Page 37 of The Secrets She Keeps

That kindness was what had always drawn her the most. He was far nicer than she was, Powell suspected.

The humor and how compassionate he had been after the choir hall shooting had always stuck with her. Shelby had told her what details she could. Gunnar had helped save Shelby that day. No matter the personal cost. He still had the scars where he’d almost torn his arm to bits getting over the barbed wire fence that day.

She hadn’t realized Daniel was there in Wyoming too.

Daniel immediately went to Mac and Alex—they’d been friends for years.

She’d always liked Daniel. He had been one of Haldyn’s closest friends for longer than even Powell had, even though Powell had known of him her entire life. And there had been that crush she’d had on him for about two months when she’d been twenty-two or so. It had gone nowhere. They wouldn’t have gelled well together at all. Especially back then.

Daniel had a slightly chauvinistic streak that he didn’t hide as well as he thought he did. It drove her crazy. But she hated to see how alone he was. To see the darkness around his eyes that he probably didn’t realize showed. At heart, Daniel was one of the best men she knew.

She didn’t like to see her friends hurting.

Heather took the baby from Mac. She was obviously flustered and stressed. “I’m so sorry. I tried to get here as fast as I could?—”

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” Mac said actuallykindlyto Heatheror something. Far cry from how he’d been with her last night. Maybe a screaming baby had dulled her brother’s bad attitude? Ember Coleson could getloudwhen her tummy was empty, that was for sure. “We’ll just blame Daniel for everything.”

Heather turned around until she had the baby settled. Cara held out the thin blanket, and Heather arranged it over her daughter lightly. Powell was really trying to take notes here. She’d never really interacted with babies for a long period of time. The crying stopped as the baby got what she needed. “I don’t know how long the blanket will last. But there is no way I’m boob-shotting some of those guys that were in there. They’d enjoy it just too much.”

“I think she’s more tired than hungry, Aunt Heather. She’s been a little fussy. And chewing on her fingers like crazy,” Cara said, Frankie on her hip. “And I think she’s getting warm.”

“Great.”

“Neighbor Alex, baby Ember is nursingagain.She finally quiet. Finally,” Frankie said.

Frankie really liked Neighbor Alex. She’d climbed all over him whenever he’d been around. The kid was reserving judgment on Mac. Frankie was the most hilarious three-year-old Powell had ever met. She’d practically grilled Ariella about the baby in Ariella’s stomach and whether that baby was a spawn. Then she’d asked if Ariella knewhowMarc had put the baby inside her belly that day. And if the baby was her cousin, too.

Ariella had assured her she did know, and the baby would be Frankie’s cousin no matter what.

This was a very smart little girl, well advanced for her age.

Apparently, that was aColesonthing too.

Of course, it was; it was what Eastman had wanted from their family to begin with. Genius babies.

“I think she’s getting her first tooth.” Heather shot them all a rueful grin. “Don’t ask me how I can tell.”

Um, ouch. That sounded really painful.

“It’s because all alien spawn have fangs,” Cara said, then grinned back. They had the same smile. The same one Ariella had. And Frankie and the baby. All three women strongly resembled each other. Height and weight varied, but that was about it. Cara and Ariella looked like delicate, softer versions of the intensity that was Heather. “I thought you already figured that out. How was your meeting?”

“Better than watching paint dry, but not by much. Some of the company was very pretty, though. If you like guy cops. Which I most certainly do not—Gun and Mig excluded.”

“I am very hungry, Mommy. Like baby sister,” Frankie said exaggeratedly in her little lisp. “Can I eats tato wedgies again now, please?”

“You want those again? You are going to turn into a potato, Francisca Bonita Coleson,” Heather told her little girl, who justgiggled, looking like a mini-version of Heather. “Mommy’s little potato—but with Grandma Bonnie’s beautiful brown eyes.”

Frankie giggled and batted those beautiful brown eyes right there at her mother.

“They can come too. We can get cookies when we done with tato wedgies.” Frankie nodded, like she was giving permission. She reached for Alex. She liked him. “Neighbor Alex said he give me two cookies if I close my eyes when he kisses cousin Cara.”

Then again, maybe it was a matter of child-greed and bribery.

“Oh, he did, did he?” Heather asked. “And did Neighbor Alex kiss cousin Cara?”

“No. Pow told him he had be good, or he get in big, big trouble,” Frankie said. Powell absolutely adored the kid.

“She tells all, doesn’t she?” Alex asked as they headed toward the dining room.

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