The Sergeant's Unexpected Family

by Carrie Nichols

  Brody nodded, picturing Tavie taking on Ogle’s detractors. “Sounds like she was pretty supportive.”

  “On the drive home, she scolded me the whole way for not writing to her enough and for not tellin’ her when I was gettin’ home.”

  “How’d she know when to expect you?”

  “She didn’t. Just showed up every damn day and waited.” Ogle touched Brody’s shoulder. “She don’t know how to love any other way, son.”

  Brody pulled away. “Maybe I don’t want all these people loving me.”

  “The way I see it, you ain’t got much choice.” Ogle chewed on his toothpick. “People gonna love you, whether you want it or not.”

  * * *

  Brody pushed his chair back and grabbed his mug of coffee, swearing when the hot liquid sloshed onto the table. He’d clean up the spill later. Two days had passed since the fire, and he couldn’t stay in his kitchen one moment longer. Truth was, this was where he felt Mary’s absence most. He missed watching her bustling around cooking breakfast or sitting there feeding Elliott. He missed their happy chatter. His gut twisted at the thought of all the meals he’d be eating alone from now on. No more sharing the day’s activities while they ate supper. No quiet discussions over coffee and a piece of pie.

  He pushed open the front door and stepped onto the porch and saw the bottle cap on the top step.

  He kicked the token of appreciation off with his foot. “Son of a—”

  A furious squawking from high in a tree cut him off.

  “Get it through your head, bird. Mary. Is. Gone. Gone...as in not coming back.” He swore. Could he get any lower? Yelling at a damn bird. His shoulders slumped, and he dropped onto the steps and sat staring at his feet as if he’d find the answers in his scuffed and dusty boots.

  A crow landed in the dirt a few yards away from the bottom step. Hopping over, the bird picked up the bottle cap and strutted back and forth across the cracked sidewalk with the present in its beak.

  The bottle cap landed next to his right boot. Brody looked up and barked out a mirthless laugh. “Haven’t you been listening?”

  The crow tilted its head and stared at him.

  “What?” Brody scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I screwed up.”

  People gonna love you, whether you want it or not.

  The crow cawed and flew off, its wings flapping in the still air.

  “Same to you,” he called after the animal.

  He took a swig of coffee and grimaced at the cold and bitterness. How had he lost track of so much time? He swung the mug in an arc, dumping the rest, and turned to go back in the house. But Riley Cooper’s black pickup rumbled down the drive.

  Was Riley bringing Mary and Elliott back? Damn, but his heart skipped a beat at the thought. What a dumbass. Why would she come back with Riley? She had her own car. He should be glad she was gone. He had the place to himself again. No more tripping over baby stuff, no more sink full of baby bottles needing to be washed. Why couldn’t she wash them after she used them?

  Still, his shoulders slumped when it appeared Riley was alone.

  Riley pulled up in a spew of gravel and dust and cut the engine. He jumped out of the truck and walked up to the porch. “Hey, man.”

  Brody squinted at him. “Not you, too.”

  “Me, too, what?”

  “Here to talk some sense into me.”

  Riley hooted with laughter. “I don’t think that’s possible, Wilson.”

  Brody rolled his eyes.

  “Actually, I came for another reason.” Riley shrugged. “But since you asked for my advice...”

  “I didn’t ask—”

  “You’d be surprised what a good grovel can accomplish,” Riley continued as if Brody hadn’t spoken. “I didn’t think Meg was going to forgive me for all the times I messed up, but I figured I had nothing left to lose and everything to gain.”

  “How did you get her to forgive your sorry—”

  “Hey, do you want my advice or not? Because man, you look like—”

  “Okay, okay. Can we do this without the editorial observations?” Brody rubbed a hand over his face. He knew full well what he looked like because he couldn’t feel this bad and not have it show.

  “Just tell her you love her.”

  “That’s it?” Brody blew his breath out through his nose.

  “Women already know we’re gonna mess up...it’s programmed into our DNA, so no need for lengthy explanations. Just beg for forgiveness.”

  “And tell her I love her?”

  Riley held out his hands, palms up. “That’s it.”

  That sounded too easy and Brody tried to swallow the hope that threatened to bubble up. “Why did you really come? You said you had another reason.”

  “Mary asked me to come and get some of Elliott’s things.”

  What? She wouldn’t even come and get her own stuff? His gut churned. Yeah, no way a simple “I love you. Please forgive me” was gonna solve this. “Why didn’t Mary come?”

  Riley shrugged, making Brody want to body slam him for answers. “Said something about Elliott not feeling well.”

  “What?” Brody stiffened, his body on full alert. “What’s wrong with him?”

