Page 84 of Defending Casey

Chapter 14

Hale liftedthe top of the cooler as soon as he and Zeke set it down on the porch. “Y’all want a beer? Water? Pop?”

Stone picked out a water and shook his head. “Y’all? Okay there, cowboy.”

Zeke lifted the tab on his beer with a grin. “Well, he is Hondo.”

“Point taken.” Nodding in understanding, Stone twisted the cover off of his water bottle and tucked it in the pocket of his jeans. “I remember the first time we met,” he gave Hale a shrug, “you were a little standoffish when you joined Special Forces.”

Hale took a seat on the top step. “Not social enough for you?”

“Social? Not really, but you warmed up… like left over soup. Still, you became a part of the group.” Stone shook his head. “It was only recently that we started worrying about you. We figured you’d find a way to dig out from under it.”

“What are you talking about?”

Stone slid a look at Zeke and Zeke was the one to speak next.

“It was when we were talking about taking the job here in Fool’s Gold. We were all hurting back then.”

Hale nodded. “It wasn’t easy to leave the Army, but it’s not like we had a choice.”

“Well, we did.” Bodie stated the obvious and they all took a moment, considering they could have ended up with a big dark mark on their records if they hadn’t made the choice they did.

Zeke blew out a breath. “You were the one that was getting a chance to go home, and I think out of all of us, you were the one who looked like it was the last thing you wanted to do.”

Hale managed a half smile. “I guess I didn’t sell any of you on the idea.”

Clint almost choked on his beer. “Yeah. No. The way you were reacting we thought you might have a warrant for your arrest or something else hanging over your head.”

“Instead,” Hale chuckled, “I came back here, trying to avoid Casey for as long as I could only to find out that I should have come back here a lot sooner.” Sighing, he took a sip of his water. “It’s crazy, you know? I spend all these years thinking I was going to end up alone and now I’ve got a daughter, a fiancée, and I’m fixing up our-”

“Wait.” Zeke clapped his hand on Hale’s shoulder. “What did you say?”

“I have a dau-”

Bodie jumped in. “Fast forward a little.”

Hale smiled at his friends and enjoyed their shocked and bewildered faces. “You mean the fixing part or the part where I gave Casey my grandma’s ring?”

“Damn it, Hondo!” Stone shook his head. “You’re not taking your time with this are you?”

Shrugging, Hale gave them all a look. “It’s already been ten years and then some. I don’t want to wait. Neither does Casey. And I have to say the idea of waking up under this roof with my wife and kids sounds damn good.”

It took Hale a moment to realize what he’d said and why the others were looking at each other like they were dismantling a bomb with their teeth.

“No, no. Casey’s not pregnant.”

Zeke was the one who brushed things off the fastest. “Wouldn’t bother me any. Besides it might be good to have someone else around to compare notes since Evangeline’s pregnant too.”

Hale smiled at his friend. “You never know. We’re not pregnant now, but it’s not like we’re waiting to try for another.”

Stone pressed his cold drink to his cheek. “Heat stroke. I must be getting heat stroke from all this baby talk.”

Nudging Hale with his shoulder, Zeke waved off Stone’s joke. “Hey, when you know, you know. There’s no need to sit around twiddling your thumbs.”

Clint laughed. “I don’t think Hondo’s playing anything right now. If he’s putting his mind to it-”

“And a few other things,” Hale added in.

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