The Soldier's Forever Family

by Gina Wilkins

  Aunt and nephew grinned across the table at each other, and though they didn’t look much alike, the fierce heat of competition on their faces was unsettlingly similar.

  Joanna shook her head.

  Fifteen minutes later, the battle was on. Simon had to stand on a plastic stepstool to have full access to the table, but he didn’t let his size handicap him. He threw himself into the game with enthusiasm, whooping and cheering whenever he made a good shot, protesting noisily but being a good sport when a point was scored against him. Standing safely to one side of flailing arms, Joanna laughed and took pictures with her phone. She knew Simon would appreciate having this fun with his aunt memorialized in the photo book.

  That photo book would also include pictures of Adam, she thought with a faint sigh. Simon would have too many questions if she didn’t add the ones she’d taken at the fun center. And maybe someday, after she’d found a way to explain the truth to him, he would want that reminder of the week he’d spent with his father. Maybe he’d see what she’d seen in those snapshots—the mixture of wonder and regret in Adam’s face when he’d smiled down at his son.

  They’d made reservations for a horseback ride on the beach that afternoon, something Simon requested after hearing about the activity from one of his Explorers Club friends. Through the guest relations services, Joanna had asked for two horses, one for her and Simon, the other for Maddie. Children under eight were allowed to ride on buddy saddles behind an adult. She expressed concerns to the concierge that she didn’t have much experience on horseback, but she was assured the horses were gentle and the guides would take very good care of them.

  After spending the remainder of the morning at the beach, followed by Simon’s promised shrimp basket lunch, they freshened up in their suites, then met Maddie in the Seafoam Lodge courtyard in preparation for the horseback outing. Joanna had Maddie and Simon pose in front of the pretty little koi pond. They smiled dutifully for her photos, then were distracted by the big, colorful fish swimming around the central fountain. Joanna kept shooting, capturing snaps of Simon pointing out his favorite fat yellow koi while Maddie laughingly prevented him from falling into the water in his eagerness.

  She lowered her phone when someone touched her shoulder from behind. Thinking she was blocking another guest’s path, she murmured an apology and stepped aside, glancing around to make sure she was out of the way. She nearly dropped the phone when she saw who stood there.

  Adam had returned.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THOUGH IT WAS probably only seconds, it felt like several minutes passed before Joanna was able to compose herself. She wanted to ask Adam why he’d disappeared the day before, why he’d left terse instructions with his attorney, what the hell he wanted from her—if anything—but this was hardly the time or place for such a confrontation. Nor did she want to reveal how flustered she was to see him again.

  Before she could decide what to say, she heard Simon shout, “Mr. Adam!”

  A small bundle collided into Adam’s legs, making him stagger backward as he caught the boy to accept the enthusiastic hug. “Hey, Skipper. What’ve you been up to today?”

  Simon beamed up at him, causing Joanna to press a hand to her stomach at the happiness on his face. “We’ve been having fun swimming and playing beach games. It rained this morning, but not for long, and I played air hockey with Aunt Maddie until everything dried off. I almost beat her this time. She says pretty soon I’ll be good enough to win every game.”

  “No doubt.”

  Maddie had reached Joanna now, and both of them stood there watching Adam interact with his son. Joanna hoped her own expression was less disapproving than her sister’s.

  “Mom said you might not be here today, Mr. Adam.” Simon had stepped back some now, tilting his head curiously.

  “Yes, well, I didn’t want you to leave without me seeing you again,” Adam replied lightly.

  “Mom said you’re not a fan of goodbyes.”

  Adam’s gaze clashed with Joanna’s before he said, “That’s true, but sometimes they’re inevitable, I guess.”

  “I’m glad you’re here, Mr. Adam. I want to tell you all about the dolphin tour yesterday.”

  “I’d like to hear all about it.”

  Joanna glanced at her watch. “Simon, we have fifteen minutes to get the stable if you still want to take the horseback ride.”

  Simon caught his breath. “Oh, yeah. We’re going to ride horses on the beach! I can’t ride by myself, but it will still be fun. Come with us, Mr. Adam. Please?”

