“Find anything?” Zach asked, returning to the kitchen.
“Marta passed away two years ago, it seems,” she replied.
“That settles the question if she could be involved.” Zach put his hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get out of the house and go for that hike.”
“Sounds great.” She pulled herself away from sad thoughts to focus on having fun with her guys. “I’ll get Austin changed.”
“Already done,” Zach said. It surprised her again how easily he’d taken on the responsibility of being a father.
They drove ten miles outside of town to a state park that had several trails. While they were first together, she and Zach had hiked all over the park. Zach had introduced her to the activity, and she soon loved it as much as he did.
“I thought we’d take the Lone Elm trail,” Zach said after they parked. “It’s not long, but somebody has short legs.” He pointed in the back seat.
“Perfect,” she said, since they’d probably end up carrying Austin most of the hike.
She slung the day pack over her shoulder and followed Zach and Austin onto the shaded trail. The first part wound uphill gradually until it reached the lone elm tree at the highest point. They sat at the bench under the tree and looked out at the small valley before them. Austin had walked some and was tired enough to sit between them.
“I haven’t been here in a long time,” Zach commented.
“Me either.” They didn’t say what they were thinking: that they were last there together more than two years before.
“We should make it a goal to hike a different trail every weekend,” he suggested.
“Including the expert ones?” She pointed down at Austin’s head.
“We’ll get one of those kid backpacks. I’ve seen other families with those here.”
Other families? Had he intentionally or unconsciously used the word? Either way, she liked the idea of a family activity. Austin, who had been sitting very still, reached out and touched the bracelet she wore, drawing Zach’s attention to it.
“One of your designs?” Zach asked. “It’s pretty.”
“I…thanks.” She stumbled over the words. How did he know she’d designed the bracelet of intertwined silver and gold braids? “How long have you known?”
He grinned at her. “I saw a couple pieces on your dresser. That bracelet and a necklace.”
“But what makes you think I designed them?” She’d never mentioned it to anyone, unsure of her abilities.
“Back when we lived together, I occasionally saw sketches of jewelry—although I think you tried to hide them from me. I was hoping you’d tell me about them someday, but I see I had to be the one to bring up your talent,” he said with a grin.
She had tried to hide her designs, tucking them away when Zach was home on leave and bringing them out to help fill the time and occupy her mind so she wouldn’t worry while he was on a mission. Only a few of her ideas had become actual pieces of jewelry. She’d learned how to design and make jewelry in art classes during college but rarely used her skills.
“I thought the pieces were beautiful then, and I still do,” Zach added. He put his arm across the back of the bench and touched her shoulder. “You should consider selling them at All That Sparkles.”
She felt herself blush at his compliment. “I don’t know about that.” The designs pleased her, but she was never sure if they were good enough to entice others to purchase them.
“Lookee,” Austin shrieked, pointing up the elm tree to where a squirrel scampered across a limb.
“Squirrel.” Carolyn enunciated the word.
“I want,” the boy said.
“No squirrels in the house,” Carolyn admonished jokingly. “They’d eat all our peanut butter. We’ll just look at them outside.”
“I bet if we keep walking, we’ll find other animals. I believe there’s a pond on this trail with fish and frogs,” Zach said, making Austin hop off the bench in excitement. The boy turned, grabbing a hand from each his parents as if he’d yank them up. Zach played along, pretending to fly up and stumble forward. Austin laughed in delight at his daddy’s antics. Carolyn was pleased by them as well.
“Nice slapstick,” she murmured to Zach when they’d started toward the pond.
“It’s fun having a kid to play with,” he said before frowning. He took a glance at Austin, who’d stopped to pick up leaves. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you when you were pregnant or when Austin was an infant. I don’t know anything about babies, but I could have walked the floors with him at least.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to be with him.” She sighed, acknowledging it was an emotional speech for the normally guarded man. “Zach, we can’t change what happened, but I’m glad you’re here now.”
“So am I.” He leaned in, giving her one kiss before scooping up Austin.
They made their way back to the parking lot after a stop at the pond, where Zach caught a frog and held it just long enough for Austin to touch the creature. Austin kept up a steady babble of frog, frog, ribbit, frog during the drive home. Following a quick cleanup, Zach took Austin to his room for a nap.
“Is he out?” she asked when Zach returned to the living room.
“Like a light.” He sat next to her on the couch, close enough that their shoulders touched.
“I think we’re going to hear the word frog a whole bunch for the next few days,” she said. New words were like that. They got stuck on repeat in Austin’s brain. “It made an impression on him.”
“It was a great day,” Zach said. “One of the best of my life. Thanks for sharing it with me.”
She reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together. She didn’t know quite what to say to his declaration, but she felt the same way. He raised their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of hers. She felt her insides melt a little and didn’t object when he pulled her onto his lap. As his hands slipped under the edge of her shirt, her phone rang from where she’d left it on the kitchen counter.
“Ignore it,” she said, locking her arms around his neck and bringing her lips to his. Just before they touched, the ring blasted again. “Damn. It might be something. I’ll be right back.”
