by Mara Wells
Feeling pleased with his new idea, he gave a curt nod to Adam. “Tell me what I have to do.”
Adam rubbed his palms together. “There’s an idea I’ve been wanting to try.”
“Let’s do it.” Knox crossed his arms over his chest. “I trust you.” He didn’t know who was more surprised by the words, him or Adam, but they were true. Sometime in the past year of working together, Knox had gotten attached to the tall guy always poking his nose in the various projects with his predictions of gloom and doom. Knox liked that about him. Caleb and Lance could be painfully optimistic, but Adam told it like it was. A realist. He would’ve made a good Marine.
“It’s going to be expensive,” Adam warned, eyes already darting around the yard like he was taking mental measurements.
“What a surprise.” Knox clicked his tongue for Sarge to join him.
“He’s good for it.” Caleb led the way back inside. “Look at all the money he’s saving by not having furniture.”
“Shut it,” Knox grumbled, embarrassed for the first time by his minimal possessions. He’d been spending more time at Danielle’s in the past week, and with the upcoming move, it hadn’t seemed important to purchase couches and dining room tables and whatever else rooms needed to look lived in. If it were his home away from home, though, Danielle would undoubtedly at least want a sofa to sit on.
He should ask her, but his throat tightened simply thinking about the conversation. They’d avoided talking about the past or the future. Why mess up a good thing? If they were happy right now, wasn’t that enough? It was certainly more than he’d enjoyed in many years. He’d tell her about Atlanta soon, after Caleb’s wedding. He knew it was a bad plan even as he made it, but a bad plan was better than no plan. Right?
Chapter 29
Fur Haven Dog Park was transformed. White pillars surrounded the park, some kind of gauzy fabric billowing in the ocean breeze. A gazebo stood at the east end of the rooftop park, the Atlantic Ocean a glittering blue jewel in the distance. Nets of tiny lights illuminated the palm tree trunks, and a long, white carpet made from some kind of fabric that sparkled in the sun ran from the elevator to the gazebo. Hundreds of chairs were arranged, facing east, and freestanding flower arrangements dotted the fairy-tale landscape.
It was, perhaps, the girliest thing Knox had ever seen. He didn’t hate it. He did hate the gray suit that in spite of several fittings still managed to make his underarms itch. Could be worse. Could be itchy in the crotch. Could be itchy in the crotch in the Middle East. At least here he had his brothers next to him, and although Lance didn’t say anything, he could tell Lance was itchy, too. The clues were in the way he shifted his arms, like he was looking for a comfortable position.
“It’s something alright,” Lance drawled in his slow way.
Caleb clapped both brothers on the back. “Carrie and Sydney really outdid themselves. Riley and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Isn’t it bad luck to see the venue before the wedding or something?” Knox felt weird standing on the rooftop, all dressed up with only his brothers for company. The ceremony was still hours away, like six hours away. He wasn’t even sure why Caleb had insisted on meeting them here, insisted that they wear their matching gray suits. Like uniforms, Knox had thought at the last fitting and hadn’t hated the idea of belonging to a unit of brothers, his actual brothers.
He’d been thinking a lot these past few days about family and the future. Perhaps it was waking up with Danielle every morning, whether it was at his house or hers. He’d even joined Danielle two days ago when she met up with the morning coffee gang at Fur Haven. He was starting to see how his life could be, if he let it. If Danielle would agree. He’d have to ask her about Atlanta soon, but he was enjoying the present too much to be overly worried about what came next. He was easily distracted by Danielle’s kisses, her teasing glances, the way she’d hum a bar of that Etta James song and crook her finger at him. They had a lot of lost time to make up for, and he didn’t want to waste any of it making her uncomfortable.
“I have a limo waiting for us.” Caleb shifted, rocking back on his heels.
Knox’s suspicions rose. “To whisk you and Riley off on your honeymoon?”
“Eventually.” Caleb rolled his neck. “But first, I have a huge favor to ask the both of you.”
