“Is Mommy in Heaven?” Jennifer’s small, watery voice asked against Crystal’s damp shoulder.
“Mommy,” Crystal managed, “is most certainly in Heaven.”
“And my dad is going to stay in jail?”
“Yes.”
Jennifer reached a small, shaking hand inside the pocket of her shorts and retrieved the little black cell phone. “Then I don’t need this anymore?”
Crystal’s hand closed around the phone, her chest squeezing with pain. “No, honey. You don’t need it anymore.”
Crystal’s gaze caught Larry’s as a deep, shuddering breath of relief whooshed out of Jennifer’s lungs.
The little girl still had some crying to do. And they would grieve together for a long while to come. But there was a bright new future waiting for all four of them.
Crystal reached for Larry’s hand, and it joined solidly with her own.
BARBARA DUNLOP
is a bestselling, award-winning author of numerous novels for Harlequin and Silhouette Books. Her books regularly hit bestseller lists for series romance, and she has twice been short-listed for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® Award.
Barbara lives in a log house in the Yukon, where the bears outnumber people, and moose graze the front yard. By day she works as the Yukon’s film commissioner. By night she pens romance novels in front of a roaring fire.
