Keeping Katie (A Mother's Heart #1) Read Online Free Page B

read it in her eyes. “What part of Chicago?”
    She didn’t answer immediately but finished cutting Katie’s turkey into small bites, then turned and smiled. “Are you familiar with Chicago, Sheriff?”
    “Alan.”
    “Pardon me?”
    “Call me Alan.” He smiled, wondering how hard it would be to break down all those walls she kept throwing up. The question intrigued him. Though, he told himself, it was only because he wanted to know who Maureen Adams really was. “And no, I’ve never been to Chicago.”
    “Oh.” She seemed nonplussed for a moment, glancing quickly at Katie before continuing. “Well, I grew up in a neighborhood on the north shore of Lake Michigan. Later, my husband and I moved to Champagne, near the university.”
    “Were you in school there?”
    “Yes.” She took a bite of her own dinner and turned back to Katie. She fussed over the child for a moment, though it seemed to Alan that Katie was doing fine all by herself.
    “Alan went to college, too,” interjected Rita.
    “Now, Aunt Rita …” He didn’t want to change the subject. He wanted to keep Maureen talking.
    “He graduated at the top of his class,” Rita continued.
    “Really.” Maureen turned questioning eyes toward him. “What did you study?”
    He frowned at Rita—who only smiled in return—before answering. “Criminology.”
    Maureen’s face registered her surprise. “Criminology? How interesting.” She reached for her water glass and took a sip. “Was that a job requirement for becoming sheriff?”
    Before he could answer, Rita answered for him. “Of course not. He planned on going to law school.”
    “Rita …” Alan put a gentle warning in his voice, knowing as he did that she would ignore it. They’d been through this before, countless times.
    “You should have gone.” Rita reached across the table and patted his hand. “You would have made a good lawyer.”
    He smiled warmly at her and took her small, birdlike hand in his own. “I’m happy here. Besides, I’m a good
sheriff.”
    “If you ask me, you’re too hard-nosed,” interjected Millie.
    “Hard-nosed?” Alan released Rita’s hand and turned toward Millie.
    “I’m talking about that Simmons boy, and how you ousted him from town yesterday.”
    “I didn’t
oust
him from town …” How had the conversation taken such a sharp turn? It seemed to Alan they’d been talking about Maureen. He’d been trying to find out something about her. Now here they were, suddenly talking about his choice of careers and Joey Simmons.
    “Sure looked that way to me,” Millie said, addressing Rita. “Took Joey’s keys and had one of the deputies drive the boy home.”
    Alan sighed. “Millie, he was driving without a license, and this is not the first time.”
    “From what I hear, that boy keeps his family afloat.” Millie still wasn’t talking directly to Alan. “Raising young Tom with no help from his pa. They’d probably all starve otherwise.”
    “They wouldn’t starve.”
    “I feel so sorry for those boys,” said Rita. “I never did care for their father. And then he married that young girl. Well, I don’t blame her for running off like she did. But leaving those two babies …”
    “Everyone feels sorry for them,” said Alan, turning back to his aunt. “But that doesn’t make it right for Joe to break the law.”
    “No, but something should be done,” Rita insisted.
    Alan understood his aunt’s concern. He’d thought the same thing himself. He wanted to help those boys, especially Joey, before it was too late. But he didn’t know how. Shifting his gaze to Maureen, he realized she’d been following the conversation with interest.
    He sighed. “Okay, Rita. If it will make you feel better, I’ll go out and talk to old man Simmons. Other than that, there’s not much I can do. Meanwhile, I doubt if Maureen is interested in Joey and his father.”
    “Oh, but I am.” In fact, she looked very pleased to be talking about something other