Page 9 of A Moment Never Forgotten
Maybe their files would reveal the answers. Or, they might be innocent pawns in the international game of espionage. It would be up to her to find the truth.
Chapter Four
“Hey.”
Micah, Logan, and Matthew all looked up when Teagan bobbed her head around the corner peering into the Saint Clare’s living room. “Does anybody mind if Berit Barker stops by after supper?” Looking directly at Logan, their pretty blonde former teammate explained, “She has some papers she needs us to sign for the education accounts they’re setting up for the children.”
All eyes shifted to Matt.
“Fine by me.” Matthew shrugged then glanced around his home. “She’ll just have to deal with a house filled with rambunctious kids. She’s not in my direct chain of command so it’s not like I’m expecting my boss.” He grinned. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know her better, especially if the rumors are true. I don’t object to riding a woman’s coattails to the top positions within the CIA. I’m good with it.”
“Invite her for dessert,” Lizzie suggested from the depths of the kitchen. Micah smiled. Elizabeth had a heart of gold. She’d always been the hostess with the mostess.
“Okay, then we’re all set?” Teagan punched the button on her phone, obviously taking it off mute, then walked away animatedly talking with Berit.
Two hours later when the doorbell rang, Micah glanced around the empty living room. Matthew and Logan had disappeared into the family room to deal with a girls-versus-boys dispute. Elizabeth and Teagan had gone to help a few minutes later.
Feeling very at home since he often stayed with the Saint Clares, he elected himself to open the door rather than replace one of his hosts at the other end of the house. Peering through the peephole, he reassured himself it was Berit Barker.
Flipping the deadbolt, he opened the door just in time to find Berit juggling a glass-covered layer cake and the messenger bag. Micah quickly reached out and rescued the cake as it tilted precariously.
“Let me help you with that,” he offered as he snatched the glass stand and matching dome from her hands.
She deftly caught the long strap of her bag as it slid off her shoulder. “I’m usually not this uncoordinated,” she berated herself. She glanced up at him in confusion. “Captain Reid? What are you doing here?”
He grinned. He couldn’t help himself. She looked so befuddled.
“Please tell me I’m at the right house.” Her eyes darted to the brass numbers beside the door.
“Yes, this is Matthew and Elizabeth’s new house. They’re in the back with Logan and Teagan parenting the four munchkins.” He opened the door wider. “Come on in. It’s cold out there.”
After closing and locking the door behind her, he turned to find her gazing at him.
“I’ll take the cake and put it in the kitchen.” She held out her hands.
The overhead chandelier cast a column of light down onto her. The melting snowflakes sparkled in her shoulder-length, dark brown hair. When she lifted her eyes to meet his, they too, glimmered in the refracted light from the crystals above. They were such an intense brown that he wondered if she wore designer contacts. They seemed to have every color in the spectrum from polished walnut to glittering desert sand.
She was quite pretty for a woman of her age, which Micah figured was close to his own forty-five years. Her pale white skin proved she didn’t spend much time in the sun, or a tanning bed, and the defined curves at each edge of her reddened lips were a testament to her easy smile, like the one she gave him.
He caught himself staring. “Let me take your coat.”
“Thank you,” she said as she slid out of the knee-length trench coat. When he took it in one hand, she grabbed the cake from his other.
After hanging her coat in the closet next to his, he gestured down the hall. “Kitchen is this way.” As soon as they entered, they could see completely into the family room where all four adults were dealing with two sullen boys and two crying little girls.
Berit grimaced. “They might be a while. Sometimes I’m thankful I never had to deal with more than one child.”
“Let’s wait for them in the living room.” Micah picked up his tumbler and offered, “Can I get you a drink? Teagan had wine with supper and there’s plenty left.” He pointed to the bottle of white chilling in a marble cylinder on the wet bar. “I can make you almost any mixed drink if you would like.”
Her smile turned genuine and she looked ten years younger. “White wine would be wonderful. Thank you.”
“So Mak is your only child?” He asked as he poured.
“Yes.” She sighed. “He was more than enough for me to handle, especially when I was stationed in such wonderful places like Tunisia, Somalia and other Third World shitholes.”
At her swearword, he chuckled. “That’s an accurate description.” He handed her the glass. “And what were you doing in northern Africa?”
She gave him a look screamingcan you be that naïve? “I work for the CIA. What you think?”
