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“Yeah, I’m sorry if I upset you.”
Poor guy was meeting himself coming and going.
“I was just trying—”
“I could kiss you!”
Jason’s head flew up, his eyes meeting hers, his eyebrows arched in that quizzical look she remembered so well, his lips shockingly close to her own.
“I mean—”
He laughed. “I know what you mean.”
Did he?
Did she?
A nurse bustled in, laptop in hand, to check vitals and O2 sats. Jason stepped outside to give them some privacy and she was thankful for the interruption.
What was going on with her? He’d left. He didn’t want to stay in North Carolina forever and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. And while she understood his reasons, she had to admit she’d harbored the hope that maybe she would be enough of a reason to stay.
But she hadn’t been.
Just because he was home now didn’t mean he was home for good. He would be busy for the next several years helping care for his dad. When the inevitable came and duty wasn’t tying him down anymore, would he bolt?
History said yes.
The nurse left and Jason returned. Henry had dozed off by her side, and everyone had agreed to let him sleep.
“We need to talk.”
“Okay.” Could he tell how his presence messed with her?
“Your CO detectors didn’t go off.”
Oh. He wanted to talk about that. Of course he did. It was his job. So why had her heart sunk at his words?
“I noticed that.”
“Your water heater was tampered with. The level of CO in the house was significantly higher than it should have been.”
Her heart sank further. “Not an accident.”
He shrugged. “If you hadn’t caught the intruder, it would have looked like an accident. The tampering isn’t obvious. Just a loose vent. The gas company guys apologized all over themselves. Said they couldn’t understand how it happened.”
“But they don’t know about my visitor.”
“Exactly.”
“So what happens now? Can I go home? Should I go home?”
Jason couldn’t meet her gaze.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
He shifted from one foot to the other and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Don’t get mad, but I called your brother.”
“Great. He’s probably already called Mom and Dad.” Caroline exhaled. “I didn’t want them to worry.”
“Like they wouldn’t want to know?”
She glared at him, hoping he could feel her displeasure burning from her retinas. “What did Blake say?”
“He tracked down Heidi.”
“That didn’t take long.”
“I gather they have a system of some sort.” He frowned at her. “Speaking of which, why did you call me?”
Heat flooded her cheeks. “I knew you were minutes away.”
“Why not go to your front porch and yell at the officers sitting in your driveway?”
He wasn’t going to let this go, was he? She didn’t have a good answer.
“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” she said. “I was afraid to leave Henry and I was afraid to get too far away from the bathroom.”
He studied her longer than was comfortable, and she knew he hadn’t fully accepted her response. Time to change the subject.
“So you spoke to Heidi?”
“Yeah. She said she’d call a friend. He’s not far from here and he’s going to come give your place a once-over. She doesn’t want you to stay there until he’s done.”
Awesome. Heidi’s definition of once-over probably meant pulling up the floors and tearing out the walls.
“I was able to convince her that we have things under control, but I won’t be surprised if we wind up with some random FBI agents popping in and out.”
Caroline blew out a breath. “I guess I should thank you again.”
He winked, and her breath caught. “You may not be thanking me when you hear the rest of our plan.”
“The plan?”
“I thought you could hang out with my mom and dad while you’re waiting for your house to be cleared.”
Caroline fidgeted. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? It looks like someone is trying to kill me. I should probably go to a deserted island, not hang out with your parents.”
“Nonsense.” Jason didn’t seem as worried as he should be.
“I can’t put your parents at risk. If anything happened to them—”
His hand on hers stopped her. “I’ve already talked to them. They understand what’s going on, and they want you to come. Mom says she hasn’t seen Henry in far too long.”
“But—”
“Caroline. Dad’s still a good shot.”
She dropped her head in defeat. “I wasn’t thinking that at all.” Jason’s dad had been a sniper. ALS would eventually rob him of the ability to hold a rifle, but at this point, he could probably outshoot 98 percent of the population.
“I know you weren’t. He’s been cleaning his rifle since I called. He’s ready for anything. And whoever is after you would have no reason to expect you to be there.”
“Jason, I go to your parents’ at least once a month.”
“Heidi and I discussed that, but your visits are random and not something anyone would be able to use to target you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
FIVE (#u6fc7dc54-6373-5bd8-b88a-1e8a31c54c99)
At 1:00 p.m., Jason loaded Caroline and Henry into his car.