Reluctantly, she got up and went to the kitchen. Her sister’s name showed on the screen, so she answered it. Before Charlotte could speak, the wail of fire sirens came through the phone. Carolyn gripped the counter as fear ripped through her.
“The store…the store’s on fire,” Charlotte shouted over the din, confirming Carolyn’s worst nightmare.
“Is everyone out?” She glanced at the kitchen clock. It was twenty minutes past their Saturday closing time.
“Yes, yes. Just come.” Charlotte hung up without saying anything else.
“What is it?” Zach said from behind Carolyn.
“All That Sparkles is on fire,” she said, the shock temporarily stunning her until Zach wrapped his arms around her, making her snap out of it. “I’ve got to get there.” She tried to push him away, but he held her.
“I’ll drive you.” His voice was calm and firm.
“Austin?” She couldn’t take him to a fire scene, but she did want Zach with her.
“Alex lives close by. He can be here in five minutes.” Zach already had his phone out to call his brother.
She rested her head against Zach’s shoulder as he spoke into the phone, telling his brother to be there ASAP.
“He’s on his way,” Zach said, hanging up. She felt his light kiss on her hair, trying to reassure her when she was possibly losing the store that represented twenty years of her family’s hard work.
13
“Oh, God,” she whimpered when Zach turned the last corner. The second Alex was in her driveway they’d bolted from the house and made the short trip to All That Sparkles. Emergency vehicles blocked the street, their lights flashing in the smoky air. Ahead, she could see flames pouring from the front of the store and reaching upward.
As soon as Zach pulled to the curb, she grabbed for the door handle, but Zach gripped her arm. “Wait for me,” he said. How could he be so calm when her world was on fire? “Rushing now could just get you into trouble.”
She hated that he was right. It was an active fire scene, with all the hazards that entailed. She wondered, though, if he ever lost his cool. The night of the robbery, when he’d confronted her about Austin, his mask of control had slipped—but that was a rarity. Even when she broke their engagement, he’d said nearly nothing, expressed nothing.
She would bet his heart rate wasn’t even accelerated. Hers was racing, but she waited until he was beside her before moving forward. Together they negotiated the maze of hoses, trucks, and firefighters doing their job. Despite the emergency service’s response, what she saw was devastating. The front windows and door were blown out, with flames licking up their frames. The recently refurbished interior was ablaze, fire streaking up the walls and across the carpet.
Firefighters kept a steady arc of water flowing in, but the flames seemed resistant to it. Black smoke rolled from the brick building. At least there was no wind to fan the flames and blow the smoke at them.
Zach’s hand never loosened on her arm as they made their way to her mother and Charlotte standing across the street from the store. Carolyn drew strength from his touch, because she had to be the strong one here. She saw that immediately. Grimy tears streaked her sister’s and mother’s faces. Zach let go of her when she put her arms around them, but she could feel him close behind her.
“What happened?” she asked Charlotte.
“We’d just closed for the evening. Everyone was gone but me.” Her sister’s words sent a chill down Carolyn’s spine. “I wanted to finish some paperwork. I was in the office when I heard a crash and explosion and then everything was on fire.”
“Are you hurt?” Carolyn grabbed her sister’s trembling hands.
“No. I made it to the back door. I almost forgot the new code for the mantrap, but I remembered and got out.”
“Were you here, too?” Carolyn asked her mother.
“I was parked in the alley waiting for Charlotte,” her mother explained. “We were going to have dinner together.”
“All the merchandise is safe in the vault, but the store…” Charlotte trailed off. The store was a barely controlled inferno.
The upsides were that their inventory was safe in the fireproof vault and no one had been hurt. Carolyn needed to cling to those two positive facts, because it would be so easy to succumb to despair. Instinctively, she looked around for Zach, wondering when he’d left her side. He was talking to a man wearing a white fire helmet with Chief written across the back. When he caught her gaze, he returned to her.
“The chief says the fire’s almost contained,” he said.
“It is?” Carolyn asked. It didn’t look it.
“From what he says, they were able to hit the fire from the back and drive it out the front, so the damage, he thinks, is all in the display area.”
“I pulled the doors closed on the office and repair room as I exited,” Charlotte said, impressing Carolyn with her ability to think under pressure. “Hopefully, that minimized the destruction there.”
“The brick of the building also slowed the fire,” Zach said, putting his arm around Carolyn’s waist as they stood watching. She resisted the urge to rest her head on his shoulder.
Within minutes, the flames lessened, and the charred interior began to show under the powerful floodlights from the fire trucks. Carolyn felt a wave of sickness at the sight, but she forced herself to stand taller. She managed All That Sparkles, so her family and employees would look to her. She had to put up a good front.
The fire chief was correct from what she could see as she stepped closer. The interior was gutted, but the building seemed structurally sound. It wasn’t a total loss, as she’d feared, and it hadn’t spread to the businesses on either side of them on the street.
“We can rebuild,” she said to Charlotte and Faith. “This is why we have insurance.” Would her insurance pay if this was arson? Charlotte’s description of a crash and explosion made her question how the fire started. She didn’t want to bring up the possibility in front of her employees, but it was on her mind.
