Family in Hiding
TILL DEATH DO US PART?When her estranged husband Dylan's inadvertent dealings with a crime ring bring danger to her doorstep, Grace McIntyre has no choice but to follow him into the witness protection program. To safeguard her children, they must all go into hiding as one big happy family. Grace doesn't know what's worse–having to pretend she's in love with the man who betrayed her trust or keeping ahead of the killers. In hiding, Dylan is all that stands between their safety and certain death. Now more than ever, he wants to be the man that Grace once loved. Keeping his family alive is his only hope–to be a hero and a husband.
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TILL DEATH DO US PART?
When her estranged husband Dylanâs inadvertent dealings with a crime ring bring danger to her doorstep, Grace McIntyre has no choice but to follow him into the witness protection program. To safeguard her children, they must all go into hiding as one big happy family. Grace doesnât know whatâs worseâhaving to pretend sheâs in love with the man who betrayed her trust or keeping ahead of the killers. In hiding, Dylan is all that stands between their safety and certain death. Now more than ever, he wants to be the man that Grace once loved. Keeping his family alive is his only hopeâto be a hero and a husband.
âYou can either come with me and listen to what I have to say or get ready to be a widow.â
It took only minutes for Grace to get the entire family into the SUV. âWhere are we going?â she asked.
âSomeplace unusual. And public. Preferably with a crowd.â
âYouâre scaring me, Dylan.â
âGood. That makes two of us.â
The Botanical Gardens, he thought. There were enough people to provide anonymity. And plenty of places to hide. Dylan sincerely hoped it wouldnât come to that.
He looked over at his wife. Watching her, he could barely breathe. Look what heâd hadâand let slip away. Grace was one of a kind. Of all the mistakes heâd made, losing her had been the worst.
Grace was a sensible woman. Sheâd see why his futureâand hersâdepended on the choices he was about to make.
Now wasnât the time to reveal how much danger he was preparing to face. The less she knew about that, the safer sheâd be.
* * *
VALERIE HANSEN
was thirty when she awoke to the presence of the Lord in her life and turned to Jesus. In the years that followed, she worked with young children, both in church and secular environments. She also raised a family of her own and played foster mother to a wide assortment of furred and feathered critters.
Married to her high school sweetheart, she now lives in an old farmhouse she and her husband renovated with their own hands. She loves to hike the wooded hills behind the house and reflect on the marvelous turn her life has taken. Not only is she privileged to reside among the loving, accepting folks in the breathtakingly beautiful Ozark mountains of Arkansas, she also gets to share her personal faith by telling the stories of her heart for all the Love Inspired Books lines.
Life doesnât get much better than that!
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
âMark 10:14
To my Joe, who will always be looking over my shoulder as I write.
He was an extraordinary gift from God.
Contents
ONE
âHello? Hello?â
Disgusted, Grace McIntyre slammed down the receiver. âNot funny, Dylan.â
The annoying phone calls had been so prevalent lately she was thinking of changing her home number. If she hadnât figured that the harassment was coming from her soon-to-be ex-husband, she might have already done so.
She stared out the kitchen window, wistfully watching their children playing in the sunny backyard. At ten, Kyle was the eldest and had clearly been asserting more dominance over his three-year-old brother, Brandon, since Dylan had packed his personal belongings and moved out of the family home for good.
âIt wasnât my fault,â Grace murmured, desperately yearning to convince herself sheâd had no choice but to file for divorce once sheâd discovered Dylanâs sinister character.
Her gaze rested on seven-year-old Beth, their middle child. The pretty little red-haired girl had grown so moody and weepy Grace was at a loss. Not that Beth was the only one shedding tears over the breakup of the McIntyre marriage. The difference was Grace had done her grieving in private, hoping to protect the childrenâs tender emotions.
âApparently, I havenât done a very good job,â she told herself with a sigh.
The estrangement had not been sudden. She and Dylan had been drifting apart for a long time before sheâd felt the undeniable need to act. If the problem had been another woman in her husbandâs life, Grace believed she could have coped. But it wasnât. Dylan worshipped the god of money, of privilege, and would do anything to succeed, even if his actions meant others had to sufferâas she had sadly learned.
She dried her hands on a tea towel and turned from the window. Being personally neglected was nothing compared to facing the painful truth about her husbandâs underhanded business practices. His lack of remorse over what he had done had revealed Dylanâs true colors and had broken her heart. The man was bright. Clever. There was no way he could have been handling the paperwork for shady adoptions and pushed through falsified documents without realizing exactly what was going on.
