Free Darkness Falls by A.C. Warneke Page B

the country? Maybe it would be better if he stayed with Jiro, if Jiro was up to the task of taking care of him for a few days. “When do we leave?”
    “Well, as soon as we finish breakfast,” she said. Chewing on her lower lip, she studied her son, seeing so much of Jack in him, so much of her father. He would go with her without question but was it really fair to uproot his life once again? With everything that had happened, and everything that was going to be happening, was it really necessary to drag him to some dive in New York City in the off chance she might find her father? “But I was thinking you might want to go back to the compound with Jiro and maybe spend a few days fishing.”
    His eyes lit up and he couldn’t prevent the smile that brought out his dimples, “Do you think Uncle Jiro would mind?”
    “Of course not,” she managed to say though she wanted to cry for some inexplicable reason. For six years he had never been very far from her side and it was difficult to remember that he was a growing boy and becoming more and more independent every day. Ruffling his hair, she stood up and walked over to the stove where she was able to compose herself while pretending to flip some pancakes. “As soon as he arrives we’ll let him know we’ve had a minor change of plans. I’m positive he would much rather hang with you at the pond than traipse after me on a wild goose chase.”
    “Who’s going on a wild goose chase?” Jiro asked, sauntering into the kitchen.
    “I am,” she said, wiping the non-existent tears from beneath her eyes before turning around and giving him a smile. Looking as if he had had a really spectacular night after he left her, he gave her a wry smirk. His hair was messy, dark stubble caressed his jaw and his eyes practically glowed with vitality and she wanted to roll her eyes. There ought to be a law that men shouldn’t be allowed to look that sexy so early in the morning. While she felt no sexual attraction to him, she could appreciate his attractiveness. Nodding towards the stack of oddly shaped pancakes, she added, “Eat up. You have a very busy week ahead of you.”
    “Really,” he murmured, arching that one eyebrow as he grabbed half of the pancakes and dumped them onto his plate. Slathering them up with butter and syrup, he added, “And what, pray tell, does my week entail?”
    “Well,” she said with a grin as she crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Toby from behind. Holding Jiro’s eyes, she continued, “After you drop me off, you are going to be taking this little rug rat fishing.”
    “Malorie,” he growled in warning, his silver-green eyes flashing as he glared at her.
    “It’s fine,” she said with a blinding smile. “If anything goes wrong you know Feryn will be by my side in a heartbeat.”
    “And he’ll have my head on a platter,” he grumbled beneath his breath as he started to stuff a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. Pausing, he asked, “Has your guest come down yet?”
    She shook her head no, looking at the doorway as if the mention of Jack would make him appear. When she looked back, Jiro was cramming the whole bite into his mouth. Smiling, she said, “Not yet but it’s still early. Besides, he probably remembers how bad my cooking is and has decided to save himself the bother of pretending its edible.”
    Jiro’s eyes widened as he abruptly stopped chewing, making her laugh. Standing up, she waved towards the stack, “These ones are fine. I threw the bad ones away.”
    He slowly began to chew again, as if he wasn’t quite sure whether or not he could trust his taste buds. When he didn’t say anything, she teased, “If you tell me you’ve had better I’ll stab you with my fork.”
    Swallowing, he grimaced, “They’re awful, Malorie. In fact, I think I should spare your child the horrors of having to eat any more and eat them all myself.”
    “Uncle Jiro!” Toby squealed in laughter as Jiro pretended to grab his plate.