Emmett Read Online Free PDF Page A

cat?”
    â€œNo,” Melody said, her voice raspy. She brushed at a tear on her face.
    â€œOh, Melody, don’t cry!” Amy said. She hugged her. “It will be all right! We’ll find him! Polk, Guy,” she called sharply. “Come on. Help us hunt for Melody’s cat! She can’t find him anywhere!”
    â€œSure,” Polk said. “We’ll help.”
    They scoured the apartment. Guy looked, too, but his cheeks were flushed and he wouldn’t meet Melody’s eyes.
    In desperation, Melody went to the two apartments nearby to ask her neighbors if they’d seen her cat, but no one had noticed him. There was an elevator and a staircase, but there was a door that led to the stairwell and surely it would be closed…
    All the same, she checked, and was disturbed to find that the stairwell door was propped open while workmen carried materials to an apartment down the hall that was being renovated.
    Leaving the children in the apartment, she rushed down the steps looking for Alistair. She called and called, but there was no answer, and he was nowhere to be found.
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    Defeated, Melody went back to the apartment. Her expression was so morose that the children knew without asking that she hadn’t found the cat.
    â€œI’m sorry,” Amy said. “I guess you love him a lot, huh?”
    â€œHe’s all I have,” Melody said without looking up. The pain in her voice was almost tangible. “All I… had. ”
    Guy turned up the television and sat down very close to the screen. He didn’t say a word.
    Melody cried herself to sleep that night. Randy had Adell, but Melody had no other family. Alistair was the only real family she had left. She was so sick at heart that she didn’t know how she was going to stand it. Dismal images of Alistair being run over or chased by dogs and children made her miserable.
    She got up early and fixed bacon and eggs before she called the children. They were unnaturally quiet, too, and ate very little. Melody was preoccupied all through the meal. When it was over, she went outside to search some more. But Alistair was nowhere to be found.
    Later, she took the kids to the hospital to see Emmett. He was sitting up in a chair looking impatient.
    â€œGet me the hell out of here,” he said immediately. “I’m leaving whether they like it or not!”
    He seemed to mean it. He was fully dressed, in the jeans and shirt and boots he’d been wearing when they’d taken him to the hospital. The shirt was bloodstained but wearable. He looked pale, even if he sounded in charge of himself.
    â€œWhat did the doctor say?”
    â€œHe said I could go if I insisted, and I’m insisting,” Emmett said. “I’ll take the kids and go back to the hotel.”
    Melody went closer to him, clutching her purse. “Mr. Deverell, don’t you realize what a risk you’d be taking?If you won’t think of yourself, do think of the kids. What will they do if anything happens to you?”
    â€œI won’t stay here!” he muttered. “They keep trying to bathe me!”
    She managed a faint smile even through her misery. “It’s for your own good.”
    â€œI’m leaving,” he said, his flinty pale green eyes glaring straight into her dark ones.
    She sighed. “Well, you can come back with us for today,” she said firmly. “I can’t let you stagger around Houston alone. My boss would never forgive me.”
    â€œThink so?” He narrowed one eye. “I don’t need help.”
    â€œYes, you do. One more night won’t kill me, I suppose,” she added.
    â€œHer cat ran away,” Amy said. “She’s very sad.”
    Emmett scowled. “Alistair? How could he run away? Don’t you live in an apartment building?”
    â€œYes. I… He must have gotten out the door,” she said, staring down at her feet. “The