One Little Lie

by Colleen Coble

  Will clutched her to his chest, and she sobbed against his shirt. He patted her back awkwardly, then turned slightly toward his dad as if to ask, “What do I do with her?”

  She sniffled and lifted her head. “I’m not usually an emotional wreck, Will, and I promise to try not to embarrass you like this ever again.” She stepped back and grasped his forearms. “My son. I still can’t believe it. I love you with all my heart, Will. I’m new to this mothering business, but I’m a fast learner. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes, but never doubt that I’ve loved you from the moment I looked into your wrinkled little face.”

  Tears gathered again, and she shoved them away as best she could. She dropped her hands and glanced at Reid. “Can I have him spend the night?”

  It galled her to have to ask him anything after he’d hidden Will’s existence from her. His brown eyes processed her request, and she bit back the threat to take him to court if he didn’t agree. That wasn’t the way to start a distant but cordial relationship for Will’s sake.

  Reid shoved his hands in his pockets. “He can stay with you anytime he wants.”

  She couldn’t look him in the eye and kept her gaze somewhere around his chin. “Thank you.” The words nearly choked her.

  Will thrust the bag into her hand. “I-I got you a birthday present. They couldn’t wrap it. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Aw, honey, I don’t care about that kind of thing.” She peeked inside the Two Turtles Bookstore bag and pulled out a copy of a book on Roman history. “I haven’t read this one.”

  “It’s new.” He sounded anxious.

  Her first gift from her son. “I’ll treasure it. Thank you.” She hugged him again but made it quick in case he thought she was too touchy-feely. Other people she knew complained about how their teenagers didn’t want to be touched. It would be hard on her if he ended up being like that.

  She forced herself to look at Reid again but still couldn’t bring her gaze up to meet his. “Can I take him now?”

  “Of course. I’ll drop some clothes by for him.” He reached a hand toward her. “Jane, I-I’m so sorry. I want us to get past this. Can you forgive me?”

  She turned away so she didn’t have to deal with the yearning in that gesture. “Maybe. I’m going to try, but I can’t deal with it today.” The falsely bright note in her voice stabbed her with its hypocrisy. She didn’t want to be the kind of person who put up a fake front, but she couldn’t handle any more until she got control of her rampaging thoughts.

  She felt his gaze burning into her back as she walked to her SUV with Will and Parker. All the budding feelings she’d had for Reid still churned inside, and she couldn’t forget that kiss. That wonderful, amazing kiss that felt like coming home. What did it really mean after all this? She wasn’t sure when she could take those feelings out and examine them. It would take all her energy to figure out this new relationship with Will. That had to be her priority right now.

  She’d have to talk to Reid eventually and resolve what had happened, but not today. Maybe she could figure out a way to get past it, but not with her tall son walking beside her. Today was for discovering the wonders wrapped up in this handsome boy next to her.

  * * *

  To be continued in Two Reasons to Run, coming September 2020.

  A Note from the Author

  Dear Reader,

  I visited the Gulf Shores area for the first time in 2017 and fell in love with the area. The blue water, the wildlife, the thick dunes spoke to me. We were having dinner with the England family, and sixteen-year-old Isaac began to recount his adventures aboard a shrimping boat. He talked about all the things the nets would bring up and mentioned they’d even snagged a washing machine.

  My weird mind immediately conjured up a body in a refrigerator. I ultimately decided on a big ice chest for the discovery, but that conversation was the jumping-off spot for the series. I’ve been interested in the cult experience for a long time, too, and after noodling on the idea, I decided Jane had too much baggage to resolve in one book. She was worthy of an entire series, just like Bree Nicholls from the Rock Harbor series.

  I hope you enjoy the book as much as I loved writing it. Let me know what you think—I love to hear from readers!

  Love,

  colleen@colleencoble.com

  colleencoble.com

  Discussion Questions

  Jane’s past shamed her, and she never wanted to be gullible, especially about faith. How might the world’s view of God steer her away from real faith?

  Reid came to town with a heavy secret. What would you have done if you were Reid?

  How do you think Jane’s past led her into law enforcement?

  Have you ever known anyone who had been in a cult? What did you think about them?

  Jane had a strong desire for family, but she was afraid of rejection so hadn’t tried to find them. What would you do in a situation like that?

  Jane often feels inadequate to the job of chief of police. Have you ever felt you weren’t up to what was expected of you? If so, how did you handle it?

  Reid found himself being less than honest, and he hated dishonesty. What would you have done in his situation?

  Jane found it hard to forgive the lies. Why do you think it was so hard for her?

  Acknowledgments

  My great thanks to the England family from the Gulf Shores area. Isaac’s recounting of his experiences on a shrimp boat was the jumping-off spot for this series, and Amy selflessly hauled me all over the area to experience the flavor of southern Alabama. You all are awesome!

