rachel and grady: POWER OF LOVE

ile yet sturdy. Trusting. "I've hea

dad?" he asked

e level. "That's right. And you

avid died," the boy s

ched. "I know, sweet

to be with my mother

in Rachel's t

winter to be with Grandma 'cuz she was l

d softly. "No, I'

avid's all be

at Alma or Grady, or she would burst into tears. Meeting Cody's five-year-old eyes, eyes that were filled

't worry, Miss Wilder. It's s

had been engaged to be married. They'd shared their dreams, their deepest secrets, their love, for years. And he

ooked into those deep Shoshone eyes an

m a smile. "You're a pretty

He looked up at Grady with all the love

-eaten lunch. Grabbing the plate, she whisked it away and threw the remains of her sandwich down the garbage dis- posal. With the manner o

e going. I'll l

back to the clin

e from the counter. "Take ca

like it, she thought with self-disgust. Why should she turn tail and run? She had

one brief meet- ing, she was alread

"D

he was about to break Cody's fingers. He released th

Na

hel Wilder. She was still beaut

father's clinic. But he hadn't expected her to be at the house w

hoto. But he'd had to take it out when Cody got big enough to snoop and ask qu

ries of Rachel on horseback, Rachel at the high-school football field, Rachel strolling beside him on campus at college. Rachel standi

e never lasted for long. Even if she had listened to him that day, chances were that nothing would have changed. Things could have gotten even worse.

r-length hair as black as a raven to her smooth creamy skin and her Wilder blue eyes, she was nothing less than a knockout. Her re

ng at Cody, or desperate,

ad just departed. There had always been a special bond betw

er again, are you?" Alma ask

nt type of greeting from the woman who'd raised him. "Thanks," he sa

of her nose. "I'm sorry

o five years ago. He'd done the best he could at the time. He'd known then, as he knew now, that no one understood his r

? He'd held the truth so tight for so long, had buried it so deeply, he wasn't sure he