Read Drake Sisters 02 - The Twilight Before Christmas for Free Online Page A

publisher smooth the way for me. I don’t have to ask for a thing, it’s al done for me. Matthew is like al of you. He throws himself into life and lives every moment. He’s a born hero, riding to the rescue, carrying out the wounded on his back. He needs someone wil ing to do the same. I’m a born observer. Maybe that’s why I was given the ability to see into the shadows at times. A part of me is already there.”
    Hannah’s blue eyes fil ed with tears. “Don’t say that, Kate. Don’t ever say that.” She wrapped her arms around Kate and hugged her close, uncaring that a smal amount of tea splashed on her. “I didn’t know you felt that way. How could I not have known?”
    Kate hugged her hard. “Honey, don’t be upset for me. You don’t understand. I’m not distressed about it. My world is books. It always has been. I love words. I love living in my imagination. I don’t want to go climb a mountain. I love to study how it’s done. I love to talk to people who do it, but I don’t want the experience of it, the reality of it. My imagination provides a wonderful adventure without the risk or the discomfort.”
    “Katie,” Abbey protested.
    “It’s the truth. I’ve always been attracted to Matthew Granite, but I’m far too practical to make the mistake of believing anything could ever work between us. He runs wild. I remember him being right in the middle of every rough play in footbal both in high school and in col ege. He’s done so many crazy things, from serving as a Ranger to skydiving for the fun of it.” She shuddered. “I don’t even scuba dive. He goes whitewater rafting and rock climbing for relaxation. I read a good book. We aren’t in the least compatible, but I can stil think he’s hot.”
    “Are you certain you want to spend time with him?” Abbey asked.
    Kate shrugged. “What I want to do is to take a look at the mosaic and see if I can make out the shadows in the earth the way Hannah did.”
    “Maybe al three of us can figure out what is going on,” Hannah agreed. She fol owed Kate to the entryway, glancing over her shoulder at Abigail.
    “Doesn’t Joley sound beautiful? She sent us her Christmas CD. She said she might be able to make it home for Christmas.”
    “I hope so,” Abbey said. “Did El e or Libby cal ?”
    “Libby is in South America,” Hannah said.
    “I thought you said she was in the Congo,” Kate interrupted.
    Hannah laughed. “She was in the Congo, but they cal ed her to South America. She phoned right after the quake. Some smal tribe in the rain forest has some puzzling disease and they asked Libby to fly there immediately to help and of course she did. She said it wil be difficult, but no matter what, she’s coming home for Christmas. I think she needs to be with us. She sounded tired. Real y tired. I told her we would get together and see if we could send her some energy, but she said no. She told me to conserve our strength and be very careful,” Hannah reported.
    Abbey and Kate stopped walking abruptly. “Are you certain Libby doesn’t need us, Hannah?” Kate asked. “You know what can happen to her. She heals people in the worst of circumstances, and it thoroughly depletes her energy. Traveling those distances on top of it with little sleep won’t help.”

    “She said no,” Hannah reiterated. “I heard the weariness in her voice. She obviously needs to come home and regroup and rest, but I didn’t feel as if she was in a dangerous state.” She knelt on the floor at the foot of the mosaic her grandmother and her grandmother’s sisters had worked so hard to make.
    Relief swept through Kate. Libby always drove herself too hard, and her health suffered dramatical y for it. Libby was too smal , too slender, a fragile woman who pushed herself for others. Libby worked for the Center for Disease Control and traveled al over the globe. “We’l have to watch her,”
    Kate said softly, musing aloud.
    It was one of the best-loved talents of