Miracle Road: Eternity Springs Book 7 Read Online Free Page B

rate we’re reproducing, someone should open a children’s store in town,” Nic observed.
    “Is that an announcement?” Gabi asked.
    “Bite your tongue,” Nic responded as Ali handed Sarah the first gift to open.
    Hope enjoyed the afternoon. She liked these women and she appreciated the way they welcomed newcomers into their circle of friendship with such genuine pleasure. She didn’t know if it was a small-town thing or particular to Eternity Springs, but either way, she felt as if she had found the people who were meant to be in her life and the home she was meant to have.
    She’d found a new life, a good life, to replace the one that had been stolen away from her.
    And when she watched Sarah Murphy ooh and ahh over three-month-sized overalls and took her turn cuddling little Johnny Davenport, she reminded herself to be thankful for what she had. Positive thinking took work, but Hope knew that it was work worth doing. Negative thoughts could be dangerous and destructive and lead a person to consider dangerous, destructive acts. She knew that firsthand.
    The memory of one particular bleak afternoon floated through her mind, and as always, she gave thanks for the ember of hope within her that continued to burn even today.
    Because sometimes, dreams come true. Sometimes an infertile couple had their little Johnny, she thought as she gazed down into the precious face of the cooing baby in her arms. When Sarah opened a hand-knitted baby blanket and burst into tears, it proved that sometimes long-lost lovers returned to create the family that had been meant to be.
    So, why couldn’t it happen to her, too? She couldn’t live her life in a constant state of waiting amid misery and depression, floating in the numbness of prescription pain killers. But if she kept her thoughts positive, continued to put one foot in front of the other, and move forward on this road of life, well, then, who was to say she couldn’t have her own miracle some day?
    Jack and Cat Davenport had their new son. Cam and Sarah Murphy were married and awaiting their second child. Maybe someday she would get her miracle, too. Maybe someday, Holly would come home to her.
    Sometimes, kidnapped children were found. Sometimes, miracles did happen.

THREE
    “If he was like this in Mexico, it’s a miracle he’s still alive,” Zach Turner said.
    At the sound of the sheriff’s familiar voice, Lucca scowled and pulled the pillow over his head. Apparently his bedroom door wasn’t shut, because the pillow didn’t muffle nearly enough.
    “I wonder if that’s the problem, Zach,” his sister stated, a grim note to her voice.
    Shut up, Gabi.
    She continued, “Right now, however, his problems have become our problem. We can get by without arresting him once, but if he does this again, we won’t be able to avoid it.”
    Arrest? What the …
    Lucca tugged the pillow away from his face and pried open his eyes. Whoa, the room was bright. He snapped his eyelids shut, and it took a few seconds for the image of what he’d seen to sink into his brain. Bars. And not the wooden kind with beer taps and cardboard coasters, either. Cell bars. Jail bars. He wasn’t in his bedroom. He’d woken up in jail. Again.
    He heard keys jangle, a lock release, and hinges creak. A familiar female voice said, “Lucca Ryan Romano, you smell like a goat. Wake up.”
    Oh, crap. Mom.
What a great start to his day. He delayed, taking a moment to remember waking up to a view of the crystalline water off the Yucatán Peninsula. How had he gone from thirty to thirteen in less than a week?
    “Son, do you hear me?”
    A deaf man could hear Maggie Romano when she spoke in her “mother” tone. His mouth was as dry as good vermouth and his tongue felt hairy, so his answer came out as a croak. “Yes, ma’am.”
    He sat up, stifling a groan. He tried to recall how he’d ended up here, but the pounding in his head made it difficult to think.
    “I truly thought I was done bailing my