Page 71 of Operation: Unify

The moment he searched her eyes, all he found was forgiveness and love.

“I don’t hold our past against you. What happened is in the past. It may have started with you, but I wasn’t strong enough to fight back, to ask the questions I should’ve. I didn’t refuse when I should have. You couldn’t force me to sign, but I did. Instead of waiting and finding out what the issue was, I gave in. I gave you the divorce. I’m sorry for that too.”

“I don’t hold that against you. I was in no condition to wait for you or argue with you. Which was another reason to be sorry.” He’d been so angry when he came home. After serving, nothing felt right. Moving back into civilian life had been a shock to his system and Lacy hadn’t been a part of the military, he’d assumed she wouldn’t understand his frustrations.

“Either way, we both understand where we were coming from and can move forward. Right?” Her brows lifted in question.

“Agreed.” He wanted to kiss her, right there in the glow of the Christmas tree. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulledout a small velvet covered box. He slowly opened it to reveal a single gold band.

“What’s this? I have a ring that I love already . . .” Lacy’s brows dipped.

“I talked to a jeweler who said that you can wear this separately if you want to or he can solder the two together. I wanted something to signify what we’ve been through and the new promise between us. Will you accept this as a promise to be faithful to you for the rest of my life? To never leave your side, ever again?” He held out the box to her.

Her fingers gingerly took the box, and she stared at it. “I wasn’t expecting this. I don’t know what to say. I’m not going to leave you, Connor.”

He let himself smile. “I know. At least, my head knows. I’m still working on the rest of me getting the memo, but I’m working on it. It would mean a lot to me if you wore that ring to remind the world, and me, that we’ve already been through the fire and made it through to the other side.”

She slipped the ring from the plush pillow that held it and slid it on above her wedding ring. The band was narrow, smaller even than the band of the first ring. It was delicate and the color perfectly matched the original ring.

“Yes, I’ll wear it. I’ll remember what we’ve been through, and I’ll fight from now on to keep us together.”

He gently kissed her. It was quick, too much and his emotions would take over. He felt far too much for this woman to play with fire. “I wish I could marry you in the chapel this time.”

Her eyes dimmed for a mere second. “We’ll rebuild it, but I don’t want to wait that long, if you don’t mind.” She grinned. “I’ve waited a long time as it is.”

“Agreed. I have to get some things settled between Brendon, myself, and Ferd. Not to mention this family get together andfinding Randy a job. We need to find some type of closure for Melinda. After that, we can set a date. Fair?”

“Absolutely.” She looked down at her rings again. “In the meantime, let’s go have our TV time before it gets too late to watch anything.” She laughed. “I’m getting too old to stay up late like I used to.”

He followed her up the stairs, unable to keep from grinning. Life was not only returning to normal, but looking up. Just a few more weeks of uncertainty and he could have all things he’d dreamed of for years.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Christmas Day dawned bright and crisp with the sun shining brightly off the snow. In the distance, Connor could see the blackened remains of the chapel. That, too, was on his list of things to clean up and rectify before spring.

He tugged his button up shirt over a clean tee, and slowly fixed each button. While he normally didn’t care what he chose to wear, today mattered more than usual. He didn’t know his brothers anymore. What did they do in life? Where did they work? At forty, his oldest brother likely had a solid career.

A soft knock drew his attention. He turned as Lacy opened his door. She wore her usual jean, but her top was a thin sweater that looked butter soft. The color was chocolate brown and complimented her eyes and hair. “You look amazing.”

She grinned. “Thank you. You clean up pretty well yourself. I wanted to come in and talk to you instead of having you go down and talk to Brendon.”

“Brendon?” His worry spiked. What could be wrong on Christmas Day? Couldn’t the bad things in the world hold off for a little while?

“Yeah. Officer Nixon finally had a chance to talk with his guys yesterday. I guess they all went to his room for the holiday. One of them talked to him about Melinda. He told them to call New Mexico and ask if either Tod or Cal had returned. They haven’t.”

Acid burned his stomach. “So, they’re still here.”

“Most likely. I just wanted to let you know. Unfortunately, the situation is far from over. I’m glad Blake asked them to take the initiative, but I hate telling Melinda that they’re still here.”

He took a deep breath and tried to think clearly about the situation. Likely, they didn’t know where she was. The trouble with that was, if they started asking around town, there were very few other places for people to hide in Piper’s Ridge. Worse, if he described either of them to anyone in town, they would immediately know who Connor and Lacy were.

“We can’t wait this out and hope they don’t find her, but we also can’t go out there and look for trouble.”

“I know. Nadine isn’t working today, but she can if you want her to.” Lacy bit her lip.

“I can’t ask her to work on Christmas Day. The guys will be out doing their normal chores and visiting. They will notice anyone coming in who doesn’t belong.”

“Except your brothers and their families are coming.” Her brows rose.

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