  Seventeen years and counting as part of the amazing HarperCollins Christian Publishing team as of the summer of 2019! I never take my great fortune to land there for granted. I have the best team in the industry (and I’m not a bit prejudiced), and I’m so grateful for all you’ve taught me and all you’ve done for me. My dear editor and publisher, Amanda Bostic, makes sure I’m taken care of in every way. My marketing and publicity team is fabulous (thank you, Paul Fisher, Kerri Potts, and Allison Carter!). I’m truly blessed by all your hard work. My entire team works so hard, and I wish there was a way to reward you all for what you do for me.

  Julee Schwarzburg is my outside editor, and she has such fabulous expertise with suspense and story. She smooths out all my rough spots and makes me look better than I am. I learn something from you and Amanda with every book, so thank you!

  My agent, Karen Solem, and I have been together for twenty years now. She has helped shape my career in many ways, and that includes kicking an idea to the curb when necessary. She and a bevy of wonderful authors helped brainstorm this new series. Thank you, Denise Hunter, Robin Caroll, Carrie Stuart Parks, Lynette Eason, Voni Harris, and Pam Hillman!

  My critique partner and dear friend of over twenty-one years, Denise Hunter, is the best sounding board ever. Together we’ve created so many works of fiction. She reads every line of my work, and I read every one of hers. It’s truly been a blessed partnership.

  I’m so grateful for my husband, Dave, who carts me around from city to city, washes towels, and chases down dinner without complaint. My family is everything to me, and my three grandchildren make life wonderful. We try to split our time between Indiana and Arizona to be with them, but I’m constantly missing someone.

  Most important, I give my thanks to God, who has opened such amazing doors for me and makes the journey a golden one.

  An Excerpt from Strands of Truth

  Prologue

  January 1990

  St. Petersburg, Florida

  Lisa ran to her Datsun Bluebird and jerked open the yellow door. Her pulse strummed in her neck, and she glanced behind her to make sure she wasn’t being followed. She’d tried not to show fear during the confrontation, but it was all she could do not to cry. She couldn’t face life without him.

  She’d been on edge ever since yesterday.

  Twilight backlit the treetops and highlighted the hanging moss. Instead of finding it beautiful
, she saw frightening shadows and shuddered. She slid under the wheel and started the engine, then pulled out of her driveway onto the road.

  She turned toward the Gulf. The water always calmed her when she was upset—and she had crossed upset moments ago and swerved into the scared zone.

  Her belly barely fit under the wheel, but this baby would be born soon, and then she’d have her figure back. She accelerated away from her home, a dilapidated one-story house with peeling white paint, and switched on her headlights.

  The radio blared full of the news about the Berlin Wall coming down, but Lisa didn’t care about that, not now. She switched channels until she found Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” playing, but even her favorite tune failed to sooth her shattered nerves. Could she seriously be murdered over this? She’d glimpsed madness in those eyes.

  She pressed the brakes as she came to a four-way stop, but the brake pedal went clear to the floor. She gasped and pumped the pedal again. No response. The car shot through the intersection, barely missing the tail end of another vehicle that had entered it before her.

  Hands gripping the steering wheel, she struggled to keep the car on the road as she frantically thought of a way to bring it to a stop that didn’t involve hitting another car or a tree. The baby in her belly kicked as if he or she knew their lives hung suspended in time.

  “We’re going to make it, little one. We have to. I can’t leave you alone.” No one would love her baby if she died. Her mother couldn’t care for her child. She cared more about her drugs than anything else.

  Lisa tried to tamp down her rising emotions, but she’d never been so frightened. The car fishtailed on the sandy road as she forced it back from the shoulder. Huge trees lined the pavement in a dense formation. Where could she drive off into relative safety? A field sprawled over on the right, just past the four-way stop ahead. If she made it through, it seemed the only place where they might survive.

  Had the brakes been cut? What else could it be? She’d just had the car serviced.

  Lisa approached the stop sign much too fast. The slight downhill slope had only accelerated the speed that hovered at nearly seventy. Her mouth went bone dry.

  Her future with her child and the love of her life depended on the next few moments.

  She could do it—she had to.

  The tires squealed as the car barely held on to the road through the slight turn at high speed. Before Lisa could breathe a sigh of relief, a lumbering truck approached from the right side, and she laid on her horn with all her strength. She unleashed a scream as the car hurtled toward the big dump truck.

  The violent impact robbed her lungs of air, and she blacked out. When she came to, she was in an ambulance. She fought back the darkness long enough to tell the paramedic, “Save my baby. Please . . .”

  She whispered a final prayer for God to take care of her child before a darker night claimed her.

  Chapter 1

  Present Day

  Clearwater, Florida

  The examination table was cold and hard under her back as Harper Taylor looked around the room. She focused on the picture of a familiar Florida beach, which helped block out the doctor’s movements and the smell of antiseptic. She’d been on the beach at Honeymoon Island yesterday, and she could still smell the briny scent of the bay and hear the call of the gulls. The ocean always sang a siren song she found impossible to resist.

  Calm. Peace. The smell of a newborn baby’s head.

  “All done.” Dr. Cox’s face came to her side, and she was smiling. “Lie here for about fifteen minutes, and then you can get dressed and go home.” She tugged the paper sheet down over Harper’s legs.

  “How soon will I know if the embryo transfer was successful?” Though she’d researched the process to death, she wanted some assurance.

