Colters Leagacy 01.5 - Colters Wife

Now you better get to your station before I open the doors. Looks like we have a lot of folks lined up to eat today.”
    “Yes ma’am,” he said with a grin.
    “See?” Craig said. “She’s a complete slave driver.”
    Feeling lighter than he had in a while, Seth tied on the white chef’s apron and walked behind the buffet to stand in front of the baked chicken.
    “Smells good, Margie. Who did you harangue into catering for you this time?” Seth asked.
    She grinned. “I called in a favor. Or two.”
    He laughed. Margie Walker was simply good people. She was a surrogate mother to many, but beneath the good-as-gold exterior lay a hard-driving woman who didn’t think twice about leaning on people to help her causes. Her pet project was Margie’s Place. Simply named but it was appropriate. Every day, rain or shine, she opened her doors to the homeless and she always had enough food to feed as many as filtered through her doors. No one was entirely sure how she managed it, but she always did.
    His precinct routinely volunteered and they worked in shifts. Seth and five others came in once a month to serve, although for him it had been three months since he’d last been in.
    “Okay guys, I’m opening up,” Margie called as she walked over to the doors.
    For the next two hours, a steady stream of people came through the line. Workers from the kitchen brought out more food as soon as the trays emptied, and the guys dished it up.
    The flow had dwindled when Seth looked up to see the most startling pair of blue eyes he’d ever seen in his life. In the process of extending the pair of tongs with a piece of chicken, he stared in shock at the woman standing in front of him, small hands gripped tightly around the dinner tray.
    There was something infinitely fragile about her and equally arresting. His gut tightened, and for a moment he forgot to breathe. Or maybe he was unable to.
    Dressed in a shabby, worn sweater and a pair of jeans so faded they were nearly white, the woman stared back at him, wispy midnight curls escaping the knit cap she wore.
    She was beautiful. And haunting. Her gaze looked wounded and faint smudges rimmed her eyes. A fierce surge of protectiveness welled up inside him, baffling him.
    Her fingers tightened around the tray, and she started to move forward without the chicken he still held in the air like an idiot. He thrust it forward onto her plate.
    Then she smiled, and it took what little breath he had left and squeezed it painfully from his lungs.
    “Thank you,” she said sweetly.
    She moved down the line as a man moved into the spot where she’d stood and looked expectantly at Seth. Still staring after the woman, Seth slapped the next piece of chicken on the man’s tray and wondered what the hell had just happened here.
    He watched as she sat away from the others, finding a corner where there were only two chairs at a tiny table that looked out a window.
    “Hey, snap out of it.”
    Seth turned to see Craig standing beside him, his apron in hand.
    “Margie’s ordering us to stand down and eat. Grab a plate and join us. She has one of the kitchen workers taking over the line in case we have any stragglers.”
    Feeling anything but hungry, Seth fixed a plate and followed his friends to a table on the far side of the room. There wasn’t a lot of talking going on. Most of the people ate in silence, though there were a few conversations from some of the regulars who knew each other or hung out together on the streets.
    He positioned himself so he could see the woman and tuned out the rest of the goings-on so he could watch her and take in every detail he could.
    She ate daintily and never looked up or made eye contact with any of the others. When she wasn’t looking down at her food she fixed her gaze out the window, watching the people pass on the busy street. There was something wistful about her stare, and again, that protective surge came roaring to the surface.
    “Who is she?” he blurted out.
    “Who is who?” Craig asked.
    Rob looked up and followed Seth’s gaze. “You mean her?”
    “Yeah, I haven’t seen her before but it’s been a few months. When did she start coming in?”
    Craig shrugged. “I haven’t seen her before. She wasn’t here last month. Maybe she’s new. Margie would know. She keeps up with everyone.”
    Seth frowned, not liking the tired look on the woman’s face. She was young, early twenties, far too young to be out on the streets. Spring in