Luck Be a Lady - Cathie Linz [77]
“Hold hands and say what you’re thankful for this year. I’m thankful Aunt Lorraine is taking a spa vacation in Mexico for Thanksgiving,” Faith said. “And I’m thankful I married a wonderful man like Caine.”
“Notice I get second billing after Aunt Lorraine,” Caine said before adding, “I’m grateful Faith is my wife.”
“I’m grateful to have my family all around me,” Gram said before giving a meaningful glance to her sons.
“Yeah, I’m grateful for that too,” Megan’s uncle said.
“Me too,” Megan’s dad said.
“Same here,” Aunt Sara said.
“I’m grateful that we get to eat all this great food now,” Megan said. “Dig in.”
The only discussion following that was how great everything tasted. Although Megan kept her eyes on her plate for the most part, she was very aware of her family around her. For the first time, there was a gap, something missing. Someonemissing. Her mother. She’d always felt her absence growing up, but this was different. Now she had a way of filling that gap.
After dessert of pecan pie, the men headed to the kitchen to wash up, another family tradition.
Gram pulled Faith’s mom upstairs to consult about some top secret Christmas gifts, leaving Megan and Faith alone. “How’s Logan doing?” Faith asked. “Is he spending the holiday with his family?”
“He didn’t tell me his plans. The man just shows up,” Megan said in exasperation.
“Caine used to do that too.”
“What did you do about it?”
“I married him.”
“That seems a little drastic.”
Faith grinned and shrugged. “Works for me.”
“Works for me too,” Caine said as he joined them.
“Don’t tell me your work in the kitchen is done.”
“You family didn’t like my suggestions.”
“Marines don’t give suggestions. They give orders. I better go check things out.” She got up and headed for the kitchen, snagging a bottle of cough medicine from the sideboard along the way.
Caine took the chair his wife had just abandoned. “You know, it occured to me that we have something in common. Both our dads never remarried.”
“Yes, but your mother really was dead.” Megan hung her head. “I’m sorry. That sounded cold-hearted and I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Faith told me about the situation with your mom.”
“What about the situation?” Megan asked suspiciously. Faith had promised not to tell a soul about her search for Megan’s mother. That included telling her sexy husband.
“She told me that your mom isn’t dead. Why? Is there more?”
Megan quickly shook her head. “That’s enough.”
“I know you’re angry with your dad now, but as someone whose dad is no longer with us, I just want to say that you shouldn’t dwell on your anger. Trust me, I know how anger can eat you up inside.”
“I know you do.”
“And I know about family complications.”
“I’m sure you do.” Megan knew the story of Caine’s dad being falsely accused of a crime he hadn’t commited and Caine blaming Faith’s dad for botching the investigation and causing his dad’s apparent suicide. “Things weren’t the way they seemed in that case.”
“No, they weren’t. My dad was murdered by the real criminal. Faith’s dad apologized for his part in missing critical evidence and clues. I could have held a grudge, but I didn’t. It wasn’t easy. In fact, it was damn hard. But I knew it was the right thing to do.”
“The right thing to do would be for my dad to tell me the truth about his reasons for lying all these years. But he’s not willing to do that yet.”
“Be patient,” Caine said.
“How did that work for you?”
“I usually suck at being patient.”
“Yeah, me too,” she admitted.
“But in my case it paid off. I think it will in yours as well.”
What had paid off was Faith’s diligence in tracking down Megan’s mom.
No, Megan wasn’t good at being patient. Which is why twenty-four hours later she was in Washington, D.C., standing outside an apartment. Her mother’s apartment. Her hand shook as she pressed the buzzer. She was afraid she’d have to talk her way past a