  “Actually, I have some things to attend to this afternoon. Maybe later we can meet for dinner?”

  Simon’s face fell. And though he nodded in acceptance, his lower lip quivered. Whatever she might have found more comfortable for her own sake, Joanna couldn’t blame Adam for adding, “But maybe I could take a little time for a horse ride.”

  The child’s smile returned, along with a delighted intake of air. “Are you sure? It’s okay if you can’t,” he said, “but we’d like it very much if you come, too. Wouldn’t we, Mom? Wouldn’t we, Aunt Maddie?”

  No more immune than Adam to Simon’s pleading puppy-dog eyes, Joanna managed a smile. “Of course he’s welcome.”

  Everyone looked to Maddie then. She made a face. “As much fun as that sounds, we only reserved two horses, remember? So maybe you three should go play cowboy while I treat myself to the spa for a couple hours.”

  “But Aunt Maddie—”

  “I wouldn’t worry about the reservation, Maddie,” Adam interjected. “There are usually extra horses. Besides, I know the owner.”

  Maddie bent down to meet Simon’s eyes. “Seriously, Si-bot, would you mind if I hang here for a nice massage? I promise I’m still on for the after-dinner minigolf game. We’ll so beat your mom’s score. You know how bad she is.”

  Simon laughed. “She really is.”

  Normally Joanna would have had a clever retort to the good-natured insults, but with Adam standing there looking at her, all she could do was smile weakly and say, “Maybe I’ll surprise you both tonight.”

  Straightening, Maddie turned to Joanna. “You don’t mind, do you, Jo?” she asked, her back to Adam and Simon as she added in a low voice, “I think it’s safer this way. I’m not really in a mood to make nice with Adam.”

  Seeing that dark look in her sister’s eyes again, Joanna asked quietly, “You’re sure you’re okay, Maddie?”

  Maddie stepped back with a toss of her head. “Nothing a massage won’t cure. See you later, guys. Have fun with the horses.”

  Joanna noted that Maddie rather pointedly avoided looking at Adam when she turned to walk away. Thinking longingly that a massage and pedicure would be much less stressful than this horseback ride, Joanna vowed to focus on Simon’s fun and worry about everything else later.

  * * *

  ADAM ENDED UP being the one riding tandem with Simon. The good-natured horse plodded along the sand with the string of seven other horses in the group. Adam was pretty sure the horse yawned a few times along the well-known route. Yet from the excitement Simon got from the ride, they might as well have been on a wild steed. The boy didn’t exactly bounce in the saddle, which Adam told him wouldn’t have been very nice to ol’ Dez, but he chattered almost nonstop.

  Joanna, on the other hand, was quiet on her equally placid mount beside them. Adam could tell she was making an effort to participate for Simon’s sake. She smiled and nodded when Simon pointed out sights, laughed at the boy’s running jokes, snapped pictures of Simon and Adam on the horse.

  Adam was going to want one of those pictures.

  Simon clutched Adam’s belt on both sides as though the leather was a second set of reins. Sometimes he got a little excited and gripped too tightly, giving Adam the sensation of being almost squeezed in half, but h
e didn’t mind. Let the boy have his fun.

  The ridiculousness of the whole situation struck him, making him chuckle. When he’d woken up that morning in his bed, groggy and a little hungover, he couldn’t have imagined he’d end up on a horse with a kid—his kid—clinging to his belt. He still wasn’t sure what would be best for the boy after the vacation ended, still doubted that having a father he barely knew living on the opposite coast would be a particularly healthy, but he’d figured the least he owed him was a few hours of fun and then a proper goodbye.

  “What’s so funny?” Joanna’s mount, Teenie, had drifted close enough that Joanna had heard Adam’s laugh.

  He looked at her. “Everything. And nothing.”

  Somehow she seemed to understand.

