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

under the sheet. Anna Marie stood at his side shocked to see an old man in the body where a strong, robust male used to be. He’d be in his late fifties now, she assumed, but the years had not been kind to him. Prison life had been hard.
    She walked to his bedside. Carefully avoiding numerous tubes and wires attached to his body, she placed her hand over one of his that lay limp and lifeless. For a long moment she stared at the man who had given her life, but who had not been part of that life for decades.
    “Is he your father?” one of the officers asked.
    His words surprised her. She’d forgotten the two police officers had followed her into the room.
    “Yes, he’s my father. Even after all this time, I’d recognize him anywhere.”
    “Thank you for your cooperation, Miss LaFaire . If you need anything, please call the department, and we’ll try our best to help you.”
    The officers walked away, leaving her alone with her father. Anna Marie tried to reconcile the fact that this shadow of a man was the same one who had made her life and her mother’s life a living hell. She closed her eyes and envisioned Carl LeFaire in his twenties. She’d never forget the words he’d said one day when he was sober. That day was as clear to her as it was almost thirty years ago when he took her on his lap, the only time she ever remembered him holding her. “You’re my little ray of sunshine in this life filled with nothing but black clouds.”
    She didn’t understand his words then, but now she knew how horrible his life had been. With few skills and even less self-esteem, her father spent his days moving from one bar to the next, picking up odd jobs here and there, and waiting in the unemployment office until he gave up and simply stayed drunk.
    As a child she longed to have the man back who had held her that day. She’d seen the warmth in him that others had forgotten—but she never saw him that way again. When she thought about him in prison for armed robbery, she wondered which man sat in his cell. Had he mellowed? Become religious? Angry? And most of all she wondered if he ever missed his family.
    “How could you pretend Mom and I didn’t exist?” she whispered as she took  his hand. The bones were almost visible through his thin skin.
    “Excuse me. Are you Mr. LeFaire’s daughter?”
    She looked up. “Yes, I’m Anna Marie.”
    The nurse standing in the doorway held a clipboard next to her chest. “I’m glad someone located you, and, uh, I’m sorry about your father.”
    A sudden lump clogged her throat. She looked away from the nurse. Was she really sorry? Did she know he’d killed an innocent woman because he was too drunk to control the car he drove?
    “Thank you. He’s my father, but I haven’t seen him in many years.” She chewed her bottom lip. “Will he survive?”
    “Probably not. The doctors put him on life-support only because they couldn’t identify him right away. He’s not showing any signs of activity in the brain.” The woman stood next to her, even though Anna Marie hadn’t heard her walk from the door to the bed. “Before you leave, I’d like you to stop by my desk so we can talk about your options.”
    She nodded though she didn’t want to consider options about the life of a man she no longer knew, a man who obviously had cut ties with his family because he didn’t want the hassle of having a wife and a daughter.
    Unexpected tears burned her eyes.
    When she realized she was alone, she let the tears flow down her face.
    Her insides ached, and except for the whooshing of the respirator and beeping of several machines, the quiet in the room was deafening.
    “Oh, Dad, why didn’t you let us love you?”
     
    * * *
     
    Anna Marie drove back to the hotel in a daze. The traffic congestion was nothing but a blur. She wasn’t even sure how she made it back to the hotel as she pulled into her parking spot. She sat and stared into the crowded parking lot. Her body didn’t want to