Free A Father's Quest by Debra Salonen

he’d tell her why.
    “Dad gave it to me a few months earlier in exchange for my not mentioning to Mom that Dad visited a woman in Morgan City.”
    “A client?” she said, trying to keep her tone neutral.
    He gave her a look.
    “Dad said she needed his advice about buying a new car. He went into great detail about how she was a divorcée, trying to get her life back together after her lowlife husband took off with all their savings.”
    “But you didn’t believe him.”
    “I believed him…until he gave me his St. Christopher and made me promise not to say anything to Mom. He said this lady was proud and didn’t want people gossiping about her at Marlene’s House of Beauty.”
    He reached across the table and very carefully took the medal in his fingers. “Even at age eight, I knew that was a lie. I knew this woman was the reason my parents fought, and he made me feel guilty, like I was part of this grand deception.”
    She looked down again, frowning. “Darn. I thought of it as my only link to the father I never got to meet, but now I’m not sure I want to wear it anymore. How come you didn’t tell me that when we were dating?”
    He let it drop, but his fingers accidentally brushed her bare skin, and an electrical charge that she remembered all too clearly from their youth passed straight through her chest and down her spine.
    He rolled his neck as if to release any built-up tension. “Ironically, I didn’t want you to think less of me because my father cheated on my mother—and yours.” He gave a harsh, dry laugh, then took a drink of his iced tea.
    She was tempted to take off the necklace, but she didn’t. The cheap, little medal had been her most cherished possession since she was the age of his daughter. She’d had to change the necklace many times, but she always kept the silver oval close to her heart.
    Suzie brought their lunch a minute later.
    “Should I know her?” Jonas whispered as the woman walked away. “She looks vaguely familiar.”
    Her name didn’t ring any bells but she’d seemed to know a great deal about Remy. Of course, Remy had returned to Baylorville after her stint in Nashville, whereas Jonas only visited a couple of times a year.
    “Probably not. She was ahead of us in school. She and my sister, Pauline, play Bunko together.”
    “Pauline…Bing, right? I remember her. Does she still live here?”
    Remy chomped down on a mammoth bite and chewed quite a long time before answering. He had to force himself not to grin. She’d always been a big eater, which had amused him to no end. And yet, she remained as trim as ever, with perfect, lush curves he didn’t seem to be able to keep his eyes off. Accidentally touching her a few minutes earlier had caused a chain reaction of sensations in areas of his brain that hadn’t seen action in months.
    “Uh-huh. She and hubby number two bought a five-bedroom house across town in that development that nearly went bust when the economy tanked. Mom’s early passing helped her out a lot. Oops. That sounded mean. Bing’s always been toughest on me and Jess. I put it down to birth order. Jessie calls her a greedy bitch.”
    He laughed at that.
    “So,” Remy said between bites. “Tell me about Birdie.”
    Jonas had no idea where to begin. As corny as it sounded, she was the light, breath, color and joy of his life. “There was a big storm the night she was born. The hospital was using a backup generator. The very second Birdie slid into the doctor’s hands, she let out this huge howl and the power came on.” He grinned, remembering the moment. “The staff and doctors all called her Wonder Baby.”
    “Wonder Baby,” she repeated. “I like that.”
    He watched her nibble a golden-brown onion ring. Normally, he could take down a couple of orders by himself, but he hadn’t had an appetite since returning stateside. In Iraq, everyone made long lists of the things they were going to eat or drink or do when they got home. He had one