Page 5 of Rescuing Carolyn

“Right.” Charlotte tickled Austin’s tummy and gave him a smile. Her eyes flicked toward Zach, but she said nothing about his sudden reappearance.

The paramedics cleared me and Austin before checking my employees. Jenna had cuts on her fingers from picking jewels out of the shattered glass cases, but other than that, everyone was fine. Once I knew everyone was okay, I looked around at the damage and the herd of law enforcement officers and security personnel in my store.

“What a mess,” Charlotte said. “I’ll take care of calling the insurance company and finishing up here.” She waved at the police presence. “You and Austin go on home.”

“I think we will.” I was relieved at my sister’s suggestion. “Call me later.”

“I’ll drive you.” Zach pushed off the wall where he’d been leaning. For the first time, I noticed his uniform: black tactical pants and a black shirt with a security firm’s logo on the chest. That’s how he’d been here, I realized. When had he left the service?

“I…” For a second, I imagined telling him to go away, that I wanted nothing to do with him. It would serve him right, after what he’d done. But then I noticed the way that my hands were shaking. Did I really want to drive like this—with Austin in the car, no less? No, accepting a ride would be the smart thing to do. Even if it came from Zach. “Thanks,” I forced myself to say. “I’d appreciate it.”

“We’ll take your car. I don’t have a child seat.” His eyes lingered on Austin’s face before he turned, walking ahead of me and seeming to clear the way. He could always do that: command a room just by walking into it. He made it so easy to just get swept up in whatever he had in mind. But by now, I knew better than to get caught up in his spell. I’d accept the ride—and then Zach and I would part ways, for good. Again.

3

ZACH

“I’ve moved,” Carolyn said after I started her car.

She’d taken her time settling her son, the child I was sure was our son, in his car seat.

“Where to?” I managed to ask, but my mind was reeling. Seeing her again, after all this time, would have been enough to knock me for a loop even if we’d just run into each other at the grocery store or the gas station. Seeing her threatened, knowing she might die…that would be enough to give me new nightmares in the nights to come. But then on top of all of those other shocks, there was Austin. Our son. Named after my middle name. It was a hell of a thing to digest and not something I could ever have anticipated when the call came in to assist the local police with a hostage situation.

She gave me an address, one I recognized as being in the older section of town where houses had front porches, gingerbread trim, and big backyards. I remembered those houses because I’d been jealous of the kids who lived in them. Kids, I’d assumed, with better lives than me and my brothers had after our mother left. Kids whose fathers didn’t alternate between being dead drunk and using their sons as punching bags. I should be happy that Austin was being raised somewhere nice—it was certainly the kind of life that I would have wanted for any child of mine—but somehow it felt like a slap in the face that I was totally excluded from it. Even though we’d broken up, I still couldn’t believe she hadn’t even told me about my son.

I checked the mirrors to ease into traffic and caught a glimpse of Austin in the back seat. His head was tipped to the side, eyes closed. Asleep already. I’d heard Carolyn tell the paramedic that Austin was fourteen months old. I calculated back fourteen months, plus nine for her pregnancy. The math worked. We’d conceived a baby on that last leave I shared with her before she broke things off between us, ending our engagement.

It also meant that I had missed more than a year of my son’s life. Anger welled in me, and only the controlled calm I’d learned from years of watching and waiting as a sniper kept it inside.

I could wait and confront Carolyn when our son didn’t have a front-row seat to witness it. Austin might be asleep now, but I had no way of knowing if he was a light sleeper. And I wasn’t going to take the chance of him waking up to hear me and his mom in an argument. No kid should have to witness such a thing. I knew that firsthand, after all the fights I saw and heard between my mom and dad. After all the times Dad yelled at Mom—bullied her, berated her, even beat her more than once—it wasn’t that surprising that she’d decided to leave. I still couldn’t figure how she’d left her own sons, though. I’d been seven when she went to the grocery store and never came back, my brothers, Colin and Alex, had been even younger. And she’d left us behind, at the mercy of a violent drunk, with no one to count on but each other.

Our home life had been shit until the Admiral rescued us, becoming our foster father.

Thinking about my dad always made me all the more determined to keep my cool, to not let my temper show. The last thing in the world that I wanted was to be like him. But at the same time, remembering the past made the present feel even worse. How could Carolyn, who knew about my past, cut me out of my son’s life? Didn’t she know how important it was to me to make sure that no child of mine ever felt abandoned by a parent the way I had been? After her own problems with her father, I’d have thought she’d be more understanding. Guess I’d never really known her at all.

“The white house with green trim,” she said softly when we’d turned onto her street. “You can pull into the garage.” She hit a button on the visor.

I waited while the garage door rose. It gave me time to study the house. It was exactly what I always pictured on this street. Long, narrow windows faced onto a wraparound front porch. The front door and trim were painted the green of spring grass. The small front yard was full of summer flowers in pink and white. An idyllic family home and one she had not wanted me to be part of.

I parked in the garage. Without a word, she got out and lifted Austin from his seat. When she went to shoulder a bag loaded down with kid stuff, I took it from her and followed her into the house. She might not want me there, but I wasn’t leaving until I got an explanation. We entered the kitchen, which was cheerful, with white cabinets and yellow trim. Carolyn always did love bright colors in her clothes and surroundings.

“I need to take care of Austin,” she said. The little boy was sleepily looking around the kitchen. “The paramedic suggested keeping his routine in place so he doesn’t dwell on what happened.”

“I’ll wait.” Was she hoping I’d leave? Not likely.

“He needs to eat and have a bath before bed,” she explained. “You can go in the living room. It’s through there.” She pointed. “I’m not rushing on your account.”

Maybe she didn’t realize how much of my time as a sharpshooter was spent waiting. I could be patient, especially since the environment in her home was much nicer than what I was used to when watching a target.

“I’ll check around outside first.” The robbery at the store was probably random, but it didn’t hurt to be careful. “Are the doors and windows locked?”

“Should be,” she answered and reached in a cabinet for a bowl, turning her back on me.

Being with her in her home was surreal. Before she ended our engagement, we’d shared an apartment—shared everything, I’d thought. Except what she’d been feeling. She’d kept that hidden until the end…and then she’d blindsided me with it, right before I was about to head out overseas.

With another look at Austin, now sitting in a highchair and gobbling Goldfish, I slipped outside to walk the perimeter of the fenced yard. I wished I knew what to say to my son, but I had no clue how to begin interacting with him, or even if Carolyn would let me. It seemed clear that she didn’t want me to be part of his life.

So I did what I was trained to do. I checked a rear gate before circling to the front, automatically evaluating the home’s weak points. Where could an assailant easily enter? The house was well built, but there were too many windows exposing it to potential attacks.

---