Page 182 of Untouchable

It was the first time she’d been to visit her father since she’d gone to the Watsons, and after the simple burial ceremony, she stood alone for a long time, looking down at both the graves.

Her mother hadn’t been happy, but she’d seemed to come to terms at least a little at the end.

It was better than nothing.

Justice would never be done for her father, but now Kelly knew the truth and her mother had known before she died.

It was better than nothing.

She focused on the simple grave marker over her father’s grave, etched with only his name, the years of his life, and two words: Husband. Father.

It was when she reread the wordfatherthat Kelly started to cry for real.

“I’m so sorry, Dad,” she choked out, kneeling on the grass beside the grave. She’d brought a small bunch of pink tulips, and she readjusted them next to the stone. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been what you always wanted me to be.”

She sniffed and rubbed her eyes, getting herself together enough to say what she needed to say. There was no one else around anymore, and she wanted to hear the words spoken aloud. Felt like her father could actually hear her. She didn’t care if she sounded like a fool. “You worked so hard to make a good life for me, and I ruined it all as soon as you died. But I’m going to try to do better now. I’m going to try to… to live.”

She impatiently wiped away a couple more tears that slipped out. “You were always proud of me, whether I deserved it or not, and I want to feel that way again.”

Randomly, Kelly wondered if Caleb would ever have been proud of her if they’d been together long enough for her to do something worthwhile. It wasn’t likely to happen now, but Kelly was finally coming to the recognition that there was more to her life than just Caleb.

He was important. Incredibly important. But he wasn’t all there was.

Kelly wasn’t going to taint her memories of her father again. Not with vengeance and not with the consuming loss of Caleb in her life.

“I miss you, Daddy. I still miss you so much.”

She stayed a few more minutes, saying goodbye. To both him and her mother. Until she finally found the strength to pull herself up to her feet.

“I’ll be back,” she whispered before she turned to leave. “I love you. I won’t stay away so long again.”

She felt a rising wave of emotion when she heard her phone ring. Her heart leaped even though she knew there was almost no chance of it being Caleb.

Glancing at the screen, she felt a sinking disappointment at the same time she experienced a tiny flare of warmth.

It wasn’t Caleb. But the screen read, “Jack Martin.”

She hadn’t heard from Jack for several days, and she’d been afraid he was tired of putting up with her. Despite everything else she was going through, Kelly was glad that Jack hadn’t decided to cut her out of his life for good.

She didn’t answer the phone. She was still too emotional to appropriately deal with a friendly conversation. But she liked Jack and would like to be his friend.

Then she would have two. Reese and Jack.

It was a start.

She turned around and took her first step back toward her car.

Came to an abrupt, jerky halt.

There was a familiar black chauffeured car parked on the drive behind her car. And there was a familiar man standing beside it, wearing black clothes, his dark hair burnished by the sun.

She wasn’t close enough to see the expression in his eyes, but she could clearly tell that he was staring at her.

Feeling a lurching in her heart, Kelly took an instinctive step toward him, but something about his stiff stance made her stop again.

Whatever he was doing here, it wasn’t to sweep her up in his arms and take her home.

Kelly stared back at him, memorizing the proud lines of his lean form and slightly arrogant tilt of his chin.