Free Brody by Susan Fisher-Davis Page A

make me feel the way
you do.” She ran her hands up his arms and around his neck. “No one ever has.
In all the time you’ve been gone, I haven’t been with anyone else.”
    Brody’s
eyebrows rose. “No one?”
    Madilyn
shook her head. “No one. Can you say the same?”
    “No,
but they didn’t mean anything to me. It was just sex. I’ve never loved anyone
but you.” He lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. They sprang apart
when the bell over the door announced a visitor. They both looked over to see
Kaitlyn. Madilyn knew by the look on her face that something was wrong. Brody
must have seen it too since he kissed her forehead then smiled at Kaitlyn and
left.
    Kaitlyn
moved behind the counter and picked up the order book. Madilyn could tell she’d
been crying.
    “Katie?
I thought you weren’t coming in until later?”
    Kaitlyn
didn’t raise her eyes. “I wanted to get started on the orders,” her voice
cracked.
    Madilyn
moved toward her and touched her arm. “What happened? What did he do now?”
    Kaitlyn
raised her gaze to her. “He didn’t come home last night. I know he was
with…her.”
    “Katie,
you need to divorce him. He treats you like dirt.” Madilyn hated seeing her friend
hurt. Everyone in Clifton knew her husband had a mistress he spent more time
with than his wife.
    “He
won’t divorce me and even if he did, I can’t support myself.”
    “You
have Sam. He’d take care of you.”
    Kaitlyn
shook her head. “I won’t ask Sam or my parents for help.”
    Madilyn
knew it was the end of the conversation. Kaitlyn wouldn’t leave her husband
because she believed in her wedding vows although Kevin didn’t. He’d had a
mistress before he married Kaitlyn and although a good many people tried to
tell her, she refused to believe it, but she believed it now.
    Madilyn
went to work in the greenhouse while Kaitlyn worked on flower arrangements.
Madilyn was sad her friend was hurting. They worked in virtual silence through
the day, only speaking when customers came in.
    Although
Madilyn had lived through a lot of heartache, she couldn’t imagine what Kaitlyn
was feeling. Madilyn’s mother died when she was five years old, so she never
knew her. Her father had been her entire world until he’d brought home a rookie
officer for dinner one night. Brody Morgan stole her breath away. She fell in
love and he’d felt the same but when her father was shot and killed by a man
he’d pulled over one night, she lived in constant fear Brody would also be
killed in the line of duty. Madilyn begged him to leave the force but Brody
refused, saying the probability of it happening to him in the town of Clifton
was slim to none. He’d convinced her and they were happy until the night he
told her he was going to join the Marshals in Butte and wanted her to go with
him. She couldn’t do it and five years were wasted. Now her friend’s heart was
breaking and there wasn’t anything Madilyn could do to help her. Seeing Kaitlyn
in the emotional pain she was in tore her apart. If there was something she
could do to ease the pain, she’d do it in a heartbeat. Kevin Parker was scum
and Kaitlyn deserved so much better.

 
    * * *
*
     
    Brody
sat at his desk filling out a report on a car accident. His mind was not on his
work. It was on Madilyn. God, he loved her. She’d always been in the back of
his mind in the years he was gone. Getting involved with other women did
nothing to make her fade away. He put the pen down, took his glasses off, and
rubbed his eyes. There was one woman in particular he never should have been
involved with. If she’d been honest from the beginning things would have turned
out differently. What a mess that turned out to be. His office phone rang.
    “Deputy
Morgan.”
    “Come
to my office,” Sam said in a clipped voice and hung up.
    Damn it! Brody knew time had just run
out. Sam wanted the details of his leaving the Marshals. Brody stood and headed
for Sam’s office. Brody