The Miles Between Us Read Online Free PDF Page A

still a shock to look into their daughter’s face and see both of them looking back. She had his coloring, his eyes, his strong jaw. The rest of her was all Casey. Through the magic of biology, she’d inherited the best of both of them. But Emma was her own person, with a strong personality that already displayed itself on a daily basis.
    He blipped the locks and said, “Give Daddy a kiss?”
    His daughter leaned forward and, with absolute trust, smacked her soft little lips against his. All six-plus feet of him melted into a soft puddle of goo. How had he lived four decades without experiencing this kind of love? He’d missed this with Paige. She’d come to him fully formed, fifteen years old and furious with the world. He’d made mistakes in his life, and Paige had paid the price. He was older now, and one hell of a lot smarter. This time, with Emma, he intended to do things right. He owed it to her, and her love was all the reward he needed.
    He walked through the main entrance, Emma in his arms, and moved swiftly and purposefully across the lobby to the elevator. They rode in silence to the second floor with a young nurse who played peek-a-boo with his daughter while shooting him surreptitious and curious glances, as if trying to place him. It was doubtful that she’d even recognize his name; she wasn’t much older than Paige, and kids weren’t listening to his brand of music anymore. She’d probably seen him in an MTV video she was watching with her mother, back when she was nine.
    On the second floor, he passed the nurse’s station, nodded politely in response to the embarrassing chorus of greetings, and paused at the door to Casey’ s room. Apparently he wasn’t the only one flouting convention; perched on the edge of his wife’s bed, his red-haired sister Rose looked as comfortable as if they were at a garden party. Casey glanced up, saw him at the door, and pleasure lit her face. “There’s my baby girl,” she said, and Emma, at sight of her mother, began struggling to get away from him.
    He crossed the room and deposited his daughter in her mother’s arms. “Guess we know where I stand,” he said. “Hey, Rosie.” His sister offered her cheek, and he kissed it.
    “ Hey, brat,” she said. “I need coffee. Come help me find it while Emma visits with her mom.”
    Rose was uncharacteristically silent as they walked together down the corridor to the vending machine . He popped in a couple of quarters and watched the paper cup fill with steaming sludge. Rose offered it to him, but he shook his head. His sister shrugged, said, “Let’s go out on the patio,” and he followed her.
    They found a café-style table bathed in dappled early-evening sunlight, and Rose, being Rose, went directly for the jugular. “You can’t let her get pregnant again,” his sister said. “It’ll kill her.”
    “I know that, and you know that . Maybe you’d like to try telling her that.”
    “J esus Christ, Rob, grow a pair. Put your foot down. She’ll listen to you. She thinks you hung the moon.”
    “ She may think I hung the moon, but Casey has her own agenda, and if I get in the way, she just bulldozes over me.”
    Rose’s eyes, MacKenzie green like his and Emma’s, narrowed . “This was too damn close, Rob. If Trish hadn’t come along when she did, you’d be planning a funeral right now.”
    “Twist the knife a little harder, why don’t you?”
    “I’m looking out for your welfare! And hers! And that sweet little girl’s! What would Emma do if she lost her mother?” His sister, who excelled at aggression but hated being vulnerable, shook her head and turned away from him. But not before he saw the tears in her eyes.
    He l eaned over the table. “Do you think I don’t know any of this? Do you think I’m not scared shitless?”
    She swung back around. “Then do the right thing! Get a vasectomy. Put the issue to bed.”
    “It’s not that easy . I can’t do that to her.”
    His sister snorted .