Page 7 of Forged in Secrets

Her eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement, just as they always did when she talked about Jesus.

Ben clamped his mouth shut before he managed to say something completely stupid.

He watched as Josefina clutched Grace’s manicured index finger with one of her teeny hands. Grace would make a wonderful mother.

He cleared his throat.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” he said curtly. “I think we need to get going, though.”

“Oh. Right. Here, Reilly,” Grace said, handing Josefina over to her dad with a pinched smile. Ben followed suit, passing Clara into Lauren’s arms just as she started to fuss for some milk. “I’ll be praying about the appointment with the cardiologist.”

He saw a flicker of something behind her eyes.

Disappointment? Sadness?

Ben felt a pang of guilt. He hated to shut her down like that, but he didn’t really have a choice. He couldn’t go soft now. Not if it meant letting her get too close.

In the end, they’d both end up hurt.

And it would be all his fault.

CHAPTER

FOUR

GRACE

The smell of chicken soup assaulted Grace’s nostrils as she followed Ben through the doors of the hospital’s cafeteria. She hadn’t had a chance to grab breakfast before leaving her house that morning, but even though her stomach was beginning to rumble with hunger, she couldn’t bring herself to waste any time ordering food.

She’d loved meeting Clara and Josefina, but even as she’d fawned over the adorable newborns, her mind was elsewhere.

She remembered holding Katie Fairman as a baby, though she herself had only been six or seven years old at the time. Katie’s father, Donald, had been friends with her parents since college, and the two families spent a lot of time together during Grace’s childhood.

She’d always wanted a sibling, and Katie had been the next best thing.

Though they didn’t talk very often these days, withKatie off at university and Grace busy with her job at Forge Brothers Security, she still felt protective over her stand-in little sister. Every minute that passed only increased her fears that something terrible must have happened to her.

The two Gabriels sat at a table beneath a window, and Grace was struck by just how similar the men looked. Both were wearing button down shirts and jeans, and both had their elbows resting on the table with two plain white coffee mugs in between. She had no doubt that both coffees were black.

That was where the similarities ended, however. Gabe Sr.’s hair had long since gone gray, and his eldest son’s hair was still inky black, setting off his blue eyes.

Grace felt Asher jab an elbow gently into her side as she began to walk toward them, and she paused.

“They’re not fighting,” he said between his teeth.

He was right.

The two men were leaning toward one another, their postures friendly. They were discussing how they couldn’t wait to show the twins the farmhouse where the Forge brothers had all grown up and Gabe Sr. still lived.

She heard Ben letting out a sigh at her side. She hated to break up a rare truce between father and son, but Katie’s safety was more important. There was no time to waste.

“Hey, guys. What is it that we need to discuss?” Gabe Jr. asked as they walked over, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms against his chest.

“Let me guess,” the older man said, a wry smile tugging at his lips. “Work.”

Grace stepped in front of Asher and Ben. The Forge family patriarch may have taken issue with how muchtime his sons dedicated to their company, but he had always had a soft spot for her, and she wasn’t afraid to exploit it when necessary.

“Yes and no, sir,” she said quickly. “It’s a family friend of mine. She’s in trouble.”

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