  Riley strolled to the back of the pickup to lower the tailgate. “Something about a head cold. Meg thinks it could be from cutting teeth. Said Fiona was the same way.”

  What if it was something more? “Has she taken him to see a doctor?”

  “Nah...says it’s not that serious.”

  “How can she be sure?” Brody hated feeling so helpless. He wanted to hit something. “Has she even called the doctor? Maybe she should—”

  Riley chuckled. “Calm down, man. There’s one thing I’ve learned. You gotta trust the mom. Intuition or something. I don’t know what kind of sh—stuff you went through in Delta Force, but I’m sure you learned to read situations and when to trust that feeling that told you when things were hinky.”

  “Hinky? Is that cop talk?”

  Riley laughed. “Curbing my language. Kids have special radar for bad words.”

  Brody grunted as he recalled Elliott saying “daa.” He had to admit it had freaked him out at the time, but now that he thought about it, instead of the overwhelming need to bolt, his chest swelled with pride.

  “You gonna help me or just stand there and stare at my truck bed?” Riley asked, one eyebrow raised.

  Brody said a word he wouldn’t want Elliott to hear and motioned Riley into the house.

  * * *

  After Riley had left with Elliott’s baby furniture in the back of his truck, Brody started to climb the porch steps but changed directions at the last moment. He couldn’t face that empty house yet.

  I wouldn’t blame you, because I know you’d try your best.

  Mary’s words came back to haunt him as he cleaned out the stalls. Where did she get off believing in him? He wasn’t some damn miracle worker. Hell, he couldn’t even help his messed-up family. She had no business looking up to him. He’d tried to help Roger and failed. And that failure led to Mary and Elliott paying the price for his screwup brother.

  After cleaning out the stalls, he rolled the wheelbarrow over to the compost heap outside the barn and dumped it.

  Too bad he couldn’t dump the weight pressing on his chest threatening to choke him.

  “I love you...heart-in-my-throat, can’t-imagine-my-life-without-you, love you.”

  She’d used those words to describe how she felt about him, but she may as well have been describing how he felt. Times one thousand.

  He sighed. Was Riley right? Could he fix this? Could telling Mary how much he loved her and begging her forgiveness work?

  He would do all that and more to get her and Elliott back. They belonged here, on the farm with him. He wasn�
�t above begging he missed them so much, but first he had something else up his sleeve.

  Feeling more energized than he had in the days since Mary left, he went into the office in the barn and got to work.

  * * *

  Mary hung up the phone after making an appointment with another new client. She was busy with Randall’s old clients and her new ones. Soon she’d be able to pay her rent and other personal expenses from her accounting work and not have to dig into savings.

  She’d been lucky enough to rent the home next to the Coopers when their son decided to come four weeks early. The baby was fine, but they decided to postpone the extensive remodeling on their home so Meg’s brother canceled the lease.

  Things had also worked out well with Elliott. She brought him with her to the office, except on days when she had appointments with clients. Those days she had an abundance of people willing to watch him. Even one of the nurses from the ER, Ellie Harding, had volunteered for babysitting duty.

  So why wasn’t she happy? She’d always told herself that happiness was a choice. You could either see the bright side and be happy or wallow in regrets. She’d chosen to be happy and grateful for what she had. Elliott was healthy and happy, and as for herself, she could support them and make a comfortable life for them in Loon Lake. Again, why didn’t all these things give her satisfaction? Why was she constantly on the verge of tears?

  Brody. Her melancholy always came back to Brody and missing him. Shaking her head, she got up and poured herself a cup of coffee. Tying her happiness to someone else was dangerous and stupid. She knew better. She’d gotten over Roger. But those feelings didn’t come near the scary soul-deep love she felt for Brody. Getting over him was going to take a long time, but she couldn’t—wouldn’t—regret their time together. And because of him, she’d been accepted and become a part of life in Loon Lake. As soon as the wound wasn’t as fresh, she’d contact Brody. He loved Elliott and Elliott loved him and she wasn’t going to stand in the way of their relationship, even if it meant enduring time spent with Brody until Elliott grew older. She was an adult—she could smile and make small talk, ask innocuous questions about his life, the farm, the animals. The women in his life. Yeeaahh, that one might be taking things too far.

  Mary was engrossed in preparing taxes for her latest client when the office door opened. She glanced up and smiled, but the automatic gesture froze on her lips.

  Brody stood in the doorway, his arms full of folders and what looked like blueprint tubes.

  “Hey,” he said and grinned sheepishly.

  “Hey,” she echoed.

