Tuesday's Child Read Online Free PDF

head, color touching her cheeks, only accentuating her looks. “No, I didn’t say that. Or mean it. I meant not having anyone to share the joy and pain of bringing up a child with.”
    Nate took a deep breath. “It’s hard. I don’t know the first thing about what girls like. Never had a sister, it was just me and Pete. I didn’t even realize Pete had wanted me to be her guardian until—”
    What was it about her that made him open his heart to her like this? He barely knew her, yet this was the second time in two days he almost told her something he’d never told anyone.
    “Until?” she asked, a tender tone in her voice he wasn’t expecting.
    Nate looked back at the road, his eyes burning with the tears he was holding back. He angled his head towards her, so she could read his lips. “I never knew what he saw in Ophelié. He met her on holiday in Paris and was enamored with her. She was a model, more like a painted doll than anything else. She played on the fragility he assigned her. Vianne was born early, about four months before their first wedding anniversary. Pete doted on her.”
    “She’s a very pretty child.”
    “Like her mother.” Nate took a deep breath and pushed a hand though his hair, surreptitiously wiping his eye at the same time. “I was working undercover one night and discovered Ophelié was having an affair. After a lot of heart searching and praying, I finally told Pete. He and Ophelié fought and she left him and moved in with her lover. She left Vianne with Pete.”
    Nate looked studiously at the road as he drove. He didn’t want to see her expression on her face as she watched him speak. If anything it was more than slightly unnerving, knowing she was constantly watching him the whole time. Did he study people in the interrogation room the same way?
    “That must have been hard on all of you.”
    “It was. After six weeks, Pete asked me to find her. I traced her to Paris, and Pete left Vianne with me while he flew over to talk to her.”
    Nate’s voice wobbled and he took a deep breath. “He…he rang from the airport. Said they’d sorted things out and were coming home on the Concorde. I thought I was helping by telling him where she was. Instead I sent him to his death. The Concorde crashed, killing everyone on board.”
    He pulled over outside Dane and Jasmine’s and yanked hard on the handbrake, hearing the gears click against the ratchet as the car shuddered to an abrupt halt. He covered his face with his hands for a moment, desperate to regain control before seeing Vianne.
    Images of the flaming plane filled his mind. Hitting debris on the runway as she took off, the Concorde had burst into flames, staying airborne for only a few minutes before crashing onto a hotel just outside of Paris. The horrifying images caught on camera by a passing car, had flashed around the world almost instantly.
    Hot tears spilled down his cheeks, and his shoulders shook. Please, Lord, not now. I don’t want to deal with this again. Especially not in front of someone I hardly know.
    “I’m sorry,” Adeline said. “I remember seeing the pictures of the Concorde crash on the television.”
    He blew out a breath, wiped his eyes and turned in his seat towards her. “Vianne doesn’t know the reason her parents were on that plane, and she never will. She remembers very little from that time, and that’s the way I need it to stay.”
    “She won’t find out from me.”
    “Thank you.”
    Adeline reached into her bag and pulled out a packet of tissues. Extracting one, she held it out to him. “Here you go.”
    Nate smiled gratefully and took it. “Thank you.” The irony wasn’t lost on him as he used it and then put it in his coat pocket. “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t apologize. It’s fine.” She smiled with sympathy in her eyes. “We should probably go in. Jasmine will be wondering where we are.”
    “Yes…Miss Monroe…thank you.”
    “You’re welcome, Sergeant.”
    Nate exited the