slip of paper and pinned to my blanket. I took it from there."
Leah looked stunned. "You must have been terrified."
"Not really. I was too young to know that my life wasn’t normal when I was being passed from one foster family to another. By the time I did figure it out, I was old enough to realize that there are some things you can’t change."
"You really do understand just how disconnected I feel, don’t you?"
Brett nodded and kept his facial expression neutral. "I have a pretty good idea."
"Is the lack of emotional security in your childhood one of the reasons you like my family so much?"
Unsettled by her question, he decided not to dodge it. "I’ve always envied the closeness of the Holbrook clan." Had he ever been this truthful with Leah before? Probably not, he realized. "To be honest, I’d never seen or experienced anything like them. At first, I didn’t believe they were real."
"What convinced you?"
"Being welcomed into the Holbrook family circle without question or hesitation," he answered simply. "Your parents treated me like one of their own. Amazingly enough, they still do."
And I’ve repaid their kindness,
he recalled with no small amount of self–disgust,
by abandoning their daughter and turning my own son into a bastard.
"You said we met in D.C. courtesy of my eldest brother, right?"
"Yes. I’d been to Seattle with Micah a few times during our Naval Academy days, but you were always away at school during those visits. You stayed with Micah while you completed a political–science internship as a congressional aide for a few months during your senior year of college. You were offered the same job when you graduated, and you moved into one of the spare rooms at his condo." He recalled then the immediate and intense chemistry they’d both experienced when they’d finally come face to face after having heard about each other for more than a few years.
She asked. "Politics in D.C. to a Monterey flower shop… that’s quite a leap. How exactly did that happen?"
"I don’t know all of the details, but you wanted a change," he said carefully. "You don’t suffer fools easily, Leah. You never have. You once told me you loathed having to deal with the power brokers who worked in the upper echelons of government. Sarah Kelly’s husband died a few years after you accepted the job with Congressman Hardiman. She was in danger of losing the shop, and she needed a partner to keep it solvent. You’d had enough of backroom politics and the sleazy crowd you had to deal with on Capitol Hill, so you took your savings, packed everything you owned, and made the cross–country move. You left a note for Micah, because he and I were in Europe on assignment at the time. You didn’t look back."
"I sound very decisive, but it can’t have been that simple."
He smiled grimly. "It wasn’t, but you’ve always been decisive. The people who know you and understand you don’t expect you to change. As for the decision you made to leave Washington, everything happened within the space of a few weeks."
"Were we… good friends even then?" she asked.
"The three of us, plus whoever Micah happened to be seeing at the time, spent all of our off–duty time together. Trips to the shore, picnics, skiing in the winter, concerts… that sort of thing."
He saw her frown. Although he sensed that she didn’t believe his cursory description of their past, he didn’t intend to provide her with a detailed description of their affair or broken engagement.
"Sounds… busy."
"It was a great time." He kept his emotions shielded behind an even expression. Listening to the rain intensify in force, Brett recalled Leah’s penchant for long walks in the warm summer rain, usually after they’d spent a lazy Sunday afternoon making love in the privacy of his Arlington, Virginia apartment.
"You obviously work in some capacity in law enforcement. Do you like what you do?" she asked.
He blinked and refocused on her. Once again, he
Leah looked stunned. "You must have been terrified."
"Not really. I was too young to know that my life wasn’t normal when I was being passed from one foster family to another. By the time I did figure it out, I was old enough to realize that there are some things you can’t change."
"You really do understand just how disconnected I feel, don’t you?"
Brett nodded and kept his facial expression neutral. "I have a pretty good idea."
"Is the lack of emotional security in your childhood one of the reasons you like my family so much?"
Unsettled by her question, he decided not to dodge it. "I’ve always envied the closeness of the Holbrook clan." Had he ever been this truthful with Leah before? Probably not, he realized. "To be honest, I’d never seen or experienced anything like them. At first, I didn’t believe they were real."
"What convinced you?"
"Being welcomed into the Holbrook family circle without question or hesitation," he answered simply. "Your parents treated me like one of their own. Amazingly enough, they still do."
And I’ve repaid their kindness,
he recalled with no small amount of self–disgust,
by abandoning their daughter and turning my own son into a bastard.
"You said we met in D.C. courtesy of my eldest brother, right?"
"Yes. I’d been to Seattle with Micah a few times during our Naval Academy days, but you were always away at school during those visits. You stayed with Micah while you completed a political–science internship as a congressional aide for a few months during your senior year of college. You were offered the same job when you graduated, and you moved into one of the spare rooms at his condo." He recalled then the immediate and intense chemistry they’d both experienced when they’d finally come face to face after having heard about each other for more than a few years.
She asked. "Politics in D.C. to a Monterey flower shop… that’s quite a leap. How exactly did that happen?"
"I don’t know all of the details, but you wanted a change," he said carefully. "You don’t suffer fools easily, Leah. You never have. You once told me you loathed having to deal with the power brokers who worked in the upper echelons of government. Sarah Kelly’s husband died a few years after you accepted the job with Congressman Hardiman. She was in danger of losing the shop, and she needed a partner to keep it solvent. You’d had enough of backroom politics and the sleazy crowd you had to deal with on Capitol Hill, so you took your savings, packed everything you owned, and made the cross–country move. You left a note for Micah, because he and I were in Europe on assignment at the time. You didn’t look back."
"I sound very decisive, but it can’t have been that simple."
He smiled grimly. "It wasn’t, but you’ve always been decisive. The people who know you and understand you don’t expect you to change. As for the decision you made to leave Washington, everything happened within the space of a few weeks."
"Were we… good friends even then?" she asked.
"The three of us, plus whoever Micah happened to be seeing at the time, spent all of our off–duty time together. Trips to the shore, picnics, skiing in the winter, concerts… that sort of thing."
He saw her frown. Although he sensed that she didn’t believe his cursory description of their past, he didn’t intend to provide her with a detailed description of their affair or broken engagement.
"Sounds… busy."
"It was a great time." He kept his emotions shielded behind an even expression. Listening to the rain intensify in force, Brett recalled Leah’s penchant for long walks in the warm summer rain, usually after they’d spent a lazy Sunday afternoon making love in the privacy of his Arlington, Virginia apartment.
"You obviously work in some capacity in law enforcement. Do you like what you do?" she asked.
He blinked and refocused on her. Once again, he
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