Read Online The Newlyweds by Elizabeth Bevarly - Free Book Online Page B

have stopped making appointments,” she added. “A handful of couples who started adoption procedures have pulled out and gone elsewhere, sometimes to places that aren’t entirely legitimate.”
    â€œAnd there have been financial repercussions,” Leslie said. “I hope the organization doesn’t go bankrupt as a result of all this.”
    Bridget wasn’t sure what to say in response to their concerns. So she gave her mother’s hand another gentlesqueeze and smiled at her sister. “Sam and I and the other agents involved will do our best to find out who’s behind it all. And then you can both help Children’s Connection rebuild.”
    Jillian smiled back, but the smile didn’t quite ring true. “I just hope whoever’s doing this to Children’s Connection leaves something for us to start rebuilding with.”

Four
    W hen Sam came home from work that evening, he didn’t come home from work. Not to his usual home, the brick bungalow in the Portland suburbs he’d bought from his parents when they’d decided to move to the sunnier, drier climate of San Diego. That home would have welcomed him, with its broad cement front porch and its worn-out wooden swing swaying at one end, and its creaky hardwood floors that still bore the scars from the beating they had taken from the two growing, rambunctious Jones boys. He would have done what he always did when going home at night—shed his suit and tie and loafers in favor of battered blue jeans and a flannel shirt and heavy socks. Then he would have made himself a simple dinner and taken it and a longneck into the living room to watch the news while he ate.
    After that, he would have spend the rest of the nighteither watching a game or reading some vintage mystery, probably one of the greats like Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. Or maybe, if he were feeling socially inclined, he would have headed down to Foley’s to shoot some pool and tip another longneck with guys he’d known since childhood. Or, if he were feeling really socially inclined, he might have picked up the phone to call Denise. Or Donna. Or Francine. Or Lynette. Or one of the other neighborhood girls who viewed life the same way he did.
    Because that was what he did when he went home at night. He left Special Agent Samuel Jones at the office, and then let Sam Jones kick back and relax. Usually alone, but sometimes with friends. Sometimes with friends who were more intimate than others. But none of his friends were that intimate. None were more than just friends. His was a quiet life. A solitary life. An uneventful life. It was exactly the kind of life he’d always figured he would lead—except that there had once been a time when he’d figured he’d lead it with someone else, too. Sam liked where he came from, and that was where he always wanted to stay. He’d never been able to understand these people who felt driven to move hundreds, even thousands of miles from home, just to feel like they belonged somewhere. Portland was where Sam belonged—right in the neighborhood where he had always lived. Everything he wanted, everything he needed, was all right here at home.
    And if maybe, sometimes, he felt like there was still something missing, well… That was only because no one was ever allowed to be entirely content. Which was just as well, because in Sam’s opinion, contentment led to complacency. And complacency led to carelessness.And when people stopped caring, well, what was the point of going on? So it was good that Sam didn’t feel entirely satisfied with his life, right? It was good that there were some nights when he lay awake wondering if maybe he should be doing something differently, right? And it was good that there was still a part of himself that wasn’t entirely happy, right?
    Damn right.
    Because nobody ever got everything they wanted. Sam, at least, had everything he needed. And