan?”
    “As close as he’d allow me to be. He was thirteen when I began dating his mother. He was fifteen when he died.”
    “Fifteen?” She covered her mouth. “That’s David’s age.”
    “Yes. And, actually, David resembles Nathan in physical appearance. I think that might be why Lady was so drawn to him. Since Nathan’s death, she’s been inconsolable.”
    He wouldn’t tell her the rest—that Lady’s mournful cries burned through him like fire-tipped arrows, a fitting punishment for believing he had anything to offer Elizabeth or Nathan in the first place.
    “Let me get the salve.” He started forward, but she stopped him with a hand at his elbow.
    “I’m so sorry, Marcus. What happened? A car accident? Illness? I mean, unless you don’t want to talk about it…”
    Of course he didn’t. But after all the nights he’d lain awake rehashing the events while Lady howled, telling the story could hardly make him feel worse.
    “It was an accidental drug overdose. Heroin and fentanyl, which is very easy to OD on, especially for a new user.”
    “Oh, no. Was he living at home at the time?”
    “Yes. I broke down the door to the bathroom to get to him. Elizabeth was away, thank God.”
    “I can’t imagine how awful that must have been.”
    “I had no idea he was using needles. He’d had a scare snorting heroin and talked to me about it, so I thought he’d turned a corner. I was wrong.”
    “You