Dread pricked the skin along Knox’s spine. “What kind of favor?”
“I want to go see Dad.”
“Our dad?” Lance cracked out an incredulous laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”
Caleb grimaced. “Afraid not. If we leave now, we’ll be back in time. But we need to leave now.”
“I didn’t ever see him before he was in prison. Why would I go see him now?” Knox was proud of his clean break. When he thought about family, Robert Donovan never entered his mind. The break was complete, as far as he was concerned, happening long before the investigation, trial, and incarceration.
“I know.” Caleb landed a heavy hand on Knox’s shoulder. “But it feels like something I need to do. Settle this. Let go of it. So Riley and I have a clear start, you know?”
“Sure. Fine.” Lance’s foot bounced on the ground to an invisible beat. “What I don’t understand is why we have to go with you.”
“Exactly.” Knox was glad at least one of his brothers hadn’t lost his damn mind.
“Knox. Lance.” Caleb looked each of them in the eyes. “You’re my best men. My brothers. I’m asking you to do this for me, with me. Today.”
Caleb’d always been a smooth talker, and Knox saw it working on Lance.
“Okay.” Lance swallowed. “I’m in. At least it’ll get your mom off my back.”
“Why?” Knox barked, unwittingly slipping into Gunny mode.
“The truth?” Caleb shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked forward and back on his heels. “I don’t want to go alone. I know Mom made you fill out all the visitation paperwork, so I figured why not take my brothers with me? I sent our names in a few days ago to set up a visit today. We’ve been okayed, but we have to leave now so I don’t miss my own wedding.”
Knox looked at Caleb, his little brother. The one raised by their father, always the golden child. Until he wasn’t. Until he made the break that he and Lance had made at much earlier ages. How much more difficult must this be for Caleb? The son who thought he’d follow in his father’s footsteps until those footsteps led right to federal prison?
Knox nodded, slowly. Deliberately. He didn’t want to go, would be fine if he never saw his father again. But one thing he knew for sure. You didn’t let a brother go into battle alone.
“I’m in.”
* * *
Knox wished he were more surprised by how prison looked, but he’d seen enough movies and TV shows over the years that it looked like another movie set to him—maybe a little grittier and definitely a lot smellier. Neither the large nor small screen quite captured the mixture of industrial chemical cleaners and human sweat with a hint of rage and despair. It was the same with war zones. Hollywood could show a hundred casualties of war and get every detail right, but the real thing felt different. Smelled different. Knox was good at blocking the memories that wanted to rise to the surface, replacing them with two-dimensional representations. It was a learned coping mechanism that came in handy as he followed his brothers into the room where they’d see their father.
Lance and Caleb had seen their dad prior to his incarceration, but Knox’s last memory of him was the day he’d informed their father he was enlisting.
“You want to die in some hellhole halfway across the world?” his dad had spit out, rage making his voice lower and harsher. It would’ve been better if he’d yelled, but they were at his club, eating Sunday brunch overlooking the eighteenth hole. He tugged on his checked silk tie as if it were choking him.
Knox swallowed his bite of French toast, the house special inf
used with orange and hibiscus, served with a small side of maple syrup and sprinkled with powdered sugar. The powdered sugar stuck to the roof of his mouth, made his tongue thick. At least, that was what he told himself when he was slow to respond.
“I want to serve my country,” he’d said, but of course it was more than that. He wanted to be a different man, a man like his football coach, a former Marine and Gulf War veteran. A good man. An honorable man. A man who wouldn’t get a girl knocked up and ruin her life before it’d even really begun. A man the exact opposite of his father. Danielle’s miscarriage had been his wake-up call. Wanting to be different from Robert Donovan wasn’t enough. He needed something drastic that would force him to change his ways. That would take him far away from Danielle and the temptation her soft body offered him. He’d talked to Coach Suarez, and Coach personally escorted him to the recruiting office. He’d signed papers that day. This conversation with his father was a formality. That was what he should’ve said.
