Redemption by Sharon Cullen Page A

remember.”
    “I don’t know about that. I have some memories I’d like to forget.”
    “I know.”
    “You do?” Her words startled him enough to pull his gaze from her hands to her eyes. They held a wealth of emotion, mostly things she was too young to feel. And he was too old to carry anymore.
    “You’re a sad man, John Callahan. I can see it in your eyes.”
    A sad man. He had to think about that since he’d never considered himself sad. People said he was gloomy, no fun to be around. Luke, and to some extent, Kate, tended to step lightly around him at times. But sad?
    Hope stretched out a hand and he found himself reaching for it. It wasn’t so hard, this touching thing. “We’re a pair you and I,” she said on a sigh. “One who remembers nothing and one who remembers too much.”
    ***
    The banging on his front door yanked John from the deepest sleep he’d had in years. He surged out of his chair and grabbed his gun.
    Hope sat up, eyes wide, hair tousled.
    John peered out of the front window as he plastered his back against the wall. When he saw his deputy’s car, he breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Hope before opening the door.
    Bill Mercer stepped in, stomping the snow off his boots and brushing it off his shoulders. He clapped his gloved hands together and looked up, pausing when his gaze landed on a sleepy Hope. Shock flashed across the young deputy’s face before he masked it and turned to John and nodded. “We were worried about you all alone up here.” His gaze flickered to Hope again who had scooted to the edge of the couch. “I guess we shouldn’t have been.”
    John grimaced, waved Mercer in and closed the door, shutting off the frigid air that had dropped the temperature in the room several degrees. He’d tried to get Hope to go to bed last night but she’d wanted nothing to do with it, adamantly insisting she’d rather sleep in front of the fire. So he’d settled into his chair, prepared to stay up all night and watch her sleep. Apparently he’d fallen asleep as well and he was well aware what the scene looked like to his deputy. For a man with a reputation for shunning women, this was one bit of information that wouldn’t stay quiet for long.
    Bill had his hat in his hand, twisting the brim around and looking between John and Hope, a thousand questions in his eyes.
    “Everything okay?” John asked.
    “Yeah. Real quiet. Everyone pretty much holed up for the storm.” A smile broke across Bill’s wide face. “My guess is there’ll be plenty of babies born in nine—” His voice trailed off.
    Ah, hell. Hope was standing. The blanket had fallen to the floor and it was very obvious as she turned to the side that she was pregnant.
    Bill averted his gaze, cleared his throat. “Uh, well. The guys, they wanted me to come up. You know, to plow your road. That way if you needed to, uh, get out, you could. But I can see—” His face turned red and he looked at anything but Hope.
    John was at a loss for words when Hope stepped forward and offered her hand. “Hi, I’m Hope. Mr. Callahan here—” she nodded toward John, “—saved my life.”
    Bill looked at him and he could feel his face heating. “Her car flipped over in my front yard right as the blizzard hit.”
    Understanding lit Bill’s face. “Ohhhh. Sure.” He glanced out the window. “Yeah, I can see the car now.”
    “Since I still have a few days of vacation left, I’m going to take Hope back to Maryland. See her home safe.”
    “Sure,” Bill said, reaching for the doorknob. He nodded to Hope. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. I’ll, uh, just clear that driveway so y’all can leave.”
    Hope rounded on him the minute Bill closed the door and stomped down the steps. “You’re a cop.”
    “Yeah? So?”
    “You didn’t think that was something I should know?”
    “Never thought it was relevant.” He took his gun from the small of his back where he’d tucked it before opening the door and laid it on the