Child of Grace (Love Inspired) Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’ve offended you. Maybe we should start over.”
    He gave a slow nod and lifted his cup. “I’ll drink to that.”
    Following his lead, she picked up her cup, clinked it with his and took a sip. He did, too—then grimaced.
    A smile tugged at her lips. “Not a tea drinker?”
    One side of his mouth hitched up and he checked over his shoulder. “I don’t want to offend Ms. Martin, but no. I like coffee. Strong and black. Just like Carlos did.” His lips flattened.
    “Would you mind telling me a little about him?”
    At her quiet request, Luke stared into his tea. “We worked together for six months during my last deployment. I dealt with a lot of medics through the years, but Carlos was special. He was only twenty-two, but he had an amazing bedside manner. With just a look or a touch, he could instill trust and calm even in the most restless patient. After he got out, he wanted to be a paramedic. He would have been a good one.”
    His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he took another sip of the tea he didn’t want.
    “Carlos grew up in Saugatuck. His mother was unmarried, and she went to her grave without revealing the name of his father. Carlos was only five when she died, and his grandmother took him in. They were poor, and he resented that—among other things. He got in with the wrong crowd in his freshman year of high school, and according to him, he gave his grandmother a lot of grief.
    “But she was determined to straighten him out. So, after he was picked up on a minor shoplifting charge, she got together with the police chief and the shop owner, who were personal friends, and they worked out a deal. If he assisted Father Joe with the Interdenominational Youth Fellowship program for six months, the charges would be dropped.”
    “How did that go over with him?” Kelsey took a bite of her still-intact scone.
    Luke’s lips twitched. “Not well, according to Carlos. He agreed, but only under duress. However, much to his surprise, he liked the group—and the new pastor at his church. Father Joe became the father figure he never had. According to Carlos, Father Joe and the youth program turned his life around. Once he got out of the army and established his career, he wanted to start a fundraising drive to build a youth center for the program. A permanent place, where young people could gather instead of having to move from church hall to church hall.”
    “And when he died, you took that project on.”
    “Yes.”
    She studied him. “That’s quite a commitment.”
    Luke dismissed her comment with a shrug. “I needed some time to decompress from my deployment anyway. And this is a worthwhile project. It’s a way to honor not just Carlos, but all the other young men and women who’ve given their lives in the line of duty. Whose dreams died with them. A lot of them passed through my hands. There were so many we couldn’t save….” His words trailed off, and Kelsey saw a muscle twitch in his cheek.
    The sudden pressure in her throat took Kelsey by surprise. She pushed her plate aside, folded her arms on the table and gave Luke a steady look. “Okay, you’ve convinced me it’s a worthy project. And I’m comfortable we can work together.” Not quite true, but she’d get past that. “Why don’t you fill me in on the ideas you discussed at the board meeting yesterday, and I’ll get back to you tomorrow with some initial thoughts.”
    He regarded her for a moment, his gaze measuring, and then a subtle warmth softened his eyes. “Fair enough.”
    For the next fifteen minutes, he gave her a rapid-fire summary as she scribbled notes. Her tea grew cold, but her heart warmed as the passion Reverend Howard had talked of intensified, convincing her Luke had, indeed, taken on Carlos’s dream as if it were his own.
    When he finished, she flexed her hand and smiled at the page she’d filled. “There’s certainly plenty here to work with. I should have no trouble compiling some preliminary publicity ideas by