  Had he lost weight? Were those dark circles under his eyes? Were the lines on his face etched deeper? Her fingers itched to smooth out the grooves and rearrange his disheveled hair. She got up and started toward him but stopped.

  “I heard you...uh...” He shifted the folders and cleared his throat. “I heard you were accepting new clients.”

  “Y-yes.” Her heart dropped past her knees. He was here on business?

  “Good.” He stepped farther into the office and closed the door. “Where’s Elliott?”

  “At the general store. I stopped on the way in this morning and Tavie insisted on watching him. Claims he attracts customers.” She swallowed the questions bubbling up. Did he miss her? How were the animals? Was Serenity still leaving tokens of appreciation?

  He nodded, and she saw something in his eyes—something like hope. The kind of hope she’d been fighting from the moment he’d opened the door. “Wh-what do you have there?”

  He glanced down at the bundle in his arms as if he’d forgotten. “Architectural designs, incorporation papers, spreadsheets.”

  He quickly dumped his burden into the nearest chair. His gaze still locked with hers, he stepped around the desk until he was close enough to touch.

  Trying to ignore how much she ached for physical contact, even the slightest touch, she cleared her throat. “That’s an awful lot of papers for someone who hates paperwork.”

  “I still hate paperwork but...” He shrugged and stared at her as if drinking her in.

  “But what?” She tried to throttle the hope that threatened to bring her to her knees.

  “It’s not a chore when it’s for someone you love.” He took a breath. “It’s for Camp Life Launch.”

  Her heart pounded so hard it hurt. Did he say love? Was it possible? She needed to be sure before she abandoned her pride. “What’s Camp Life Launch?”

  “It’s a summer camp for foster kids. Someone...” He swallowed. “Someone I love very much told me there might be a need for such things, and since I have this farm...”

  He did say love...twice! She squeezed the flesh on her forearm between her thumb and forefinger. Ouch. She was awake.

  When she didn’t respond, his shoulders slumped. Breathing deep, he continued. “Anyway... I need someone with knowledge of accounting to help me with the nonprofit side.”

  He paused when she still didn’t react. “Are you going to speak? Argue? Yell? Throw something?”

  “I... I don’t know what to say.” She shook her head, afraid of jumping to the wrong conclusions. “Did...did you say someone you love?”

  “I did, but I wanted to tell you about the camp first because I’m hoping after I tell you what else I came to say, we’ll be, uh, otherwise occupied and too busy to discuss business.” He cleared his throat and continued. “I’ve been looking into opening a camp for disadvantaged children at the farm. I contacted the guys from my old army unit and they want to help.”

  “You contacted the guys from the picture?”

  “I did.” He stepped closer and took her hands in his. “See, this woman and her son came into my life and she brought with her love and sunshine and stars...made me feel things I didn’t think possible, made me see all the things I’d been missing.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes, and she blinked to clear them. “This woman sounds pretty special.”

  “She is.” He lifted one of her hands and pressed a kiss to her palm. “She’s way out of my league. Too good for an ogre like me. But we ogres are a pretty selfish bunch and I’m hoping if I grovel and promise to love and cherish her for the rest of my life, she’ll forgive me.”

  “Grovel?” Hope filled her like helium and she clutched his hands to keep from floating away.

  “Some advice I received from Riley, who claims to know these things.”

  A sudden cloud darkened her bright shiny future. “But what about Roger? I can’t make him not Elliott’s father.”

  “I can.” He tugged her closer. “I contacted him. Told him I was in love with you, planned to marry you and adopt Elliott.”

  “You did?”

  “He’s agreed to sign over all his parental rights so I’ll be free to adopt Elliott. I told Roger if he ever wanted to get to know his son, he could, but that it would be on our terms, under our supervision.”

  He hugged her tightly and kissed her hard, as if he’d thought he’d never do so again.

  When he lifted his head, he whispered, “I love you, Mary Carter. It’s as simple as that.”

  “And I love you, Brody Wilson.”

  “Let’s get Elliott—our son—and go home.”

  Home. She liked the sound of that.

  * * *

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  The Colonels’ Texas Promise

  by Caro Carson

  Chapter One

  “Attention to orders.”

  The military personnel in the conference room came to their feet. Major Juliet Grayson was already standing at attention, as was her new commanding officer, who stood at her right. On her left stood the most wonderful person on earth: her son. Matthew was eleven years old and halfway through sixth grade, but he still looked boyish and acted goofy—most of the time. Not today.

  Today, her little boy was trying to fill a man’s shoes. Juliet’s husband should have been here, standing at her left, ready to pin her new rank onto her uniform at this promotion ceremony. He was somewhere else. With someone else. Which was why he was her ex-husband.