  Because the well-seasoned horse needed no guidance, Adam let his gaze linger on the woman next to him rather than the path ahead. Everything about her appealed to him. The sunlight on her face, warming her skin, bringing out the green in her eyes. The hair that escaped her ponytail, lifting and dancing in the ocean breeze, caressing her cheeks in a manner he’d have enjoyed doing himself. The thin cotton blouse rippling in that same breeze, hugging her breasts. Her slender hips and long legs wrapped around that poky nag, making him have to turn his eyes away before he reacted in a way that was inappropriate under the circumstances.

  The ride ended eventually, of course. Chip, one of the guides Adam knew in passing, swung Simon out of his saddle, then turned to assist Joanna while Adam dismounted. Simon wasn’t quite ready to call an end to the outing. While Chip moved on to help others, the boy stood stroking the silky skin of the horse’s muzzle, and Dez seemed to enjoy the attention.

  “Mom, take a picture of me and Adam with Dez,” Simon suggested, looking over his shoulder at her. “I don’t think you got a picture of Dez’s face.”

  Adam moved into position beside the horse, who bobbed his head as if he knew the moment was being memorialized. Simon grinned up at him, and Adam felt the increasingly familiar lump develop in his throat.

  One of the other riders, a middle-aged tourist in a sun visor, souvenir T-shirt, plaid shorts and sneakers, moved forward quickly. “Why don’t you get in the picture, too, ma’am?” he suggested in what might have been a Tennessee drawl. “I’ll take a family shot.”

  Joanna’s hesitation was so brief it might not have been noticeable to anyone but Adam. But Simon’s enthusiastic nod was enough to make her hand her phone to the friendly man and move into place. She chose to stand behind Simon, her hands on his shoulders with the horse’s face separating her and Adam.

  “All right, now, everyone say ‘ride ’em, cowboy,’” their photographer instructed, making Simon laugh while Adam tried his best to look relaxed and untroubled.

  The man returned the phone to Joanna with a motion of his other hand toward Simon. “Y’know, I’ve got a son who looks a lot like me. But these two have us beat. I guess everyone says you look just like your daddy, don’t they, young man?”

  And this, Adam thought with a wince, was one of the reasons he’d tried to put some distance between himself and the boy. The more time they spent together, the more likely it was that something would happen to confuse Simon.

  But the boy merely nodded, suddenly as adept as his parents at keeping his thoughts to himself. “Thank you for taking the picture, sir,” he said.

  The man nodded in approval. “Polite kid you’ve got there,” he said to Adam as he moved to rejoin his waiting wife. “Testament to his upbringing.”

  “Yes,” Adam murmured. “It is.”

  An upbringing he’d had no part of.

  Simon slipped one hand into his mother’s, the other into Adam’s as they walked away from the stables. Maybe the boy was getting tired. He wasn’t as garrulous as usual, though he still looked happy enough. Adam glanced over his son’s head to Joanna, who was staring back at him. Probably trying to figure out what the hell he was doing, what he wanted from her. From the future.

  He wished he knew the answer.

  * * *

  DECIDING HE LOOKED FATIGUED, Joanna insisted on Simon getting some rest before dinner and the promised night game of minigolf on the illuminated course. He claimed to be too old for naps these days, but she agreed to let him sit quietly in the suite and watch a video. She wouldn’t be at all surprised if he nodded off.

  Adam left them in the courtyard, saying he had some things he needed to tend to for work.

  “You’ll still have dinner with us, won’t you?” Simon asked him.

  Joanna frowned in response to her son’s tone. He sounded unnaturally subdued, almost pensive. Either he was even more tired than she’d realized or perhaps he had become aware of how little time remained of this vacation that had been so much more momentous than either of them could have expected. Perhaps Simon had just discovered that he shared Adam’s aversion to goodbyes.

  Adam sent Joanna a searching glance before answering, proving she wasn’t the only one to have noticed a change in the boy’s mood. “Sure, Skipper. If it’s okay with your mom.”

  She nodded, not even attempting a smile since Simon wasn’t looking at her. “Of course. Simon would like that.”

