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His face took on that familiar, determined frown as he tilted it up to her. "I likeUnca
Duncan, but I got special feelings for my dad."
"Well, that's good." She smiled and touched his nose. "Though those aren't exactly the
kind of feelings I was talking about. Your dad will always be your dad, Zach, no matter
what. Just like I'll always be your mom."
He thought about that for a minute, then nodded and snuggled closer. Just when she
thought he was caught up in the movie he said, "Mom?"
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"Yes?"
"That lady said we could have pets here."
"Yes, I wanted a place I could bring Natasha."
"Dogs are pets, too, you know."
She laughed and rumpled his hair. "Point taken. Now, let's watch the show, okay?"
Gwen tried to pay attention to the movie. She wanted to shut off her mind for a while. It
didn't work. She was too busy listening for a phone that never rang.
After dousing the men last night, she'd tossed the hose outside, wiped the tears from her
face and hurried to the kitchen and panicked. No one was there. After a moment her
overloaded brain had taken in the fact that the back door was open, and she'd gone
outside to find Charlie and Zach filling a pan with snow.
Bless Charlie, she thought,stroking Zach's hair. She'd expected him to hate her for
causing trouble between his brothers, but he'd done everything he could to help. Today
he'd taken her to rent a car and promised to give Duncan and Ben her new address. He'd
managed, with utmost tact, to let her know why he and Ben and Zach had shown up with
such disastrous timing last night. The storm had been much milder on the other side of
the pass, so when a trucker had told Ben that the road was clear, he'd decided to head
home, after all.
And last night oh, for what he'd done then, she could have kissed him. No, cancel that.
Gwen grimaced. She'd been kissing too many of the McClain men. But Charlie deserved
a medal for getting Zach away so fast and then distracting him.
Since Zach had never seen snow before, Charlie's distraction had worked to a degree.
But Zach had known something was wrong. With the adults in his world behaving like
raving idiots, of course he'd known.
Being Zach, anxiety had turned him hyper. And stubborn. He'd wanted to build a
snowman and have a snowball fight. He for sure hadn't wanted to go upstairs and take a
bath, though it was past his usual bedtime, and had thrown one of his rare screaming fits.
Zach's temper fits were, thank God, as brief as they were wholehearted. He'd fallen
asleep quickly.
She hadn't.
The doorbell rang before she fell back into the same pit she'd spent the night in. "Bet
that's the pizza-delivery guy."
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Zach scrambled from her lap and bulleted for the door. Gwenpaused the movie, grabbed
her purse and followed more slowly. "Hold on, tiger. Don't open that door until I see who
it is."
"I know who it is," he said with great certainty, and managed to get the lock turned. He
pulled the door open.
It wasn't the pizza-delivery guy.
"Hello, Ben," Gwen said quietly.
He shifted uneasily from foot to foot, a big man in a flannel shirt, a lightweight jacket
and a grim expression. His left eye was swollen nearly shut. "May I come in?"
"Hi, Dad!" Zach tilted a sunny face up to his father. "You gonna have pizza with us?"
"Pizza, huh? Sounds good, but I don't think so this time." His gaze lifted and met
Gwen's. "I need to talk to your mom for a few minutes."
Zach tugged on Ben's hand. "Your eye is hurt. Whathurted it?"
Ben touched the skin beneath his eye gingerly. It was green andyellow with some purple
mixed in. "Quite a shiner, isn't it?"
"A shiner." Zach repeated the word, committing it to memory. His forehead creased.
"Did you "
"Come in," Gwen said quickly. So far, she didn't think Zach realized his uncle and his
father had argued physically. She wanted to keep it that way if she could.
Ben looked around as he stepped inside, frowning.
"Are you mad at my mom?"
Ben looked startled. "No."
"She's not mad, either, 'cepta little bit. We're watchingAladdin ," Zach announced.
"C'mon and watch with us. The genie's gonna make Aladdin a prince."
"I don't think "
The doorbell chimed again.
This time it was the pizza.
* * *
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They left Zach in the living room with the pizza,Aladdin , and a promise to plan the
camping trip when Ben finished talking to his mom.
Ben supposed he must have lived through worse days in his life. Sometime. Even if he
couldn't remember when at the moment. Lord, he'd been dreading this moment.
"This place isn't what I expected." He'd known she was leaving his house. She'd told him
so this morning, very stiff and polite. He didn't blame her for that, though he regretted it.
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