One Man's Family. Brenda Harlen

to survive without the oppressive environment crushing his spirit.

      Joe had always been a kind person, a gentle soul, a dreamer. He believed the best in people and always looked on the bright side, even when life threw him a curveball. And life had thrown him a lot of those, starting with Yvette’s unexpected pregnancy when they were both barely out of high school.

      Joe had immediately proposed, wanting to marry her and give their baby a family. He hadn’t listened to the naysayers who’d warned of the difficult road ahead because he’d believed that their love was strong enough to triumph over whatever obstacles they might face.

      And for a while, it looked as though he was right. Joe Jr. was born seven months after they married, then Lia came along four years later. During that time, Joe had worked two and three jobs to provide for his young family. When Yvette started making noises about feeling restless, Joe had done everything he could to make her happy, fought with everything he had to keep their marriage together. In the end, he’d let her go because it was what was best for their children.

      Yvette had broken Joe’s heart. Alicia knew it because she’d been there for him when his world was falling apart and when he’d started to put it back together again.

      She’d been the first person he called when he was hired by Russo’s Dirt Devils Racing Team. He’d been as excited as a kid, thrilled with the challenges and opportunities the job would present, and overjoyed to have a steady paycheck that would keep Lia in ballet slippers and allow him to get Joey that computer he’d been eyeing.

      He’d worked hard for and with the team. He’d taken pride in their accomplishments while continuing to look ahead at what they could do to perform even better. And he’d been thrilled to be part of their secret project.

      There was no way he would have compromised the work. No way he would ever have stolen the prototype or the plans. And she was furious that anyone who knew her brother could even suspect him of such crimes.

      The injustice of it all continued to gnaw away at her as she moved over to the table she’d started to think of as her “usual” table and sat in the hard wooden chair waiting for the door at the other end of the room to open.

      A few minutes later it finally did, and Joe was led inside.

      He looked tired, was her first thought, and thin. He’d lost weight in the few weeks he’d been incarcerated, weight that he couldn’t afford to lose from his already slender frame. And the color had faded from his cheeks, leaving his skin pale, almost pasty.

      He was little more than a shadow of the vibrant man she loved so dearly, and it broke her heart to see him like this after only five weeks in jail. How could he possibly survive five years?

      “Hey, Ali.” He managed a smile when she rose to give him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before returning to her seat in accordance with the strictly enforced rules of visitation. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

      But she could tell that he was pleased by her visit, grateful for the interruption of his mundane routine.

      “I’m on my lunch break so I can’t stay long,” she told him. “But there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

      “Are the kids okay?” he asked, immediately concerned.

      “Joey and Lia are fine,” she said quickly, anxious to reassure him even while she recognized the falseness of her assurance.

      Of course they weren’t fine—they were going through hell trying to deal with the repercussions of their father being in jail. On the other hand, there wasn’t any kind of medical emergency that she suspected Joe was worried about.

      “Okay.” He exhaled shakily. “Good.”

      “How about you, Joe?” she asked gently. “Are you okay?”

      “Sure,” he responded, though not very convincingly.

      “I’m worried about you.”

      “Don’t,” he said. “Worrying about me in here isn’t going to change anything.”

      “I know,” she admitted. “But I can’t help it. And I can’t help feeling guilty for living my life while yours has been put on hold.”

      “Joey and Lia are my life, Ali. And because of you, they’re able to move on with their lives. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’re there for them.”

      “It would mean more to them to have their father with them.”

      He winced as the barb struck home. “Dammit, Ali. You know this wasn’t my choice.”

      “Then why didn’t you testify, Joe? Why didn’t you take the stand to tell your side of the story?”

      “Haven’t we been through this already?”

      “Not really, because you always refused to answer the question.”

      “Telling my side of the story wouldn’t have changed anything,” he told her. “Not without proof that someone else took those plans.”

      “Then that’s what we’re going to find.”

      “What are you talking about?” he asked warily.

      “I’ve hired a private investigator.”

      “Why?”

      She was stunned. “Because you shouldn’t be locked up for a crime you didn’t commit.”

      “The jury convicted me,” he reminded her.

      “Because the jury didn’t have all of the evidence.”

      “Let it go, Ali.”

      She frowned. “I thought you’d be pleased by this.”

      “I’ll be pleased when my sentence is over and I can be home with my family again.”

      “Well, hopefully Scott Logan will make that happen sooner rather than later.”

      “Who?”

      “The investigator I hired on the recommendation of your lawyer,” she told him.

      “Jordan gave you his name?”

      She nodded. “Because he believes, as I do, that you were wrongly convicted.”

      “I can’t afford a private investigator,” Joe said softly.

      “Have I asked you for any money?”

      “You can’t afford it, either,” he reminded her. “You’ve got your courses to pay for.”

      As if she could go to medical school while she was working full-time and caring for her brother’s children. Maybe becoming a doctor was her lifelong dream, but she could hardly pursue her own self-interests while her family was in such turmoil.

      “He wants to meet with you,” she said, ignoring his comment.

      Joe didn’t say anything.

      “Which means that you need to put him on your visitor list.”

      “I don’t see what good it will do. I can’t tell him anything that I haven’t already told you.”

      “Will you do it anyway?” she asked softly. “Please.”

      He sighed. “I’ll do it, but not because I think he’ll actually find anything. Only because you do so much and ask for so little in return.”

      She managed a smile. “Thank you.”

      She didn’t care about his reasons so long as she got the results she wanted, and she was trusting Scott Logan to get them for her.

      Joe felt his cheeks burn with shame as he walked away from the table where Alicia remained sitting. Prison rules required that visitors stay seated while the inmate was returned to his cell. He hated her seeing him like this,