The Forgiving Heart And A Daddy At Heart; The Forgiving Heart\A Daddy At Heart

by Deb Kastner

• ISBN13: 9780373652662
• ISBN10: 0373652666
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-08
• Publisher: Steeple Hill

Summary

The Forgiving Heart

The teenager police officer Callie Brockman had arrested appeared to be a good kid -- she sensed a similarly decent man lurked beneath his father's gruff exterior. And she longed to show them both the joy that a loving

Excerpts

The young man set his jaw, his throat corded with strain. Surprisingly dark eyebrows scrunched grimly over wide blue eyes, a shady contrast to his closely cropped golden-blond hair. Long, muscular arms with hands tightly fisted crossed over a chest just beginning to show a hint of breadth.He looked angry. Resentful. Bitter.Scared completely out of his wits. Officer Callie Brockman felt an unfamiliar wave of emotion she could only classify as maternal instinct, however misplaced and foreign.She quickly masked it with her usual armor, her way of getting by in the world. Anger.Fortunately, even that was easily hidden. Callie Brockman was an expert in concealing her true feelings. She'd learned early that it was best to reveal as little as possible about what she was thinking and feeling. Life was safer that way."What's the kid in for?" she asked Bobby, the middle-aged dispatcher sporting a paunch and a bald spot. She nodded toward the benched teenager, who had unfolded his arms and was clenching his hands together and glaring a hole in the floor.Who, she wondered, could leave a youth to fend for himself like this, though her acrimony didn't show in her tone. Unfortunately, she had a pretty good guess about the boy's parents, or lack of them. She just hadn't expected to deal with this so soon.Not in such a small town. Why had she moved to John Day, Oregon, if not to slow down and find a more deliberate way of life?Bobby stretched back in his oversize office chair and ruffled the short, spiked ends of his black hair -- what was left of it, anyway -- with the tips of his fingers. "Shoplifting. Classic case.""Yeah?" As the newest police officer on the force, it was her job to take on the juvies. She shook her head in reluctant acceptance of this part of her job. It was unavoidable, she knew, but still...This was only her second night on the job, and already, aclassiccase to handle. She sighed under her breath.Couldn't she have gone for at least a week without aclassiccase? She'd hoped for better in a small town, having come from fast-paced, crime-ridden Portland where juvenile crime was at an all-time high.But this wasn't Portland. Everyone knew everyone in John Day, most from several generations. More than likely, she'd met this kid's parents already; if not at the post office, then perhaps in line at the grocery store or the local deli.If somehow she'd missed out on meeting them already, though, the slight was about to be remedied, and not in pleasant circumstances, either. It wasn't a thought she wished to dwell on, so she turned to the paperwork Bobby shoved at her.She ran down the teen's file in short order. There wasn't much to see.Brandon Wheeler. Sixteen. First time offender.Wheeler. The name sounded familiar, though she couldn't immediately place it."Oh, man," said Bobby, whistling under his breath. "His old man's going to pitch a fit when he finds out about this." He punctuated his sentence with a negative grunt."Wheeler?" she asked, hoping he'd clue her in. The more she knew about this kid's parents, the easier processing the criminal would go. And as far as Callie was concerned, the easier, the better. She wasn't big on tough cases."Everett Wheeler. Goes by Rhett. Community service agent," Bobby supplied.Rhett Wheeler.That'swhere she'd heard the name before. The kid in question was the son of the community service agent.It figured. It just figured.Bad luck followed her around like a little black rain cloud hovering directly over her head. She'd hoped changing locales would help her lose the shady veil, but obviously she'd been mistaken.A woman couldn't run from herself. Her gaze returned to the young man slouching on the bench, looking increasingly miserable with every tick of the clock. She could only imagine what had gone through that boy's mind, what would prompt a handsome kid like Brandon Wheeler to break the law.Actually, sh