A Gift from the Past Read Online Free

say about all work and no play.”
    â€œDamned right,” Sarge exclaimed. “Makingmoney is nice, but there’s other things important in life, too. You’ll stay here,” Sarge added firmly.
    â€œOh, I don’t…” Joshua began.
    â€œI’m sure Joshua will be more comfortable at the Red Inn,” Claire interjected quickly. She assumed he was at the Red Inn since it was the only motel in town.
    â€œNonsense,” Sarge replied. “I’ve been trying to get both the Health Department and the Building Codes people to shut that place down for years. It’s not fit for a skunk. You’re family, Joshua. You’ll stay here and that’s final. Now, tell me all about this business of yours and about all the loony people in California. I hear tell the women sun-bathe stark-naked there.”
    Claire didn’t want to listen to Joshua extol the luxurious lifestyle he’d built for himself, nor did she like the way his very presence stirred not only memories of what had once been, but also an edge of physical awareness that was distinctly uncomfortable.
    She excused herself from the table and left the kitchen. She wandered back into the living room, drawn to the tin box Joshua had left on the coffee table. She sat on the sofa and pulled the box onto her lap.
    Her fingers trembled slightly as she opened it and picked up the picture. Immediately, a strange electrical surge washed up her arm. It wasn’t unpleasant, just warm and disconcerting. She’d felt it when she’d first taken the picture from Joshua.
    She dismissed the sensation, telling herself she was out of sorts, highly on edge and that’s why she thought she felt something strange.
    Again she studied the features of the two people in the photo. There was no question about it. They shared more than a passing resemblance to her and Joshua. It was as if she and Joshua had sat for the photo in one of those vacation photo places where you could dress up in historical outfits.
    But they had never had a photo like this taken and there seemed to be no explanation as to why Sarah and Daniel Walker looked exactly like Claire and Joshua McCane.
    The couple in the picture wasn’t smiling, nor did there seem to be any hint of intimacy between them. He stared straight ahead, one of his hands resting not on her shoulder, but rather on the top of the chair where she sat.
    She thought she detected a weary sadness about them, especially radiating from Sarah’s eyes. Who were these people and why had they buried a photo of themselves in the middle of nowhere?
    She placed the photo back in the box, disturbed by it more than she cared to admit.
    â€œSarge would like you to take him back to his room for a nap.”
    She started at the sound of Joshua’s voice coming from the kitchen doorway. Fighting against aburst of weariness that had become as familiar as the color of her own eyes in the mirror, she rose from the sofa.
    â€œHe usually gets quite tired at this time of the day,” she said unnecessarily.
    He stepped out of the doorway and into the living room. “I’ll just wait here. We need to talk.”
    â€œIt usually takes me a while to get him settled in.” She hoped he’d get the hint, that he’d realize they had nothing to talk about, that she had nothing to discuss with him.
    â€œI’ll wait.” He sank onto the sofa where she had been seated only moments before, looking for all the world as if he had a right to be there.
    It took her nearly twenty minutes to get Sarge into bed and settled comfortably. As always, seeing him so thin and helpless against the sheets nearly broke what was left of her heart.
    Sarge was all the family she’d ever had. He’d raised her since she was eight, when her parents had been killed in a car accident. She loved him as fiercely as she’d ever loved anyone in her life. “You rest easy,” she said softly, then