Read Online To Heal A Heart (Love Inspired) by Arlene James - Free Book Online Page B

expression didn’t change, but his arm slipped down until it casually rested across the tops of her shoulders.
    Perhaps, she thought, she liked jazz even more than she’d realized.

Chapter Five
     
     
    T he drive was short, as the Sayers lived in the White Rock Lake area, but along the way Piper learned that Vernon was a retired attorney, Marian a retired elementary school teacher and Mitch an only child.
    “We wanted more,” Marian admitted baldly, turning a fond look over her shoulder, “but instead of more children we got the very best.”
    Mitch chuckled and shook his head.
    “Well, we did,” she insisted.
    Mitch telegraphed a message to Piper. Mothers.
    Piper telegraphed one back. She means every word of it.
    He nodded, that small, defenseless smile in place. Piper found herself wondering why he wasn’t already attached romantically. As close as he seemed to be to his parents, she sensed that he was very much his own man. Some other woman must have seen what she did. The conviction was growing in Piper that she might have stumbled onto something special.
    Vernon pulled the car into the spotless garage of a long, low, white brick house nestled artfully in the center of a tree-shaded lot. Piper knew instinctively that this was where Mitch had grown up. He let himself out of the car and reached down to assist her. Marian was already on her way to the door before Vernon had killed the engine, making him the last one to get out. Mitch waited for his father to move toward the door before he touched her back as a signal to follow. It seemed a supremely respectful thing to do.
    “Come on in, Piper,” Vernon said around the pipe stem between his teeth, “and make yourself at home. Son, show her where to go, would you? I’m going to help Mother in the kitchen.”
    “Of course. This way.”
    They followed Vernon into a cool hallway floored with white ceramic tile. Piper received the instant impression of comfort and security. She saw gleaming woods, pale walls and good, serviceable furnishings, as well as a smattering of artwork. In the den she found the photos.
    Framed and arrayed across one wall as well as on the mantel and tabletops, photos displayed the Sayers as a young couple and Mitch from infancy to adulthood. The most recent, a photo of Mitch receiving an award and shaking hands with another man, couldn’t have been more than a few months old, but the one that caught and held her attention was a wedding photo: Mitch in a white tuxedo standing next to a sweet-faced brunette in yards of satin. The photo was at least a decade old.
    “Her name was Anne,” he said quietly, standing at Piper’s elbow, and she knew then why he was not—rather, no longer—attached.
    “How did you lose her?”
    “Lose her,” he echoed, looking down at his toes. “I didn’t.” He lifted his gaze then, rich blue eyes piercing, open. “She died over nine years ago, but she has never been lost.”
    Piper gulped and moved away, crossing her arms over her middle protectively. She didn’t want to feel what she was suddenly feeling, didn’t want to think the thoughts hovering at the edges of her mind. Mitch shifted his stance but didn’t come after her. Instead he reached out to her with words.
    “Her death has given me a rather unique perspective,” he said, “a calling of sorts. I’m a certified grief counselor. We have a group that meets at church.”
    Piper turned her back on him, desperately clinging to her composure. He went on.
    “What I’ve learned has helped me deal more effectively with my clients and the families of my clients—and sometimes their victims.”
    Anger flared inside her, along with the irrational notion that she’d been set up for this. She turned on him, speaking more sharply than she intended. “And just what, may I ask, is your ‘fix’ for grief?”
    He stared at her, his head slowly tilting to one side. “Time,” he said.
    She scoffed at that. “More like a good time. Or don’t you