Free Happily Ever After by Susan May Warren

that his father had been right, that he’d been justified in abandoning the family. That having a son—or a brother—who
     had Down syndrome was a disease or a curse. Especially after seeing Gabe today, Joe would never agree.
    He sat on the beach and prayed aloud. “Lord, I’m sorry for ignoring Gabe for so long. He’s my brother and I should have paid
     attention.” The image of Gabe’s laughing face impaled him. Joe hung his head and dug both hands into his scalp. “What a fool
     I’ve been.”
    “What sort of fool?” Mona walked up beside him.“Thinking you agreed to too much and contemplating making a run for it?” Her
     fragrance settled over him as she sat down and so unraveled him he could only blink at her. “Sorry,” she said, looking worried.
     “Am I bothering you?”
    He quickly shook his head, his heart galloping in odd rhythm. “Hey,” he finally croaked, “what brings you out here?”
    “Stars,” Mona stated in a dreamy voice. She settled next to him on the rocks. “What are you doing out here?”
    Joe gave her a sidelong appraisal, taking in her sweet smile, her buttery hair dancing in the wind, her sculptured cheekbones,
     and the moon twinkling in her eyes. She seemed so calm it made his own erratic heartbeat that much more profound. He struggled
     to answer.“Praying, actually.”
    “Really? You’re a Christian?”
    “Yep. Since I was a teen. I found the Lord one night on a solo camping trip. Counting the stars, I was overwhelmed that He’d
     made every one of them and yet also knew every hair on my head, as it says in Matthew 10.What was even more awesome was that
     Jesus, God in the flesh, left those magnificent heavens, came to earth, and paid for my sins so that I could know this incredible
     God. Since then, whenever I pray, it seems easier when I am staring at the sky, at His glorious cosmos.”
    “I know what you mean.” Mona hugged her knees.“There’s something majestic about the North Shore.
    I can clearly see God’s handiwork. The rhythm of the waves as they reach for my toes, the seagulls riding over the lumps in
     the water, the smell of the fir and birch trees. God made all this for us to enjoy. It always gives me peace to sit under
     the stars, surrounded by His creation.”
    Her words lit a glow inside him. He couldn’t have said it better himself.
    “So, Joe, who are you? I know you can fix gutters, and you drive a mean mower, but what are you doing here? Do you have family
     in town?”
    Joe raised his eyes to the sky, fastening on the dippers and wondering why the air suddenly seemed nippy.“Not really.” Guilt
     stabbed at him. But he wasn’t about to bring his little brother into the picture, dragging with it dozens of questions and
     not a little bit of pity. That was the last thing he wanted from this beautiful woman digging through the rocks beside him.
     Besides, some things were private.
    “Are you a handyman by trade?” She tucked her hands into her sweatshirt cuffs, kneading them together, as if chilly. He wanted
     to put his arm around her, but the image of Brian kissing her hand hit him like a cold spray.
    “Off and on. I saw your ad and thought I could help.” That was true enough and sufficiently vague to keep curiosity tamed.
     The last thing he needed was to spark her interest and start her poking around his privacy. Worst-case scenario would have
     her asking the police to do some sleuthing, and it then it would only be a matter of time before his life—and Gabe’s—would
     take an ugly turn.
    “Hmmm . . . lucky for me, I guess.”
    Joe fished around at his feet and unearthed the perfect skipping rock. Winging it sideways into the water, he counted five
     skips. “I don’t believe in luck or chance,”he said quietly.
    Mona turned her head, her cheek resting on her knees. “No, I don’t suppose I do, either. But the other side is sometimes hard
     to accept.”
    The waves scraped the shore in syncopation. A seagull waddled