“Where’d you get the car seat?” Caroline strapped Henry in with practiced moves.
“Michael. He brought it from your house.”
Caroline didn’t respond. Had he upset her? “He was still there, so I asked him to grab it so we could get the little guy home.” He pointed to a bag in the backseat. “He grabbed a bunch of clothes and diapers, too.”
“That was very thoughtful.” She laughed, a harsh sound with no humor in it. “To think that this time yesterday my biggest worry was if I’d allocated enough to the college fund I set up for this little guy.” He saw the muscles in her jaw working overtime. “And now, I’m praying I can keep him alive until his second birthday.” Her voice cracked on the last word, but when she looked up at him, no tears had broken free. She closed Henry’s door. “You ready?”
“Almost.”
He opened the passenger door for her. “There’s one thing I’ve learned from combat.” Her eyes filled with curiosity and concern. “You can’t keep anyone alive.”
She slumped in defeat and slid into the seat. He closed the door and leaned into the open window. “I’m not saying we don’t do everything we can, but you have to let go of this feeling of accountability. You couldn’t have kept Stephanie alive, and ultimately you can’t keep Henry alive. Or yourself. Or me. Or anyone else you care about.”
“Is this little speech supposed to be making me feel better? ’Cause it’s not working.”
He gripped the door. “It is supposed to help, actually. We can walk confidently into the next day, not because we’ve figured everything out and have thwarted the bad guys, but because we know the One who knows what they are up to. We walk confidently because we know He will help us.”
Caroline looked away from him and spoke, so low he barely heard the words. “He didn’t help Stephanie.”
Ouch. A little help here, Father?
He walked around to the driver’s seat and took his time buckling in. She continued to stare out the window as they pulled away from the curb.
“I lost friends in Afghanistan.”
Her head whipped back to him. “I’m sorry.”
The things this woman could make him do. He didn’t talk about Afghanistan. Ever. But here he was talking about his darkest times. “When you head out on a patrol and you don’t know if you’ll be back for dinner, you have to dig deep to find the strength to follow orders and do your job. But when your friends don’t make it home for dinner, you have to look outside of yourself to find any meaning in it.”
Caroline sat ramrod straight beside him. He could barely tell if she was breathing.
“While God is Sovereign, we also live in a fallen world. One where wars happen. Where evil men come after babies.” He couldn’t keep the disgust from his voice. “We have to trust He is working all things for ultimate good.”
Even as he said the words, his mind flashed to his dad. The grim future he faced with grace, dignity and undaunted faith.
“I don’t know why God allowed any of this. For Steph to fall in love with a guy who apparently got mixed up in some shady stuff. For her to get pregnant and leave the guy. For her to die. For her to leave you her baby. And now for someone to want either you or Henry, or both of you, out of the picture.”
Caroline took an audible breath but didn’t interrupt him as he continued.
“I do know He’s not confused or surprised, and He will help us.”
“I want to believe that,” she said. “I really do.”
He reached over, palm up. Would she take it?
She stared at his hand for a few moments, then laced her fingers through his. A long-dormant piece of his heart started throbbing. “I’ll believe for both of us until you get there.”
She squeezed his hand and turned to stare out the window. He assumed she didn’t want him to see her face. Which was fine. He still had her hand in his, and he kept it until they pulled into his parents’ driveway.
His mom was waiting for them, wearing a grin that stretched from one end of the front porch to the other. She bounded down the two steps and had Caroline wrapped in a bear hug before he could get around the car.
“Sweet girl, let’s get you and your precious one inside. There’s a bite in the air.”
Caroline laughed. “Mama Drake, you would say there’s a bite in the air if it was seventy degrees outside.”
Caroline had Henry out of the car seat, and his mom grabbed him. “There’s my handsome man. Henry, you’ve put on at least five pounds since you were here last. Let’s get you some cookies so we can keep those numbers going!”
Jason trailed behind his mom and Caroline. His dad leaned against the porch rail, watching the procession. Their eyes met and he knew what his dad was thinking.
Could feel his mom’s joy.
They’d always loved Caroline. Always dreamed of the day he’d bring her home as so much more than a friend.
Pretty sure they’d never imagined the time he’d bring her home along with her baby as the victims of a crime in need of protective custody.
But looking at the two of them—his mom cooing and his dad helping Henry give him a little fist bump—he wondered if they cared what the circumstances were.
She was here.
He was here.
For now.
* * *