  He nodded, noting her wording, then ruffled Simon’s hair and turned to walk away. Both Joanna and Simon watched him until he was out of sight. Only then did Joanna say, “Okay, sweetie, let’s go up to the suite. We could both use a little quiet time, I think.”

  She set the boy up on the couch with her tablet, a bowl of grapes and a bottle of water, then carried a cup of tea for herself out onto the balcony, leaving the slider ajar. She rested both elbows on the table as she sipped and stared blankly at the ocean in the distance, trying not to think about anything in particular. She was tired of thinking.

  Her phone beeped with a text from Maddie.

  Everything ok?

  Simon’s resting. I’m having tea.

  It wasn’t exactly an answer, but she figured it would suffice.

  See you in an hour for dinner. You know how to reach me if you need me.

  Joanna set the phone aside and picked up her teacup again. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to dinner. The three adults in the group were all going to be tiptoeing on eggshells, and someone was sure to make a precarious mistake.

  Maybe they were trying too hard to shelter Simon from the truth. Maybe they should simply tell the child everything and hope he understood this awkward situation. He was so smart, so positive and resilient. In the long run, it would probably be in his best interests to be open with him.

  She was beginning to wonder who she and Adam had been trying so hard to protect. Simon—or themselves.

  After a few minutes lost in her thoughts, she sighed, drained her tea, and stood to carry the cup back inside. Maybe she’d stretch out on the couch beside Simon and watch the kids’ oceanography video with him until it was time to prepare for dinner.

  The couch was empty except for the tablet with the video paused on the screen and the barely-touched bowl of grapes.

  Surprised that he’d moved so quietly during the few minutes she’d had her back to the door, Joanna told herself he must be in the bathroom. She carried the teacup into the kitchen and rinsed it out, set it beside the sink and then dried her hands.

  Turning back to the couch, she shook her head slightly when she saw it was still unoccupied. Had Simon gone to bed and fallen asleep? She couldn’t let him nap long, or he’d be groggy and cranky during dinner. She suspected that Adam might be surprised to see just how crabby the usually sweet-natured Simon could become. He’d seen Simon only on his best behavior so far, attributable in part to the fact that everyone had gone out of their way to cater to his vacation whims. She’d have to be careful about that when they got back to reality; she didn’t want her sweet son to turn into a brat.

  She moved to h
is open bedroom doorway, only to find the bed neatly made, its only occupant the stuffed dragon on the pillow. Frowning now, she looked at the door to the small bathroom attached to this bedroom. That door, too, was open, the room tidy and empty.

  “Simon?”

  She turned quickly to check the other bedroom and bath. There was no sign of him. Nor had he slipped out to the balcony while she’d been in the kitchen. She rushed to the suite door. The deadbolt was unlocked. She knew she’d fastened it when they’d come in earlier.

  Grabbing her phone, she threw open the door and looked in the hallway, seeing no one but a maid with a load of fresh towels. The concerned maid denied seeing Simon and asked if Joanna wanted the staff to be alerted that he was missing.

  “No,” she said after a moment’s thought, “I’ll call for help if I can’t find him in a few minutes. I’m sure he hasn’t wandered far.”

  At least, she hoped he hadn’t as she hurried toward the stairs. What on earth was he thinking, slipping out again like this? Didn’t he know how much trouble he’d be in, especially after that first morning? He’d promised he wouldn’t do it again. Open defiance had never been in Simon’s nature—at least, not so far. She’d taken her eyes off him for only a few minutes! She’d never had to worry about doing so before.

  He wasn’t in the courtyard and when asked, the other guests she encountered there hadn’t seen him. Her only guess was that he might have headed back to the beach in search of the Scotch bonnet shell he was desperate to find. She was already dialing her sister’s number for help as she hurried up the path.

  * * *

  ADAM WAS SITTING at the computer in his office, hammering out a to-do list for the coming week, when he sensed someone watching him. He hadn’t bothered to close his door, but the corporate offices were pretty much empty at this hour on a Saturday, so he hadn’t expected to be interrupted. Still, it wasn’t a surprise. It seemed as though there was always something needing his attention.