the rest. He was already running for his car.
ANDREA DECIDED her guardian angel must be working overtime. First, when she’d dashed back inside the house, she’d found Vicki’s address book in the kitchen and had been able to contact Grant Corbin’s office. Now, speeding to catch up with the ambulance, it seemed her luck was holding. Using the mobile phone she’d borrowed from Alex, Andrea released a sigh of relief when her father answered. Nine times out of ten, her mother was the one who picked up first, and Andrea wouldn’t have been able to give her the news.
A retired Navy man, Jack Hunt was the rock of the family. The rest of them, including Karen, Andrea and Vicki’s mother, depended on him. He started speaking before Andrea could say anything.
“Your mother’s out shopping again,” he said. “I swear, Andrea, I think she’s determined to spend every dime I make! As far as an inheritance goes, forget about it. I know you won’t need any help, but Vicki’s another story. She’s never been able to hold down a decent job and—”
“Dad… Dad, hold up for a minute, okay? I…I need to talk to you.”
He fell silent and Andrea told him what had happened. By the time she finished, she was crying, but he reacted as she’d expected. Stoic and in control. Only his voice gave him away and no one other than Andrea would have caught that.
“I’ll find your mother,” he said hollowly. “We’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as we can.”
“We’re pulling in right now,” she said. “Look for me in the emergency room.”
Tossing the phone aside, she parked her Jeep and jumped out. Just as she reached the entrance, the ambulance driver wheeled Kevin’s gurney through the E.R. doors at full speed. One of the trauma nurses, Jackie Kellison, ran to meet them, the newest E.R. resident, Amy Sherwood, right beside her.
Andrea explained the accident as the nurse and doctor rolled the child into one of the examining rooms. Without his mother or father present, Andrea had no legal basis to sign for his care but in Courage Bay, lives counted more than the rules.
“Tell me where it hurts, Kevin.” Dr. Sherwood pressed her fingers against his belly while glancing down at his leg. When he didn’t answer, she looked at him and repeated her question. When he still said nothing, she looked at Andrea.
“He’s got some…communication issues.” Andrea searched her rattled brain for the term Vicki had used and finally came up with it. “His mother said the condition’s called ‘selective mutism.’”
The resident nodded once, then without missing a step, continued her examination, talking to Kevin all the while as if she fully expected him to answer.
She was still poking and prodding when Andrea’s parents bustled into the room.
Karen Hunt’s slim figure and blond highlights usually hid her real age of sixty, but the news of Vicki’s accident had added years. Her eyes were frantic and wild, her face pale and lined. Even her clothing was disheveled—she’d clearly changed before they’d rushed to the hospital and her blouse was misbuttoned.
She caught Andrea’s eye and shook her head minutely, a silent understanding passing between mother and daughter. This wasn’t the place for them to cry and console each other. Not in front of Kevin. For his sake, they had to stay in control of themselves. Nothing meant more than him right now, including their own grief.
Andrea acknowledged the message then moved away from the bed so they could get closer. Her mother grabbed Kevin’s fingers and began to talk to him softly, Jack Hunt going to the other side of the bed to place a beefy hand on the child’s shoulder.
Andrea slipped into the corridor, leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
GRANT COULDN’T REMEMBER the last time he’d been to Courage Bay. Speeding south from L.A., the Impala pushed to its limit, all he could think about were the times he hadn’t come.
The Hunts’ twentieth anniversary. Christmas two years ago. Vicki’s birthday the first year they’d been married.
She had wanted to visit Courage Bay more often, but each time they’d tried, his job had seemed to interfere. Vicki hadn’t bought his explanation that murderers didn’t take off on holidays. She’d accused him of manufacturing excuses, saying he didn’t want to go with her because he hated her family.
She’d been half right. Sometimes he had used work as an excuse, but not the way she thought.
His problem was actually the opposite of her complaint. He loved Karen and Jack Hunt but in the L.A. world he’d come to consider his own, people like them just didn’t exist. Years of working Vice and now Homicide had made him forget how to act around moral and sane individuals. The only way he could deal with the situation seemed to be by avoiding them.
Then there was Andrea. Vicki’s little sister.
The first time he’d met her, he’d been shocked. He’d never seen two individuals, including twins, who resembled each other so strongly.
A striking woman with thick honey-colored hair and dark-blue eyes, Vicki had brought the JP’s office to a standstill the day they had walked in to get married. Grant had felt eyes on him, too, everyone wondering why in the hell someone like her would be marrying someone like him. Andrea shared that beauty but there was more to her than there had been to Vicki, something deeper, something darker.
After he’d gotten to know her a bit, Grant had relaxed enough to hold a decent conversation with Andrea, but he’d always found himself wondering if she’d feel the same, kiss the same, make love the same…as Vicki. He knew his disquiet came from somewhere other than just the uncanny resemblance the two women shared yet he hadn’t wanted to examine his reactions too closely. He had been married to Vicki, after all.
In the end, he had let his wife visit her family alone. They had all been so happy to see Kevin, no one had really noticed his father was absent and that had been fine with Grant.
He gripped the steering wheel and prayed the little boy would be okay. Kids had never figured much in Grant’s life until Kevin had been born, then he’d begun to understand what all the fuss was about. Despite the circumstances, Grant couldn’t have possibly loved Kevin any more than he already did—it had damn near killed him when they’d packed up and left.
Kevin had been four, almost five, at that point. Grant shook his head. Where had the time gone? He and Vicki had been divorced a bit more than a year and Grant hadn’t seen Kevin once during that time. Would he even remember who Grant was? Would he still throw his arms around Grant’s neck and hug him tight?
Grant had expected little from his marriage, and he hadn’t been disappointed. He’d known the score from the very beginning, however, and he had no right to complain. Vicki could have had any man on the planet yet she’d picked him. He still didn’t know why but he no longer cared, either. Kevin was all that mattered.
Reaching the outskirts of Courage Bay, Grant realized that his love for Kevin was all he had left. With sudden resolve, he promised himself he’d take care of this once and for all. He’d be the kind of father the little boy deserved.
And that was a promise Grant Corbin would keep.
CHAPTER THREE
ANDREA’S
