Read Online Love Inspired Suspense April 2015 #2 by Dana Mentink, Tammy Johnson, Michelle Karl - Free Book Online

you.”
    â€œLove you, Mama.”
    Love you, Mama
. Why did four simple syllables make every excruciating parenting moment fade away? All the arduous bouts of physical therapy, the endless doctor appointments and dizzying fears about money evaporated in the face of that pure sweetness.
    Junie’s speech had been a long time coming, thanks to her small oral cavity and high arched palate, as the doctors explained. For a long time, Junie’s speech sounded like no more than babbling to Keeley, in spite of the endless games of peekaboo and the elaborate “mmm” after bites of dinner to encourage her to make the proper sounds. Then, out of the blue, came “Mama.” The first time she’d heard it on that day when June had just sent a dozen oranges cascading off the grocery store shelf, Keeley had fallen to her knees, clasping a startled June in a bear hug. Then she’d turned her face away to prevent June from seeing her anguished tears. The word, the precious syllables, should have been a gift to her sister, June’s real mother.
    She was a fraud, pretending to be a mother. Doubt, grief, fear, desperation, love.
    Mama
.
    The loss rang through her again, like the clash of cymbals. She knew she would never stop missing her sister, and each gain of June’s would remind her of what she’d lost. Every new word should be LeeAnn’s to treasure; each ink mark on the doorjamb to measure another inch grown belonged to LeeAnn.
    What would LeeAnn have done in the present circumstance? Fought Tucker with every breath, every last ounce of her courage; anything to save her daughter.
    Junie, I will not let Tucker take you
. The resolve hardened like marble in her heart. She wasn’t a detective, or a parole officer, or a cop, but she had the only credential that mattered more. God had made her a mother, and that trumped everything else.
    I will find him, baby, and he will never put his evil hands on you
.
    Doubt surged afresh. What could she do that the police couldn’t? She had to be crazy.
    â€œJust crazy enough,” she whispered under her breath. “Love you, too, Junie Jo.”

SIX
    M ick was surprised when Keeley knocked on the window of his pickup truck in the police station parking lot. Reggie had finished up a half hour before and gone back to the cabin. Mick was also done being grilled by Uttley. He’d learned little except that the Fred at
Bird’s Away Magazine
had not sent the text and that Uttley liked Mick even less than he had earlier.
    Mick leaned over and opened the door for Keeley. She climbed in.
    â€œYou’re waiting around to follow me home, aren’t you?” she demanded.
    Another question that didn’t need an answer, but he nodded to be polite.
    â€œThis is crazy. I just explained to John that you’re following me everywhere, and I do not need his protection or yours.”
    Not that the scrawny doctor-boy could help out much, Mick thought. “I told him that I’d be keeping you under watch until Tucker’s caught.”
    She blew out a breath. “Fine. I’m not very skilled at shaking off tails, as they say in the movies, so I just thought I’d tell you right up front I’m not going home just yet. I’m going to the Pick and Pack.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Urgent need for groceries?”
    â€œNo,” she said, her voice hummed with a fierce current of determination.
    The silence lengthened between them until she sighed. “I’m thinking you’re going to know if I lie. I’m a terrible liar. My mother always knew when I was lying. She said my eyes turned silver. Are they silver now?”
    He allowed a smile. “No, but maybe that’s because you haven’t started in on the lying part yet.”
    She sighed. “I can’t be with June until Tucker is in jail.”
    He waited.
    She stared him full in the face. “You don’t talk much, do