Free Cradle Of Secrets by Lisa Mondello Page A

already,” Dylan added.

FIVE
    T ammie sat at the picnic table at the campsite while Dylan walked to the campground store. She was still on West Coast time, and the hour she’d gotten out of bed this morning was totally illegal, as far as her body’s clock was concerned. But it hadn’t made much sense to stay in a bed that wasn’t even hers, when she couldn’t sleep.
    The house had been quiet when she left. Serena had still been in bed. If Aurore was around, she hadn’t seen her. As Tammie came down the stairs, she’d seen Susan carrying a load of freshly laundered towels, but she didn’t think Susan had seen her.
    Not that it mattered. She wasn’t hiding from anyone. But she had given a moment’s thought to whether or not they’d let her back in the door when she returned. It wasn’t as if she had a key.
    Tammie was half in a daze, her fist propped under her chin and her elbow resting on the table, when she heard whistling. She turned to see Dylan walking up the dirt trail, carrying two paper bags brimming with groceries. Tammie lifted herself from the position she’d been sitting in and met him halfway down the trail to retrieve one of the bags.
    â€œThanks,” he said with a smile.
    â€œAre you always this chipper in the morning?”
    He glanced at the sky. “No, not always. But I figure there’s a blue sky and a bright sun hanging over me. The birds were singing as my eyes opened, and kids were playing in the park across from the store. That makes it a good day. If you’ve seen as many foreign lands as I have, witnessed the carnage that can go on in the world, you learn to take these things as a gift from God and praise Him for allowing you to bear witness to it.”
    Tammie smiled, almost ashamed that her mood had remained glum and she hadn’t taken notice of the day like Dylan had.
    â€œYou’re right.” She bounced the bag in her arms. “What do you have in here, anyway—textbooks? It’s so heavy!”
    â€œI just about grabbed everything I could get my hands on. I’m a bit hungry,” he said, shrugging. “I skipped dinner last night.”
    â€œAh. My mother always said to never go shopping on an empty stomach.” She stopped short at the memory. But Dylan didn’t seem to notice how the mention of her mother affected her.
    He opened the camper door and stepped inside, holding the door for her to follow. “Omelets okay with you?” he asked.
    â€œPerfect. Need help cooking?”
    â€œWhy, are you a good cook?”
    She chuckled. “Passable. But no one has ever complained.”
    â€œThat’s good enough for me.”
    The camper was an older model, with a bedroom in the far end and a tight living room and kitchen area. At least it afforded enough elbow room that two people didn’t have to bump into each other every time they turned around.
    Tammie opened the cabinet above the stove and found an assortment of plastic dishes and cups in a variety of colors. She pulled out the four-cup coffeemaker and set it on the counter.
    â€œI hope you bought a lot of coffee. We’re going to need a refill on this.”
    Dylan chuckled and lit the pilot light on the burner. As he began whipping eggs and pouring them into a buttered pan, Tammie filled the coffeemaker and looked for the largest mugs she could find.
    Questions that had been rolling around in her head the night before started to become clearer again as the smell of coffee filled her senses.
    â€œWhat happened to your brother?” she finally asked.
    Dylan stirred the eggs, seeming to weigh his words as he thought. It made Tammie wonder all the more about what a former Marine turned Chicago cop was doing in this small Massachusetts town. What could have happened to Cash to bring him out here?
    â€œYou don’t know my brother,” he finally said.
    â€œSo tell me about him.”
    He shook his head.