"Guardin a witness."

"Well, I hope you enjoy yourself."

Bitterness entered on the next wave.

It didn't take long, Graham thought.

"Your work always did come first."

His hand tightened slightly on the receiver.

Here it came.

"Not before Jake," he said honestly.

He wasn't about to lie to her.

That wasn't the way he was going to keep Jake, telling her lies.

While he had cared about Celia, he had never loved her, never told her that he did.

In the beginning, she'd been a warm body to soothe his troubled soul.

In time, even the caring had dissolved.

Celia took the opening.

"About Jake-" Yes, about Jake.

"You can't have him," he said flatly.

"End of discussion."

Celia didn't see it that way.

"Things have changed for me, Graham. I know I went through a rootless period, but I know who I am now."

She had abandoned a small boy, hurt him without giving it a single thought while she went on a quest to find her inner self.

It was a bunch of garbage."I'm glad for you," he said coolly, "but you still can't have him." Awave of anxiety entered her voice. Her words rushed at him, assaultinghis ear." I'm married 'again, Gray.

I'm Mrs. Shephard now.Rob is a wonderful man.Rich, too." Graham knew how much money meant to her. Celia had always thrown their financial situation in his face, angry that she was denied the finer things in life because he refused to leave himself open to bribes. Because he took pride in being an honest cop.

She had chafed that there was never extra money for vacations or to buy the larger house she had set her heart on.

In the end, she had walked out over that as much as anything.

She wanted something else, something better, she had said.

That didn't include him, or their son.

"That must make you very happy," he said dryly.

"It would, if I had Jake."

She was in a materna lasted all of a year, until the adoption had been finalized.

I mode again.

The last time it had Then, inexplicably, Celia seemed to lose interest in Jake.

Graham had taken over grudgingly, doing for the boy.

The love that had always eluded him he found mirrored in the boy's deep

brown eyes.

He wasn't about to give that up.

"That didn't seem to be on your mind when you left."

Celia knew she had made mistakes and was willing to admit to them.

But not be stopped by them.

"I was confused.

I didn't know what I wanted.

I 'And now you do.

" There was no mistaking the sarcasm in his voice." Enjoy what you

have, Celia.

"Leave us alone.

"I want Jake," she cried stubbornly, her voice rising in the phone.

He had been taken in once, when she had pleaded and begged him to agree

to the adoption.

He knew better than to go down that same path again.

"So you can play mother until you get tired of it again?"

"It's not like that anymore. I can give him things, things you

can't.

A good education, a stable life. A place in the community."

'the last had been a dig and they both knew it.

He wasn't going to let her bait him.

His temper was a fearsome thing when he lost it and he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of goading him.

"He has a place in the community. As my son."

Her voice rose, growing more reedy.

"You know I can't have any more children."

If he had had any compassion for her, it had died a long time ago-when

he had found Jake crying because Celia had left him.

"Adopt. You did it before."

His cold tone enraged her.

"I'll see you in court if I have to."@ As soon as he had heard her

voice, Graham had known it would come down to this. Celia indulged in theatrics when it suited her. She probably even believed that she wanted Jake back. For now." Then I guess you'll just have to.

He hung up before she could raise her voice again.

Discussions with Celia in the last years of their marriage always ended on the same note.

She would scream at him and he would become silent, walking away.

There was no purpose in arguing.

Celia never came around to see his side in anything.

Graham strode out from behind the curtain.

Caitlin wasn't more than two feet away.

Their eyes met.

She didd't bother pretending that she was busy arranging a display.

"Trouble at home?"

He lifted a shoulder and let it fall.

"In a manner of speaking."

He didn't feel like going into it.

If Caitlin hadn't run away when she had, he would never have met

Celia.

But then, he would never have had Jake in his life, either, so he supposed it evened out.

There was distress in his eyes.

She saw it a moment before he blanketed it.