Forbidden Falls. Робин Карр

and the livelihood it offered. While he worked, he also studied—sometimes as a part-time student, sometimes full-time.

      His mother, too loyal and kindhearted to ever defy his father, stayed in touch and even visited. She wanted to give him money to assist with his education, but Noah refused. His mom met Merry only once and, for the first time in his life, Noah saw his mother weep with happiness that Noah should find a young woman so full of love and joy. Only two years later, his mother came, alone, to Merry’s funeral.

      Noah and his father had spoken only once in the past seventeen years and that was at his mother’s funeral a year ago. He had no desire to reconcile with Jasper. He considered it a matter of survival.

      Noah had been at his desk about an hour, trying to write up a schedule for himself but doing nothing but thinking and remembering, when he looked at his watch. Three o’clock. There wouldn’t be a crowd at Jack’s at this time of day and he thought maybe a cup of coffee was in order. He gave Lucy a pat on the head and promised to be back soon.

      When he walked into the bar, he was surprised to see Ellie Baldwin seated at a table not far from the empty hearth. A cup of coffee sat in front of her, her hands were folded in her lap and she gazed out the window. Instead of looking brassy and sexy, she looked a little lost. Noah lifted a hand in her direction, but she was deep in thought and didn’t even notice him. So he went up to the bar.

      “Hey, Noah,” Jack said.

      “What’s she doing here?” Noah asked.

      Jack shrugged. “Disappointed, I think. But what are you gonna do?” Jack put a mug in front of Noah and poured coffee without being asked.

      “Disappointed?” Noah asked.

      “She said she didn’t get the job.”

      “I said I’d get back to her about that,” Noah said.

      “Maybe that’s not what she heard, Noah.”

      “Hmm.” He took a sip of coffee. “How about two slices of pie, right over there.”

      “Sure thing,” Jack said.

      Noah migrated to Ellie’s table. He stood there until she looked up at him. Oh, man, he was in trouble. Her eyes were red rimmed and wet, her mascara a little smeared. Grant that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand. “You mind if I join you?” he asked.

      She straightened and her eyes immediately cleared and narrowed. She was one tough customer. “Knock yourself out,” she said coolly.

      He pulled out a chair and set his coffee cup in front of him. “You seem upset, Ellie. Was it something I said?”

      “It was something you didn’t say,” she replied.

      “Oh? What was that?”

      “You’re hired,” she said.

      “I thought I should give all the applicants a fair shot.”

      “Are you kidding me? I sat in my car outside waiting for my turn. I saw the other applicants—all two of them. One could barely get up the stairs; not a good bet for moving furniture. The other one had such a mean schnobble, she could break glass with her face.”

      “Schnobble?” he asked.

      “What my gramma used to call a sourpuss. Now, that’s a church lady, all right—if you’re looking for one as mean as a junkyard dog.”

      He laughed before he could reel it in. “Who knew you were checking out the competition.” Jack brought the pie, put it in front of them and got the heck out of there. Noah lifted a fork. “Pretty accurate, too. But I told you I’d get in touch.”

      “If you do, it’ll be to say I didn’t get the job.”

      He was quiet a moment, then he said, “Have some pie. Nobody makes pie like Preacher.”

      “Preacher? You made the pie?”

      “No, the cook—he goes by the nickname Preacher. That could lead to problems.” He nodded toward the plate. “Try it.”

      “Thanks,” she said. “I’m not hungry.”

      “Give it a chance, you’ll be amazed. And between bites, tell me why I don’t get the benefit of the doubt.”

      Slowly, reluctantly, she took a bite of blackberry pie. She chewed and swallowed, but clearly the ambrosia of Preacher’s pie was lost on her. After one bite, she put down the fork and her hands went back into her lap. Noah had to concentrate to focus on her eyes. That cleavage was killing him. “No hard feelings,” she said quietly. “I haven’t had much luck in the job market lately. I think it’s made me a little cranky.”

      “Well, what are you looking for?” he asked, digging into his pie.

      “Anything proper,” she said. “It’s like I said, it’s for my kids.”

      “And they’ll benefit from their mom having a proper job?”

      She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “Look, it’s kind of personal—my kids are going through a hard time. I don’t think I should talk about it. No way I want people to know all that stuff …”

      Noah considered this for a second and against his better judgment he said, “If you feel like talking about it, Ellie, you can trust me with a confidence.”

      “How can I be sure of that?” she asked with a lift of one eyebrow.

      He sat back and smirked. “I’m a minister. I took Secret Keeping 101.”

      “But you’re not my minister,” she reminded him. “It’s all pretty messy.”

      “And of course I never hear anything messy in this job,” he said sarcastically. “I don’t mean to pry. I was just offering you a chance to—”

      “I lost my kids,” she blurted. “My ex-husband filed for custody and got it. It shouldn’t have happened, but it did. I was dancing in a club where some of the girls take off their clothes sometimes.” She shrugged. “Not sometimes—all the time. They think the more they’re willing to take off, the better the tips, and that was usually true.” She swallowed and looked away, her eyes threatening to fill again. “My tips were about average.”

      “You were an exotic dancer?” he asked.

      She looked back at him. “There was nothing exotic about it.”

      Truthfully, she looked like someone who’d be more than comfortable taking it off. Noah was hardly shocked; while he was working his way through seminary, he had a casual little ministry down on the docks. His best customers were bums, strippers, homeless people, addicts and others.

      “Are they okay with their dad?” Noah asked with as much sensitivity as possible.

      The question got an instant reaction out of her. Her face became angry and hard, erasing some of the youthful beauty buried under too much makeup. “He’s not their dad. He was their stepdad for less than three months, and this isn’t about giving them a good life, it’s about holding them hostage. He wants me, that’s what he wants. I dated him for quite a while and I thought he was a nice, normal guy, but he’s not. He’s weird, abusive, mean and controlling, so we got out.

      “After we left him, I found myself a real nice setup—I rented half a duplex next to a great lady who could keep the kids at night while I worked. I needed the sitter, she needed the extra money and we had a good arrangement. She was super to the kids, they hardly knew I was gone. I fixed dinner and left at six, she got their baths, read with them and put them to bed, then she’d nod off on the couch till I got home. It was one of the first times I could afford both the rent and the babysitting on just one job. But Arnie wanted us back. He doesn’t like it when things don’t go his way. Taking my kids away from me was the only thing he could think of. He’s one of those people who has to be in charge all the time. In control.”