Instead, he’d stood, cloth napkin dropping to the floor, and walked out.
Today, he hung back as Caleb and Lance cautiously greeted their father, taking seats in the two metal chairs across the small table from Robert. He wasn’t handcuffed, but an armed guard stood in the doorway, the position Knox would’ve preferred. Knox leaned against the cold wall, glad there wasn’t a chair for him. He didn’t really belong here. He was backup.
But he wasn’t invisible. Robert’s dry comment was “So you’re still alive. That’s good to know.”
Knox gave him the ten-mile stare in reply.
Lance covered a laugh by coughing into his hand. “Look, Dad, we can’t stay long. Caleb’s getting married today.”
“Thank God.” Robert leaned forward on his elbows. “For a minute, I thought my sons had formed a boy band.”
Lance didn’t hide his laugh this time. “No, these monkey suits are purely Caleb’s idea.”
“Not purely.” Caleb was trying to smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Riley and I are getting married this afternoon.”
“What’re you doing here then?” Robert’s lip curled in a familiar sneer. “It’s not like I was invited.”
“You couldn’t have come anyway.” Lance had no trouble giving their dad hell. Knox envied him. His thoughts weren’t coming in words, more like waves of color, reds and oranges, which he was pretty sure meant he was angry. He locked down his muscles and stood at attention. He just had to get through it, for Caleb’s sake.
“You didn’t give me a chance to find out, did you?” Robert pushed his graying hair back with one hand. “Maybe a judge would’ve taken pity on me. Given me a release to attend the ceremony.”
“I didn’t want you there.” Caleb had stopped trying to smile, his face now as stone cold as their father’s. “But I did want to see you. Mom’s been on me to visit, says you have something to say to me. Well, I don’t want to start my life with Riley with that hanging over my head. So out with it. What do you want to say so badly that I had to come all the way out here to hear it?”
Robert pushed back in his chair, putting distance between him and the table, between him and his sons. He looked at them. The three of them looked back.
“I’m sorry.” The words escaped Robert in a rush. “To all of you.” He pushed at his thinning hair, leaning back with his hands behind his head. “I thought I’d apologize one at a time, but seeing as you’ve banded together, I’ll do it all at once. I’m sorry, okay?”
“Sorry for what?” Caleb’s expression didn’t change, not even to blink.
“For this.” Robert waved his hand, encompassing the room, the prison, perhaps even the whole situation. “I didn’t mean for it to end up like this.”
“You’re sorry about how it ended?” Caleb’s voice was as tight as his lips. “Not the rest?”
“The rest of what?”
“Enough.” Lance pushed his chair back and lurched to his feet. “It’s no surprise he’s sorry he got caught. What criminal isn’t?” He turned his anger on Robert. “If that’s all you’ve got for us, we wasted a drive. Come on, Caleb.” Lance brushed past the guard and disappeared into the echoing hallway.
But Caleb didn’t move, so Knox stayed sentinel on the back wall. The air was charged, like something was about to go down. Knox’s fingers flexed for the rifle that wasn’t there.
Caleb planted his palms on the steel table and stared across at their father. “Is that all?”
Robert stood and paced to the corner and back. “I’m sorry I mixed you up in it, Caleb. I almost screwed up your life.”
“Almost?” Caleb choked out.
Robert plunked back into his chair. “Fine. I screwed up. I screwed you up. Probably your brothers, too. And I’m sorry.” He let out a long breath. “I really am. You have to believe me.”
Caleb’s chair screeched against the concrete floor as he pushed back. “I do.” Caleb turned and grinned at Knox. “See how good I am at those words? Always thought Riley’d be on the receiving end, though.”
Knox’s lips twitched, but he held back the grin. “I won’t tell her she wasn’t the first.”
