Page 10 of Storm's Embrace

He unlocked and opened the bottom drawer holding several of his personal items, then gave the photo one last long look before placing it face down inside. He expected his chest to feel tight, or his hands to tremble when he shut the drawer and locked it. Instead, a sense of peace filled him.

Josie and Matthew would forever be a part of him—the part that made him a better man for having loved them—but he was ready to move on.

Eli nodded his head in satisfaction and left his office, his mind filled with a new sense of anticipation at the prospect of finally, truly starting to live again.

And it started with finding a way to make Miriam his.

3

“Hey, Sis. Where are you?”

What was it with people and yelling for her?

“In the kitchen,” she called out to her younger sister, Leah, while placing the baking dish she had just washed in the drying rack. She turned in time to see Leah walking through the entrance to her kitchen with Zoë running past her.

“Mommy.” Zoë dropped the handle of her Disney princess rolling bag and jumped up into Miriam’s waiting arms.

“How’s my girl?” she asked, scooping Zoë up high against her chest and smothering her with kisses and hugs. Oh how she loved her daughter’s giggles. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’m fantaculicious,” Zoë said with a snaggle-toothed grin. It looked like she was close to losing her other front baby tooth. “I missed you too.” A big, smacking kiss landed on Miriam’s cheek.

“So, how’d it go with Rob?”

Miriam glanced over Zoë’s head at her grinning sister who had come farther into the kitchen and leaned against the pantry door. Huh, that was a record. She’d waited all of two minutes after entering her home to start with one of her interrogations.

“It went,” she said, giving Zoë another kiss before putting her back down. She was getting so big, it wouldn’t be long before she wouldn’t be able to pick her up.

“Why don’t you go sit at the table and I’ll get you some cookies?” Miriam said to Zoë while going over to the counter and grabbing a small plate from the cabinet above. She could almost feel Leah’s curiosity beating at her, but she wasn’t discussing her love life—or lack thereof—in front of her child. So, she ignored Leah and put two chocolate chip cookies from the cooling rack on the plate.

“Can I have three?”

She grinned over her shoulder at Zoë’s request and grabbed another cookie.

“Here you go,” Miriam said, placing the plate in front of her. “Now, tell me, did you have a good time at Grams and Poppy’s?”

Zoë nodded while picking up a cookie. “Poppy said a bad word,” she said before taking a careful bite using the side of her mouth.

Leah let out a loud, snorting laugh.

“Oh, he did?” Miriam held her lips firm to keep from grinning and rolled her eyes at her sister.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“He shouldn’t have done that,” she said, trying to maintain a stern expression. But it was hard, especially with Leah holding her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing and her daughter’s all too serious expression.

Zoë shook her strawberry blonde head and swallowed. “Do you wanna know what he said?”

Oh, she had an idea. Her dad said one word that might be considered a curse word—one—and he didn’t say it often. It waspiss. Something she didn’t really think of as cursing, but it certainly wasn’t something she wanted Zoë saying. “No, sweetie, I don’t think we need to repeat that, now, do we?”

Zoë shook her head again, while saying in a dramatic fashion, her bright blue eyes wide, “Grams tried to wash his mouth out...” Her eyes widened even further. “With dish soap.” She glanced toward the sink, then scrunched up her face and frowned up at her. “Would you washmymouth out with dish soap if I said what he said?”

“What do you think?”

Zoë pursed her lips—her cute little brow furrowing even more—before clearing her expression and giving her a brilliant smile. “Can I have a glass of milk, please?”

“Sure,” Miriam said, while chuckling and grabbing a plastic cup from the cabinet.

She glanced at Leah leaning over the table toward her daughter. Her sister held out her fist and said in a conspiratorial whisper, “Nice sidestep, kiddo.”

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