Threads of Steel (Bayou Cove) Read Online Free Page A

the prison often, but he would never see us. We stopped going.” Then in a quiet voice she added, “I guess he didn’t want us anymore.”
    “So you haven’t seen him in the last few years?”
    She shook her head. “My mother filed for divorce. I was too young to question. Maybe I was relieved he wasn’t in our home scaring my mother.” The last sentence was a whisper. “After I graduated from college, I tried to visit with him several times, but he refused. I continued to write letters that he never answered, but I never went again.”
    The hurt and the rejection she felt on those visits still burned today as hot and deep as it had then.
    Nancy touched her hand under the table.
    “Where is my father?” Anna Maria asked.
    “He’s in the Bayou Cove Hospital in Intensive Care. I’m sorry to have to tell you, but he’s on life-support. ” She saw the pity in Officer Stenson’s eyes.
    “While we’re waiting for a positive fingerprint match, do you think you could identify him?” asked the other officer.
    “I’ll try. I’ve never forgotten his face. He was my father and he loved me—when I was a child. . .” The words clogged her throat. She couldn’t say anything else.
    Doug McCall stood against the wall. She felt him staring at her. She glanced up and saw in his eyes what he must think of her—a woman with a father in prison, a father who rejected her. He must see her as a really pitiful human being.
    She looked away from this stranger who couldn’t possibly understand the hurt she’d lived with most of her life.
    “I understand,” the officer said, pulling her out of her self-pity. “I’m sorry to put you through this since you have no idea what happened, but we need as much information as we can get.”
    “I’ll try to help you any way I can.” Anna Marie sat back to let them finish their questions, mostly routine information she didn’t have answers to, or if she did, it was information she didn’t think was pertinent. They asked about her mother and her death, then went on to ask about her career in New Orleans.
    None of the questions made any sense to her, but she cooperated. Maybe she didn’t want the questioning to stop because when it did, she’d have to face the people of Bayou Cove and a man lying on a bed in Intensive Care.
    Finally, the two men stood up. “We’ll follow you to the hospital if you can drive. If not, you can ride with us.”
    Before she could answer, both Nancy and Doug spoke up and offered to take her.
    “No, I’m fine. I can drive over. Anyway, if they’ll let me, I’d like to spend some time with my father.”
    “Oh, Anna, are you sure?” Nancy asked as she juggled Little Harry on her lap.
    “I’m sure. Both of you have been wonderful. I appreciate your staying here with me.”
    Everyone walked with her to her car. Nancy hugged her and made her promise to call. Doug pulled out a card with his contact information and asked her to call him before she left town. She took the card, looked up at him and wished with all her might she could spend the afternoon with this man and avoid what she’d have to face.
    “Thank you again. I’ll try to call.”
    He smiled. “I’ll be around.”
    As she turned, she couldn’t help but think how nice it would be to have someone like him to lean on. But that wouldn’t happen. The choices she’d made since her divorce had taken her down a solitary road, a road she never questioned.
    She saw him from the corner of his eye as she reached her car. Today, Doug’s strong shoulder looked inviting. With a sigh, she watched him get into his golf cart.
    Within minutes she was in traffic heading toward the hospital, not believing any of this could actually be happening. But one look in the rearview mirror at the patrol car following her told her that it was real, and no matter what she did, she’d have to deal with what her father had done.
    Again.
     
    * * *
     
    Carl Martin LaFaire lay in a bed in ICU barely making a hump