„Welcome to my world,“ Kyle said wryly. Becca chuckled.

Kristen covered her eyes. „I can’t watch anymore. I’m going to throw up.“

„Oh, man! Sixth place.“ Rachel shut off the video game. „My game is off tonight.“

„It’s a wonder you can still move your hands and your eyes aren’t burned-out sockets,“ Kyle retorted. „You’ve been playing that fool game all day.“

Because she’d stayed home from school. Just a precaution, Kyle said, and not her fault, Becca said, but Kristen felt responsible all the same. Rachel, on the other hand, was thrilled to have missed a test and to have the whispered admiration of her friends.

„Don’t apologize,“ Kyle warned.

„Or you’ll kick my ass,“ Kristen said with a weary smile. „I know. Has Abe called?“

„Not in the last five minutes since you asked before.“ Becca patted her hand. „He’s fine, Kristen. He can take care of himself.“ It was said mechanically, in the voice of the wife and mother of cops. Kristen wondered if Becca had ever once believed it.

„Besides, it’s just dinner,“ Kyle said. „The worst that can happen is he accidentally uses the wrong fork and Sharon cuts him up with that sharp tongue of hers.“

Kristen looked up at him, curious. „Why do you say that?“

Kyle looked uneasy, but Becca huffed. „Debra was the sweetest, most generous woman in the world, but her parents were fond of money and the power that came with it.“ A look of pain crossed her face. „Abe wasn’t good enough for Debra and her father never let an opportunity go by without telling him so.“

„Becca,“ Kyle chided gently. „That’s all past now. They can’t hurt him anymore.“

Kristen looked from one to the other, but neither appeared to be prepared to impart additional detail. „Abe told me about the lawsuit. How they tried to get custody of Debra.“

Kyle’s eyes widened speculatively. „Did he now?“ Becca’s jaw clenched. „Did he tell you that they never stopped blaming him for Debra getting shot? For five years Debra lay there and they never stopped blaming him.“

Poor Abe. Poor Kyle and Becca, having to watch their son endure such torment. „He didn’t want to meet them tonight.“

Becca huffed again. „Of course he didn’t.“

„Then why did he?“ Rachel asked from the floor and Kristen blinked. She’d almost forgotten the teenager was down there, listening to every word.

Kyle sighed. „I imagine he went to let them have their say and get it over with.“

„So they wouldn’t say it on Saturday and ruin the christening for Sean and Ruth,“ Kristen said. It added yet another layer of respect to the character of Abe Reagan. Becca’s eyes misted. „You really do understand him.“ Kristen felt what was becoming a familiar wave of longing. For Abe, for his family. For the warmth of this house. „He’s a good man,“ she said simply.

Kyle cleared his throat roughly and reached for the wallet he’d set on the lamp table.

„Kyle,“ Becca murmured. „Don’t.“ Kristen’s mouth tipped. „Is he going to pay me?“

„No, he’s going to show you Debra’s picture,“ Rachel said and Kristen stiffened, but it was too late. Kyle held the worn snapshot and if she didn’t look, she’d be rude.

So she made herself look down at the picture, at the woman who’d been Abe’s everything. What she saw was a tall woman of average beauty and the protruding stomach of advanced pregnancy holding on to, to a man who smiled as if he could never be happier. „She was lovely.“ It was true. Because beyond her average beauty was a glow, an expression that said Debra could never be happier either.

„This was taken two weeks before she was shot,“ Kyle said, a catch in his voice that made Kristen swallow hard. „I didn’t think I’d ever see that look on my son’s face again.“ His thumb swept over the plastic cover in a practiced caress. „But I have. Since he met you.“ His thumb grew blurry and Kristen bit the inside of her cheek, not daring to look up.

Rachel pushed a tissue in her hand, much as Aidan had done the day before. „Blow your nose before we all start bawling,“ she said and Kristen laughed unsteadily.

„Are you sure you’re only thirteen?“

„Almost fourteen,“ Rachel returned archly.

Kyle groaned, the tender moment broken. „Going on twenty,“ he said.

„So can I go steady with Trent?“

Kyle scowled down at her. „No. Not till you’re sixteen.“

Rachel shrugged. „It was worth a try.“

Grateful for the temporary respite from her worry, Kristen checked her watch and Kyle groaned again. „If you’re so worried about Abe, call him on his cell phone.“

„I don’t want him to think I’m checking up on him.“

Kyle huffed in disgust. „Women.“

„We’re all alike,“ Rachel sang and once again Kristen smiled.

„And you, having been a woman for so long, are an expert,“ Kristen said wryly.

„Hey, lady, I see what I see and I know what I know.“ Rachel grabbed the phone and handed it to her. „Call him. You know you want to.“

Embarrassed, Kristen took the phone and dialed. And frowned. „He’s turned it off.“

Kyle’s brows shot together. „He what?“

„He’s turned off his cell phone. Or he’s underground, because it’s not picking up.“

Kyle put out his hand, worry in his eyes. „Give me the phone.“

Thursday, February 26,

10:20 p.m.

Debra’s parents had begged forgiveness. It was the one thing he hadn’t expected. Abe rested his arms across the top of his steering wheel and stared at the bright lights of the Navy Pier’s Ferris wheel. It was the one place where he could still see Debra smiling. They’d come here on that first blind date, set up by Sean and Ruth. He’d brought her here the night he proposed, bribing the Ferris wheel attendant to stop the wheel when their car was on the very top so that he could ask her to marry him with all Chicago at their feet. She’d brought him here the night she told him he’d be a father, bribing the attendant in the exact same way. So he came here tonight to think, to remember his wife as the happy woman she’d been. To try and find in his heart the forgiveness her parents had asked for.

He’d lost all track of time when a knock on his window nearly scared him to death.

Sean stood there scowling. „What the hell are you doing here? You had us worried sick.“

Abe glanced at his watch in amazement. „I didn’t realize I’d been here so long.“

„Where’s your damn phone? We’ve been calling you for an hour and a half.“

Abe fished it out of his pocket and frowned. „No battery bars.“ It was the first time he’d been so careless. He plugged it into his cigarette lighter.

„Kristen’s in the car.“

His gaze snapped to Sean’s car where Kristen sat staring at her hands. „Why?“

„She’s been climbing the walls, afraid you’d been hurt by Conti’s men.“

Suddenly so weary, Abe dropped his head back against the seat „I didn’t think.“

„Well, tell it to her yourself. I got to get back to my own woman.“

A minute later Sean roared away and Kristen climbed up into the cab. She immediately dropped her eyes and he felt the pang of guilt. He’d been thoughtless.

„I’m sorry, Kristen. I didn’t think you’d be worried.“

„Well, I was, but it’s all right.“ Her chin was practically digging into her chest.

„Can you look at me?“

She complied, twisting her neck at an odd angle and looking up from the corner of her eye, but still not meeting his gaze. She looked… strange.

„What’s wrong?“

She closed her eyes, drew a strangled breath. „Can you please take me home?“

„Not until you tell me what this is all about. Open your eyes.“

She shrank back in the seat, her eyes clenched shut „Abe, please.“

Suddenly alarmed, he pulled the SUV out of the parking place. „What’s happened? Dammit, Kristen, if you’re trying to get back at me for scaring you, it’s working.“