Free A Christmas Miracle in Pajaro Bay (Pajaro Bay Series Book 6) by Barbara Cool Lee Page A

Matt's family was, she might have slightly overdone it.
    She took off the mitt and pushed the blonde hair back from her forehead.
    But hey, since she was bringing them all these cookies, no one would mind that she was never going to bring them a grandchild, right?
    As if he knew, the dog got up and came to lean against her.
    She rubbed his big, bony head with one hand. "Thanks, Shadowfax. You always can tell what's going on with me." Even now that she didn't have any more seizures, her seizure-alert dog was still tuned into her moods.
    No more seizures. After fighting all her life to deal with her epilepsy, she now had been seizure-free for over six months. After a year she would be able to apply for a driver's license. Yippee.
    And all it took was giving up the dream of carrying a baby to term. Her last miscarriage had been her last, ever. Dr. Lil had broken the news gently, compassionately. No more trying. The drugs that were keeping her seizure-free also made it impossible for her to have a baby. And going off the medications was too dangerous. That was that. No seizures, but no baby.
    Lori sat down on the floor of the old kitchen and let Shadowfax lick the tears off her face.
----
    R icky was drowsing over the steering wheel. "Can you hear the angel, Matteo?" he whispered. "It's calling me home."
    Matteo, the criminal mastermind known as the Shadow, couldn't hear. Matteo was somewhere across the vast, unforgiving sea.
    Ricky straightened up. He gripped the wheel tighter, and tried to sit up straight, though it hurt somewhere deep in his side. His hand went down to the place where it hurt, and when he lifted his hand again, the palm was dark with blood.
    He put his hand on the center display screen in front of him. 23 kilometers to go.
    The angel was calling loudly now.
    "Not yet," he said firmly. "I'm not going yet." One more task to complete first.
    His hands stuck to the wheel. The blood was drying, and it made it easier for him to keep his grip now. The cry of the seagulls grew louder now, high and keening, like the angels warning him: hurry, hurry. There isn't much time left. He pushed the throttle all the way and the boat jumped forward through the darkness.
----
    L ori was carefully packaging the cookies when Matt came back into the kitchen. There wasn't a single tear on her face, she'd made sure of that. She didn't want him to see how much it hurt. Then he would want to talk about it, and she wasn't ready.
    He went into the little sitting room next to the kitchen. He'd set up a card table there, and had it covered in papers for the report he was going to make to the Project after the new year.
    "Do you have to do that now?" she asked him, then regretted it. Because if he didn't work, they would talk, and she didn't want to talk now.
    "You want me to stop?"
    "I want you to be done with that life!" she shouted, mad at everything and wanting something to yell at.
    He took it patiently, the way he always did. "I'm not part of it, not anymore. But it's important. George and I have to give a presentation after the holidays."
    "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Secret agent stuff, and if you tell me about it, you'll have to kill me."
    "But George and I—"
    She threw the oven mitt down on the table. "I hate George!" she said, which wasn't true. George Asher had been a true friend and partner to Matt. And he had helped Matt leave the Project, helped him get back to a normal life. She should be grateful to him.
    But tonight she hated George because he had a wife and two children, and he was at home with his family in Hawaii, and he was happy. She resented anyone being happy tonight.
    "I'm sorry," Matt said.
    Lori lifted her hand. "It's not you. I hate the whole world right now."
    "I know," he said quietly. "Me, too."
    Then he got up and came over to her. "I can do the report some other time."
    She turned her back on him, not wanting him to hug her and make her cry again. "Go ahead and do it tonight. We have nothing more important going