An hour later, she convinced Charlotte and Faith to go home. The flames were out, and firefighters picked through the debris looking for little flare-ups. The danger was past.
“We’ll leave two men on duty during the night,” the chief said when he came to speak to her. “They’ll make sure it doesn’t reignite—and stand guard.”
“Guard?” she questioned.
“To make sure nothing gets moved before the fire inspector arrives in the morning.”
“Can I go in?” She wanted to see how bad the damage was for herself.
“Not tonight, miss. We have to make sure the building is safe to enter. You can go closer, though, and look in.”
With Zach at her side, she approached the store and stood on the sidewalk. Mucky water still ran from the building, soaking her hiking shoes. Zach shone a flashlight into the building. Water dripped from the ceiling. The shiny chrome display cases were twisted wrecks. An upholstered chair near the cashier’s desk still smoldered. The screen that disguised the vault had been burnt away, exposing it. It was charred on the surface but appeared undamaged.
“We should go home. There’s nothing more you can do here tonight,” Zach said from next to her. “And you’ll need some sleep to face this in the morning.”
She nodded, knowing he was right, but it felt as though she were abandoning her responsibility by leaving. After another look, she let him lead her away.
* * *
Zach wasn’t surprised to see his brother Colin, as well as Alex, in Carolyn’s living room when they arrived back there. The three of them had always banded together during rough times, and this seemed to be one.
“Thanks, guys,” Carolyn said to them. “Was Austin okay for you?”
“We gave him beer and chips for dinner, and he passed right out,” Alex said, causing Colin to punch him lightly in the gut, but Carolyn gave them both a wan smile.
“He ate mac and cheese with applesauce,” Colin clarified.
“Good choice,” she said. “How’d you…?”
“I’ve had some recent experience with a kid that age,” Colin said. “We haven’t heard a peep.”
“I’ll look in on him and be back down,” she said.
“Go to bed,” Zach said. She was dead on her feet, although her exhaustion was more emotional than physical. “I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“I need a shower first,” she said, but she didn’t argue. They both smelled of smoke after standing at the scene for hours. “Thanks again.”
“No problem,” Colin replied.
As soon as Carolyn went up the stairs, Zach turned to his brothers. “What are you hearing?” Colin and Alex were well connected in the community, with friends on the police and fire departments.
“I made a couple calls.” Alex kept his voice low. “There’s nothing official yet, but the sense is that the fire was deliberate.”
“Charlotte said she heard a crash and an explosion.” Her words had given Zach plenty to think about as he’d watched the store burn.
“Molotov cocktail through the front window?” Colin suggested.
“Maybe. Those windows are pretty thick, though.” Because of the nature of the store, the plate-glass windows were extra strong. He didn’t think someone could throw hard enough to shatter them.
Alex picked up on his idea. “You’re thinking it had to have been propelled through in some way.”
“Yeah.” Zach considered the type of weapon necessary for the job and didn’t like it.
“That’s dangerous shit,” Alex commented.
“No kidding,” Zach said. Whoever was behind this was accelerating his game. “I may need you guys.”
“Always ready,” Alex said.
“We’ll take a look around outside before we leave,” Colin added. “Maybe hang out a bit. You take care of Carolyn.”
He said good night and let his brothers out. After that, he checked the doors and windows before going upstairs. The shower was just shutting off, so he looked in on Austin. Out in the yard, he recognized a dark shadow as Colin and knew his brothers had his back. That gave him a little breathing room, but he was about to pick a fight with Carolyn. Nobody could help him with that.
He went into the guest bathroom he’d been using and took a fast shower. He flashed the guest room light, sending a message to his brother that all was well. He saw a return message via flashlight from Colin’s truck parked down the street.
Assured they were safe for the night, Zach went to Carolyn’s room and slid into bed next to her. She immediately curled into him, and he felt the dampness of her tears against his skin. All he could do was hold her for the night and request a promise from her.
“I just want to know why,” she murmured, her voice hoarse from crying. She hadn’t cried at the scene. Instead, she’d comforted others and been a tower of strength. “Why is this happening?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart, but I’ll find out.” And when he did, he’d take care of whoever was behind it.
“You’ll find out?” she echoed. “Then you don’t think it was accidental either?”
“Not a chance.” He admitted to her what he’d refrained from saying in front of her family. “Which is why you have to promise me you won’t pursue this any longer.”
“But now that we’re sure someone is targeting me or the store, it’s time to move on it,” she argued.
“I agree, and I’ll put together a team tomorrow and get an investigation in motion.” He had his brothers and other buddies he could rely on. “The police will probably take it seriously now, too.”
She huffed at that. “I’m not going to sit around while you swoop in and play hero.”
At that, he rolled them both over, pinning her beneath him. He framed her face with his hands, gently rubbing his thumbs over her cheekbones. He couldn’t deny that his body wanted her, but not until they came to an understanding.
The SEAL’s Surprise Son: The Admiral’s SEALs Book One Page 9
