Free Deadly Identity by Lindsay McKenna Page B

heaven looking down on him and feeling this was a good thing for their baby daughter.
    As he swung through the glass doors, the security guard greeted him. Cade put his coat, his pistol and briefcase on the conveyor belt and then walked through the detector. Even as an off-duty sheriff’s deputy, he carried his weapon. The young man in the starched white shirt and blue trousers nodded respectfully toward him. Cade picked up his pistol. He placed the coat over his left arm and pulled the briefcase off the conveyor belt. He knew every office in this building. As he swung down the polished white-tiled hall, his heart rose. Jenny would have a father. Cade would anchor her life. He just had tomake it official. He walked past several open doors, watching court business in full swing. Murmuring voices could be heard, along with Christmas music softly playing in the background.
    What about Rachel? Cade slowed his walk. She and Jenny seemed to connect solidly. The fact that her record was spotless made Cade want to give a wild whoop of joy. Nearly overnight his world had gone from a mundane gray to a scintillating rainbow of colors. He’d been so lonely since Abby and his daughter had been torn from him. His heart turned with grief over the loss of Lily. That brought up more sadness because Tom had been like a brother to him. It almost looked as if this Christmas, two years later, gifted him with a new baby daughter and an interesting yet mysterious woman. Cade felt overwhelmed in some respects; life had suddenly given him a present of hope combined with happiness. As he stepped into the office that handled adoptions, Cade yearned to be home. Rachel’s singing haunted him. He was hungry to get to know her better.
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    â€œM OM ? H OW ARE YOU ?” Rachel stood in the living room after she’d put Jenny to bed after her morning feeding. She always carried several throwaway cell phones, which was the only way to protect her mother from detection. With Dirk on the loose, this was even more important.
    â€œHi, honey, I’m fine. Where are you?”
    Rachel chuckled. “Mom, you know I can’t say.”
    â€œI know,” her mother sighed. “If I’d known what witness protection was all about, I swear I’d not have taken it. I miss our farm so much. I miss my boys and you. This is a special hell.”
    â€œYes,” Rachel whispered, sitting down on the couch and gazing at the shining Grand Tetons, covered with fresh snow from last night. “I’m so sorry I got everyone mixed up in this, Mom. I was so stupid to run off and marry Dirk. I don’t know how I could do such a stupid and dangerous thing.”
    â€œHoney, don’t go there. You were in your rebellious mode. I’ve forgiven you. I wish you could forgive yourself.”
    Mouth compressed, Rachel closed her eyes. “I know you have, Mom, but I’ve changed everyone’s lives with my one stupid decision. I keep asking myself why I didn’t see that Dirk was no good. I had three brothers and a mother who saw it. What is wrong with me?”
    Daisy sighed. “Baby girl, you did the best you could at that time. I remember when I was your age. The teens and early twenties is a period where they think they know better than their parents.”
    Opening her eyes, Rachel whispered, “Maybe if Dad hadn’t died…”
    â€œOh, he’d have put up a fuss on your wanting to marry Dirk, that’s for sure,” Daisy said. “But you can’t control a young woman or man who hastheir mind set. What should I have done? Had your brothers build a cell and lock you up in it so you couldn’t run off with Dirk?” She laughed. “Real life doesn’t work that way.”
    â€œI know…but my one bad decision has torn our family apart forever. You and I can’t go back to the farm—ever. And my brothers do the work now and I worry about them, Mom. With Dirk on the