Free Isle of Hope by Julie Lessman Page B

you find out?”
    “Jack ran into her at the BP on Saturday, then she dropped Davey off from his first baseball practice that evening.”
    Mouth cemented into a hard line, he peered up beneath dark lashes the same color as thick ebony hair edged with silver “How is she?”
    “Nervous.” Tess studied him with gentle eyes. “She told Jack she was back to make amends.”
    He grunted, the sound bringing a trace of a smile to her lips as she reflected on the hard-nosed surgeon who had a knack for making people nervous with his testy manner. A belligerence Tess suspected was more to keep people away rather than a nasty personality or out-in-out meanness. She’d seen the real Ben too many times in the past, before his wife had cut out his heart. A serious man with strength of character and a dry wit. And a wall of steel around his emotions that would make the impassable hedge look like air.
    One side of his mouth crooked. “Nervous, huh? Yeah, well, I tend to bring that out in people apparently. It’s a gift.”
    A smile twitched on her lips as Beau made an appearance with a half-chewed Atlanta Braves baseball cap, sliding into a comfortable spot next to Ben. “Only if you’re an ostrich, turtle, or a mole looking to shut everybody out. Now me? I’d rather be at peace with the world, you know?” She wriggled a cookie from the container, then extended it across the fire pit with a wriggle of brows. “More nice surprises that way, like monster cookies from a really nice neighbor.”
    He stared at the cookies proffered, then at her before he finally took one, the barest trace of a smile on his face. “I’ve actually dreamed of these.”
    “Well then, see? Dreams come true when one is at peace with the world and nice to their neighbors.”
    That formidable jaw chewed slowly, deliberately, while those hazel eyes nailed her to the chair. “You at peace with the world, Tess?” he asked quietly.
    She broke eye contact to scrub Beau on the head, his question catching her off-guard because she knew what he was asking. Had she forgiven Adam? The very question she asked herself almost every single day of her life when she prayed for the father of her children. The popular seminary student with the Dennis Quaid smile who had wooed her relentlessly until she said, “Yes.” The same man who swore to love her till death do us part. Only it wasn’t death that had ended their marriage. It was adultery with her neighbor and friend.
    A death all the same.
    She forced a casual tone, avoiding his stare. “Not for a long time I wasn’t, but I think so now, at least with Adam, although it’s been far more difficult for Jack and Cat, both with their father and …” She glanced up to meet his gaze. “Your daughter.”
    His jaw shifted as he looked away, a grinding motion she’d always noticed whenever they’d played board games. He’d been a fierce competitor back then, Mr. Do-or-Die, no matter how much they’d tried to laugh and tease him out of it. A fighter to the bitter end, bent on winning.
    Just like now.
    Tess fortified with a deep draw of air as she slipped her feet to the ground and leaned forward, arms crossed on her knees. “It’s time for the bitterness to end, Ben,” she whispered, her solemn tone coaxing his gaze to hers. “Between our children, between our families, and between you and me.”
    For the first time in almost eight years she saw a glimmer of the gentleness she knew Ben Carmichael possessed, despite all the stories to the contrary. “I don’t have a beef with you, Tess,” he said softly.
    She hiked a brow. “You could have fooled me.”
    Eyes in a squint, he stared aimlessly into the backyard. “It wasn’t you,” he whispered, grief threading his tone. His Adam’s apple ducked hard in his throat. “I just couldn’t see you without seeing … Adam and …”
    “I understand, Ben, but unto everything there is a season—a time to weep and a time to laugh, and don’t you think both of us