  “Two weeks. I know right now it seems like an eternity, but those days will pass before you know it. I’ve already submitted the lab requisition for a beta-HCG test. If we get a positive, we’ll track the counts every few days to make sure they are increasing properly.” Dr. Cox patted her hand. “Hang in there.” She exited the room, leaving Harper alone to stare at the ceiling.

  Her longing for a child brought tears to her eyes. She’d felt empty for so long. Alone. And she’d be a good mom—she knew she would. All the kids in the church nursery loved her, and she babysat for friends every chance she got. She had a wealth of patience, and she’d do everything in her power to make sure her child knew she or he was wanted.

  She slipped her hand to her stomach. The gender didn’t matter to her at all. She could love either a boy or a girl. It didn’t matter that this baby wasn’t her own blood. The little one would grow inside her, and the two of them would be inseparable.

  Once the fifteen minutes were up, she was finally able to go to the bathroom and get dressed. She already felt different. Was that a good sign, or was it all in her head? She slipped her feet into flip-flops, then headed toward the reception area.

  The tension she’d held inside melted when she saw her business partner, Oliver Jackson, in the waiting room, engrossed in conversation with an attractive woman in her fifties. She hadn’t been sure he’d be here. He’d dropped her off, then gone to practice his bagpipes with the band for the Scottish Highland Games in April. He said he’d be back, but he often got caught up in what he was doing and lost track of time. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d stood her up.

  Oliver was a big man, well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a firm stomach from the hours spent in his elaborate home gym. She’d always wondered if he colored his still-dark hair or if he was one of those lucky people who didn’t gray early.

  Even here in a fertility clinic, this man in his sixties turned women’s heads. She’d watched them fawn over him for years, and he’d had his share of relationships over the fifteen years since his divorce. But Oliver never stuck with one woman for long. Was there even such a thing as a forever love? She hadn’t seen any evidence of it, and it felt much safer to build her life without expecting that kind of faithfulness from any man. Having a child could fill that hole in her heart without the need to be on her guard around a man.

  He saw her and ended his conversation, then joined her at the door. His dark-brown eyes held concern. “You changed your mind?”

  She shook her head. “Not a chance.”

  “It seems an extreme way to go about having a family. You’re only thirty. There’s plenty of time to have children in the traditional way.”

  “Only thirty? There’s not even a boyfriend in the wings. Besides, you don’t know what it’s like to long for a family all your life and never even have so much as a cousin to turn to.” She knew better than to try to explain her reasons. No one could understand the guard she’d placed around her heart unless they’d lived her life.

  His brow creased in a frown. “I tried to find your family.”

  “I know you did.”

  All he’d discovered was her mother, Lisa Taylor, had died moments after Harper’s birth. Oliver had never been able to discover her father’s name. Harper still had unpleasant memories of her grandmother, who had cared for Harper until she was eight before dying of a drug overdose at fifty. Hard as those years were, her grandmother’s neglect had been better than the foster homes where Harper had landed.

  This embryo adoption was going to change her life.

  “I’ll get the car.”

  She nodded and stepped outside into a beautiful February day that lacked the usual Florida humidity. Oliver drove under the porte cochere, and she climbed into his white Mercedes convertible. He’d put the top down, and the sound of the wind deterred further conversation as he drove her home.

  He parked along the road by the inlet where she’d anchored her houseboat. “Want me to stay awhile?”

  She shook her head. “I’m going to lie on the top deck in the sunshine and read a book. I’ll think happy thoughts and try not to worry.”

  His white teeth flas
hed in an approving smile. “Sounds like a great idea.”

  She held his gaze. “You’ve always been there for me, Oliver. From the first moment Ridge dragged me out of the garage with his new sleeping bag in my hands. How did you see past the angry kid I was at fifteen?”

  He shrugged and stared at the ground. “I’d just given my kids everything they could possibly want for Christmas, and they’d looked at the gifts with a cursory thank-you that didn’t feel genuine. Willow was pouting about not getting a car. Then there you were. I looked in your eyes and saw the determination I’d felt myself when I was growing up poor in Alabama. I knew in that moment I had to help you or regret it for the rest of my life.”

  Tears burned her eyes. “You’ve done so much—making sure I had counseling, tutoring, a job, college. All of it would have been out of reach if not for you.”

  He touched her cheek. “You did me proud, Harper. Now go rest. Call me if you need me.”

  She blinked back the tears and waggled her fingers at him in a cheery good-bye, then got out and walked down the pier to where the Sea Silk bobbed in the waves. A pelican tipped its head to gawk at her, then flapped off on big wings. When she got closer to her houseboat, she slowed to a stop. The door to the cabin had been wrenched off. Someone had broken in.

  She opened her purse to grab her phone to call the police, and then her gut clenched. She’d left her phone in the boat cabin. She’d have to go aboard to report the break-in. Could the intruder still be there?

  She looked around and listened to the wind through the mangroves. There was no other sound, but she felt an ominous presence, and fear rippled down her back. She reversed course and went to her SUV parked in a small pull-off nearby. She’d drive into Dunedin and report it.