Books by Fern Michaels Fearless Spirit of the Season Deep Harbor Fate & Fortune Sweet Vengeance Holly and Ivy Fancy Dancer No Safe Secret Wishes for Christmas About Face Perfect Match A Family Affair Forget Me Not The Blossom Sisters Balancing Act Tuesday’s Child Betrayal Southern Comfort To Taste the Wine Sins of the Flesh Sins of Omission Return to Sender Mr. and Miss Anonymous Up Close and Personal Fool Me Once Picture Perfect The Future Scrolls Kentucky Sunrise Kentucky Heat Kentucky Rich Plain Jane Charming Lily What You Wish For The Guest List Listen to Your Heart Celebration Yesterday Finders Keepers Annie’s Rainbow Sara’s Song Vegas Sunrise Vegas Heat Vegas Rich Whitefire Wish List Dear Emily Christmas at Timberwoods The Sisterhood Novels: Bitter Pill Truth and Justice Cut and Run Safe and Sound Need to Know Crash and Burn Point Blank In Plain Sight Eyes Only Kiss and Tell Blindsided Gotcha! Home Free Déjà Vu Cross Roads Game Over Deadly Deals Vanishing Act Razor Sharp Under the Radar Final Justice Collateral Damage Fast Track Hokus Pokus Hide and Seek Free Fall Lethal Justice Sweet Revenge The Jury Vendetta Payback Weekend Warriors The Men of the Sisterhood Novels: Hot Shot Truth or Dare High Stakes Fast and Loose Double Down The Godmothers Series: Far and Away Classified Breaking News Deadline Late Edition Exclusive The Scoop E-Book Exclusives: Desperate Measures Seasons of Her Life To Have and To Hold Serendipity Captive Innocence Captive Embraces Captive Passions Captive Secrets Captive Splendors Cinders to Satin For All Their Lives Texas Heat Texas Rich Texas Fury Texas Sunrise Anthologies: Home Sweet Home A Snowy Little Christmas Coming Home for Christmas A Season to Celebrate Mistletoe Magic Winter Wishes The Most Wonderful Time When the Snow Falls Secret Santa A Winter Wonderland I’ll Be Home for Christmas Making Spirits Bright Holiday Magic Snow Angels Silver Bells Comfort and Joy Sugar and Spice Let it Snow A Gift of Joy Five Golden Rings Deck the Halls Jingle All the Way FERN MICHAELS NO WAY OUT www.kensingtonbooks.com All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected. Table of Contents Also by Title Page Copyright Page Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Chapter Thirty-three Epilogue This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book. KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018 Copyright © 2021 by Fern Michaels. Fern Michaels is a registered trademark of KAP 5, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews. The K logo is a trademark of Kensington Publishing Corp. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945439 ISBN: 978-1-4967-3118-0 First Kensington Hardcover Edition: April 2021 ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-3120-3 (ebook) ISBN-10: 1-4967-3120-4 (ebook) Chapter One Ellie Bowman knew that there were murmurs from the neighbors and cruel jokes from the kids on the next block, but it didn’t matter. It had been two years since the thirty-four-year-old had moved into the cottage at the end of Birchwood Lane. She was happy that it was located where it was—as far away from the rest of the houses on the block as possible. With each house sitting on a full acre, there was a comfortable distance between them. The homes were modest ranch-style houses built in the fifties. Thank goodness for Hector, her gardener, assistant, and friend. Without him, she would not have been able to look outside her window and see beautiful flowers. Without him, she wouldn’t have groceries, either. He knew the rules and respected her wishes. The only access he had to the house was to the rear porch, where he would deliver her packages and pick up her trash. The other thing she was grateful for was his willingness to clean up after Buddy, the black Labrador retriever she had rescued from the local shelter when she had moved to Hibbing. The fenced-in yard made it easy for Ellie to let him go out through his doggie doors to do his business and chase the squirrels around. Percy, her cat, couldn’t care less about going outdoors, which was a good thing. Ellie wouldn’t have let him out even if he wanted to go. Her seclusion was a comfort. It was better than the alternative. * * * Colleen Haywood lived down the street from Ellie with her eight-year-old son, Jackson. She was excited when she learned another woman was moving onto their street but was disappointed never to have met her. It had been two years, and the woman appeared to be a hermit. A total recluse. She had tried numerous times to get Ellie to come over for tea. She didn’t have Ellie’s phone number, so she would leave notes in her mailbox. In turn, Colleen would get a note back in her mailbox politely declining, saying she had a headache or was on a deadline. One afternoon, Colleen thought a personal invitation might do the trick, so she walked over to Ellie’s and rang the doorbell. Colleen was about to leave when she caught a glimpse of Ellie’s face as she moved across the living room. From the brief peek, Colleen saw that Ellie was pretty, with big
