A Holiday To Remember by Jillian Hart Page A

say, if anything. Although he wasn’t interested in her romantically and there were a dozen reasons why she shouldn’t be interested in him, there was something there between them. Something she couldn’t put her finger on. Some reason her heart kept feeling drawn inexorably by his.
    He broke the silence with a bittersweet smile. “Here I’ve let the conversation take a turn for the worse. When I saw you, I came over because I had a few questions for you.”
    “For me?”
    “Sure. I wanted to know how it’s going with Ben.”
    Disappointment washed over her. As if she needed more proof he wasn’t interested in her. Debra inwardly groaned. If there was something between them, then it was all on her side. Hadn’t she been there before? It took all her strength to keep the memory of Mia’s father at the back of her mind.
    She cupped her hands around the cup of steaming hot chocolate for comfort. “Ben. That’s a topic that’s both complicated and as simple as can be.”
    “A paradox, huh? Explain, please.”
    Debra took one look at the compassion on Jonah’s rugged face and gathered up a little more of her strength. “I came here only for Mia. The last few years have been difficult in our family with Mom’s death and wrestling with that. She and I hadn’t been on good terms for a long time. When Mia went off to school in Massachusetts in September, it divided us more than I imagined.”
    “You two seem close, despite that issue.”
    “Finding out about Ben has helped bring things back to the way they were between us. Almost. ” Deb held back the more personal things Jonah probably didn’t want to hear. About how the rift between her and Mia had begun to feel like the rift she’d had between her and her own mother through her teenaged years. Culminating in the painful, final rift that had changed their relationship forever.
    She took a trembly breath. “Finding out about Ben was a shock. My mom was a very strict and devout Christian. We never knew this secret she was hiding. That she’d had a baby out of wedlock and had given him up for adoption. She was so proper, so unerring in her life as a wife and mother, that I simply can’t imagine it, even now.”
    “It must be hard,” he said quietly and with compassion. “You can’t sit down and talk it out with her.”
    “Exactly. It’s raised up more pain and old issues in a way that—” Hurt. She held back the word. She didn’t want to be so honest with Jonah. Surely his interest in her answer concerned his friend and his boss, not her troubles. “Ben is wonderful. His wife and children are completely lovable. They already feel like family. I’m so glad Mia prodded me into visiting them.”
    “Caring about them is the simple part. I get that.” Jonah took a long sip of chocolate and studied her with his wise, dark eyes. “What about the complicated part you mentioned? You’ve been through a hard time, I can see it.”
    His words knocked the breath out of her. Maybe this connection and what she felt between them was simply nothing more mysterious than the fact that they’d both been deeply hurt in different ways. Rain fell into everyone’s life, as her mom used to say.
    Maybe that was the reason she felt so drawn to Jonah and it was nothing more complicated than that. Relief breezed through her, making it easier to open up. After all, they were just two people sharing stories. That was all.
    “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s complicated and personal.”
    “Hey, I’m a marine. I can handle anything.”
    She didn’t doubt that. But how did she find the right words? “My brother and sister knew nothing about Ben. My mother never told us. There was not a hint. There was nothing to prepare us. Nothing to begin to make sense of her deception.”
    “She might not have known how to bring up something as painful as giving up a baby,” Jonah suggested. “Wasn’t she one of the people being blackmailed by Barnaby