Heartsong. Sara Walter Ellwood

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СКАЧАТЬ dangled between the fingers of the drummer’s left hand. “I’m surprised Andrea didn’t let the world know you were married before her when you broke up.”

      “Never quite made it to the altar.” Gabe took another pull on the bottle before he sat it on the counter of what passed for a kitchen of sorts. He peered at Micki with narrowed eyes. “What did you want to talk about?”

      Micki downed a quarter of the beer, trying to get her bearings. It was impossible. She’d already had the eleven-hour drive to Kansas City to figure out how she was going to tell Gabe the news. She sat her bottle beside his. “Can we...”--she glanced at the men and woman watching her with amusement and curiosity--“go somewhere...”

      Gabe nodded and led her though a door at the end of a narrow passage. A burst of panic zinged through her at the sight of the bed taking up most of the space. How many women had he had sex with in this room? Had Andrea been one of them? Of course she’d been. When the door clicked closed, she jumped and turned to him. She didn’t care about his private life. Couldn’t care.

      “What’s going on, Michaela?”

      She wrung her hands together. “I’ve come to--to tell you Sam and... and Frankie...”

      “If this is about Dad and your sister, I don’t care.”

      She sniffed back the sudden burn of fresh tears. “Oh, Gabe...”

      When she wobbled on her feet, he was there in a heartbeat and guided her to sit on the edge of the bed. He quickly withdrew his arm, but sat next to her. Their thighs touched. Her heart leapt and her breath caught. How could she want him to wrap her up in his strong arms? She never wanted him to touch her again, did she? Mustering all of her strength, she pulled her shoulders up, breathing air scented with leather, sandalwood, and Gabe.

      No amount of pretending she was strong would stave off her overwhelming grief. How could she have any more tears left to cry? The last thing she wanted to do was bawl in front of him, but she detested the news she was about to break. Even if he didn’t care.

      “What’s going on?”

      His face was a blur through a watery haze. She used her hands to wipe away the tears and sniffed again. “Sam and Frankie were flying from Dallas to Brownwood and Sam’s plane crashed. They’re gone, Gabe. That’s all I know.”

      * * * *

      Gabe let the news sink in. When it did, the shock quickly gave way to... nothing. He wanted to feel grief for the man who’d given him life, but in the end only numbness and hatred penetrated his heart.

      His hand fisted against his thigh. Micki reached out, and after a brief hesitation laid her hand over his fist. He sucked in a breath at the buzz of awareness zipping through him at her gentle touch. All too fast, and yet not soon enough, she withdrew and folded her hands together in her lap.

      Gabe despised his father for cheating on his dying mother with Micki’s older sister. She was half his age, but Sam married her three months after Gabe’s mother died from breast cancer. Frankie had been five months pregnant.

      As Gabe met Micki’s shimmery blue eyes again, fear twisted his gut. “Where’s Jesse?”

      “He’s with Momma, and Mary Nelson is looking in on them.”

      Her words eased the fear a little. He wanted nothing to do with his father or his father’s wife, but he didn’t hate the product of their union. Somehow, their ten-year-old son had stolen his heart. His baby brother was safe.

      “Momma and me are...” She hiccupped and shook her head. “We were watching him while Sam and Frankie went to Dallas for one of her art shows.” From her back pocket, she pulled a red and white handkerchief to wipe her eyes and nose. “I knew you’d want to know.”

      He stared at her. Despite everything that went wrong between them, she’d brought him the news instead of him hearing it through other channels.

      Don’t read too much into it. Michaela never cared about him before, or she’d not have broken their engagement two days before the wedding. She’d have believed in him when Andrea took him to Nashville, and she would have trusted him.

      “Thanks for telling me.” Gabe stood and leaned on the doorframe. His father was gone. What did it all mean for him? Loud music sounded from the main room, drawing his attention. The drivers of the two busses would be anxious to get moving; the production crew would follow with their semi-trucks and another two busses. They had another show in Omaha tomorrow night. Jesse’s being alone was all that mattered now.

      Gabe jerked when a knock sounded on the door. As he straightened, the panel cracked open and Gary said, “Gabe, we need to get rolling.”

      “I’ve got to go. I have to get back home. Momma is taking all of this hard.” Micki stood by his side. “And I can’t leave Jesse with her too long.”

      He focused on her red-rimmed cornflower eyes. She’d been crying for a while. “Michaela, I’m sorry.”

      She sniffed, close to tears again, and nodded stiffly. “I loved my sister. Despite all of her bad behavior and her marriage to your daddy, I loved her.”

      “I know.” He wanted to touch her wet cheek and take away the tears.

      Gary shattered the impulse. “Is the girl staying or going? We’ve got to move.”

      “I’m leaving.” Micki headed out the door as Gary moved to the side in the narrow passage. She glanced over her shoulder. “I’ll take care of the arrangements. If I can have your number, I’ll call you with the time of the service. That is, if you’re interested.”

      “Yeah. Call me.” Gabe dug in his wallet for a personal business card. “My cell number’s the last one listed.”

      Micki nodded again and took the card with a shaky hand.

      “What’s going on?” Gary asked after looking from Micki to Gabe.

      Gabe stopped at the door of the second bedroom, drawing the attention of the guys in the common area. “My father and his wife were killed in a plane crash.”

      “Oh, man. I’m sorry, Gabe.”

      Gabe caught up with Micki before she exited the bus. Someone turned down the music and the band waited in silence. He never talked about his nonexistent family or much about his personal life, so this was all news to them. The world only knew about the messy split between exciting new star Gabe McKenna and his wife and manager Andrea Rose less than a year after they’d eloped, but even the guys didn’t know all the facts. He wanted to keep it that way.

      “Michaela, wait.” She paused and turned to him with fresh tears drowning her eyes. “Do you know if they ever made any kind of arrangements for Jesse?”

      “I don’t know.” The quiver in Micki’s soft Texas drawl gave away her fear. She shuffled her keys in her hand and looked down at them. “What will happen to him if they didn’t? He’s just a little boy.”

      “The state will give custody to your mom. She’s his grandmother.”

      “But Momma’s not Frankie’s real mother and besides, she isn’t healthy enough to take care of Jesse. СКАЧАТЬ