Colleen Coble Read Online Free PDF Page A

Probably last summer. Libby’s family crowded around the rocker where she sat to meet little Noah. The rest of the Coasties team hadn’t come by yet, but Alec had called him to ask him to bring by some things he’d left in his locker. Curtis suspected the small box in his pocket was a gift for the new mom.
    Vanessa, Libby’s younger sister, demanded to hold the baby, so while Libby was distracted, Curtis motioned for Alec to meet him in the kitchen. “Here’s what you wanted. I think you should give it to her in front of everyone.” He handed over the small white box.
    Alec’s eyes crinkled in a grin. “Want to see me embarrassed, is that it? Did you peek at it?”
    Curtis shook his head. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out a jewelry box. What is it?”
    “It’s a mother’s ring.” Alec’s gaze went over Curtis’s shoulder. “Anything wrong, Amy?”
    Curtis turned to see Amy standing in the doorway from the living room. Something about her always set him on edge. Guilt, maybe.
    “I thought maybe you fellows needed something.”
    Alec grinned. “Nope, just some sneaky stuff going on.”
    He gave her the box Curtis had passed to him, and her smilelit up the room. Or so it seemed to Curtis. She always seemed to be alight with an inner spirit that drew everyone to her.
    She handed the box back to Alec. “When are you going to give it to her?”
    “In a few minutes. Once Brent and Zach get here. Zach was out fishing, and I asked Brent to pick him up.”
    Amy was in no hurry to meet Libby’s half brother. She’d heard how he treated his newfound sister at first. She moved toward the counter. “I think I’ll make fresh coffee.”
    “Can I help?” Curtis followed her. “Alec needs to go back and worship at the shrine of mother and child.” He nudged his friend and grinned.
    Alec smiled back. “Says Uncle Curtis, who is curled around Raine’s little finger.”
    Amy tilted a brow his way. “You have a niece? I didn’t know.”
    Curtis’s face heated, and he turned away to open cupboard doors in search of cups. “Yes, Gina’s daughter. I’m raising her.” He found the cups and pulled them out.
    “I’m sorry about Gina.”
    “Me too. And sorry about Ben. We both had tragedy strike and not too far apart.” When he glanced at her, her expression was hard to read.
    She put coffee beans in the grinder and turned it on, then filled the carafe with water and poured it in the coffeemaker. “Gina was struck by a boat, is that right?”
    “Yes. Idiot was going too fast.”
    “Did he stop after he struck her?”
    “No. I turned the island upside down looking for him too. It’s hard to believe he didn’t realize he’d hit her. It was probably some young kid who panicked and rushed off without stopping.”
    “Um-hmm,” she muttered under her breath.
    He read the skepticism on her face. What was she getting at?

F OUR
    T he wind from the helicopter rotors kicked up the waves below them. Two women clinging to the swamped boat waved frantically. Curtis clipped Alec into the harness. “Clear!” He slapped Alec’s shoulder and stepped back.
    Alec dangled his legs out the chopper door and gave him a thumbs-up. Curtis returned the gesture, and Alec shoved away from the door and plummeted into the sea. Curtis returned to the door and readied the basket for retrieval while he watched the rescue unfold below.
    With strong, sure strokes, Alec reached the first of the women. Curtis waited while Alec talked to them. When Alec held up his thumb, Curtis lowered the basket.
    The rescue was as routine as facing the wind and weather ever was. Ten minutes later both shivering women were aboard the aircraft. Sara swaddled them in wool blankets and checked them out. Other than being cold and thirsty, they were both fine.
    “That wave came out of nowhere,” the older woman shouted above the roar of the rotors. She took a sip of the hot drink Sara had poured them. “One minute we were sailing along