“Appreciate it.” Caleb laughed, apparently letting go of the tension that had gripped him moments before. He circled the table and clapped their dad on the shoulder. “Thanks. Mom was right. It is cathartic.”
“So you’ll be back.” Robert looked up at him with hope in his eyes.
Caleb blinked suddenly wet-looking eyes. “I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
“You do that.” Robert covered Caleb’s fingers on his shoulders with his own. “It was good to see you. Maybe someday you’ll bring this Riley to meet me.”
“Maybe.” Caleb peeled his hand away. “I’ll have Mom send you some pictures from today.”
Robert smiled. “I’d like that.”
Caleb nodded, swallowing hard enough that his Adam’s apple bobbed sharply. He exited the room without looking back.
Knox could’ve followed him, but he didn’t.
Robert raised both eyebrows. “Did you want something?”
Knox didn’t know where the urge came from, but he crossed the room in quick strides. Robert leapt to his feet, like he didn’t want to be taken by surprise. Knox wrapped his arms around the older man’s shoulders, giving him a distant but sincere hug. Robert patted Knox’s back, hesitation apparent in the tense lines of his body.
Knox stepped back quickly. “It’s good to see you, old man.”
“Hey, who are you calling old?” Robert chuckled, looking a bit stunned by the turn of events.
Knox smiled. “What’re you gonna do about it?”
“Nothing, you big brute. Geez, you really bulked up, huh?”
Knox raised a shoulder in response. “And I know over twenty ways to kill someone with my bare hands.” He held his hands out in front of him like they weren’t part of him.
“Looks good on you, Knox.” Robert shook his head. “But I’m glad you’re home.”
Strangely, in this bare-walled prison across from the father he’d vilified but who was really just an aging man who missed his family, Knox was glad he was home, too. It hit him, then, that Atlanta wouldn’t feel like this, no matter how much he owed Morales. But a commitment was a commitment, and he’d only be a ten-hour drive away.
“I’ll be back.” Knox pushed the chairs Caleb and Lance sat in under the table.
“To torment me?” Robert cracked a smile.
“Why else?” Knox took another second to take stock of the man his father had become. A bit soft around the middle. A lot sorry about how things turned out. He’d been mad at his father for so long he almost didn’t recognize the new feeling. It wasn’t exactly pity, but something else. Something that felt a lot like forgiveness.
Knox caught up with Caleb and Lance in the hallway. A guard led them to the exit.
<
br /> “What was that about?” Lance asked.
Knox raised a shoulder. “I couldn’t tell you, but it sure felt good.”
“You’re crazy, you know that, right?” Lance shook his head. “Let’s get this guy back to the Beach. Wedding bells are ringing.”
“There aren’t going to be bells.” Caleb held the door for Lance and Knox.
“Wedding. Bells. Are. Ringing.” Lance punched Caleb’s arm as he passed.
Knox’s cheeks were sore. He touched them with his fingers and realized it was from smiling too wide. He waited until Caleb and Lance took the lead out to the parking lot, falling into his preferred position of bringing up the rear. Covering the exit. Keeping his eyes on his team. Caleb punched Lance back, but Lance dodged with a laugh. Knox let his cheeks ache. He didn’t know if he’d trust this much happiness if it didn’t hurt a little.
Chapter 30
By process of elimination—the eliminating factor being that everyone else, including LouLou the poodle, was in the wedding party—Danielle ended up in charge of Pops, Grandpa William’s arthritic greyhound. Danielle had arrived early to get her instructions, an ironic twist because Grandpa William had adopted Pops from her. But Danielle respectfully nodded her head while Grandpa William explained about keeping a firm hold on the leash because Pops would want to join the wedding party up front, but Riley and Caleb were insistent that LouLou be the only canine star of the wedding show. Grandpa William had then handed over a Coach travel bag of dog toys, treats, collapsible water bowl, and bottles of both filtered and sparkling water.
“He likes his bubblies.” Grandpa William had winked at her when she’d raised an eyebrow at the Perrier.
