Page 75 of Embattled Return

“Very,” she agreed. “What are the chances we talk about this and decide against it and it happens? We jinxed ourselves.”

“Apparently,” he sighed, and there was a somber note in the sound.

“Chad and Lora,” she said, guessing what he was thinking about.

“Yeah,” he said. “Maybe we can keep this under wraps for just a bit?”

She leaned up to look in his eyes. “I had kind of decided that as well. She’s not in a good place right now.”

“It’s not our place to interfere, but we can try not to hurt them unnecessarily.”

“Agreed. So it will be our little secret for now.”

“Yes,” he said, leaning in for a kiss.

Shannon loved John with her entire being, and she loved that they shared one mind and one heart. Chad and Lora were their friends, and they wouldn’t hurt them for anything.

“So, let’s curl up in bed and dream about what this baby will be.”

Shannon laughed and slid off his lap. “Sounds perfect to me.”

Epilogue

One Month Later

Logan kept waitingfor the pain, but it never came. Well, there was everyday, bone-creaking pain, of course, but it wasn’t the soul-eating emotional kind that made him want to eat a bullet.

He still worried about Lisa and Ashley. The fact that Lisa had looked for him at Walter Reed gave him hope that at some point she might be able to talk to him. Ashley had texted him a few times, just silly memes and things to make him chuckle. He’d sent her one serious picture of his team posed in front of the barracks about a month before the bombing. It was a good pic because everyone was actually smiling and looking at the camera, and Trent looked like he always did, happy and open, his arm slung around Logan’s shoulders. Ashley had responded with a heart and a crying icon, as well as a thank you.

Logan was okay with waiting for Lisa to contact him. He knew she would eventually. Until then, he’d keep his head down and focused.

The job that John had given him was as in-depth and nuanced as anything he’d ever worked on before, and as soon as he was done with it there was more work waiting. They hadn’t been lying when they’d said they had as much work as they wanted. More times than he could count, he’d gone out to the reception area and Shannon or Marigold was guiding a weeping woman through the door to Duncan’s office, or a worried couple, or angry men, all looking for an answer to their problems. They didn’t take all of the cases simply because they didn’t have the manpower. Somehow, Duncan weeded through the cases that needed them the most.

Logan had worked with Marines before and hadn’t been impressed. Duncan Wilde and the group that he’d created put them all to shame.

Logan looked around his office. It wasn’t his exclusively, but he shared it with two graveyard shift guys, and they weren’t here right now, obviously. Marigold had bought him a plant to go on the corner of his desk. It had broad green leaves and trailing arms, but she promised that it was very hardy. He enjoyed looking at the plant, and watering it, and he couldn’t decide why for a long time. Then it occurred to him. It was something he needed to take care of. And it was something else to anchor him into the world. That plant on this desk meant commitment and people depending upon him.

Then his grandparents had gotten him anInvestigator Logan Vancebrass nameplate for his desk. It would be a while before he was certified to be an investigator in the state of Colorado, but he appreciated their enthusiasm for his job.

The Showalters had become a very important part of his life. They had lunch at least once a week, and he and Marigold had been to the house twice, once for a birthday party for two of the great-grand children with close birthdays and a second time because Karen, his active duty aunt, came home for a visit. It was a little crazy, but she looked familiar to Logan, and they realized they had been on several of the same forts at the same time, so there was a very real possibility that they had seen each other before. The thought that he had been so close to legitimate family and hadn’t known it bedeviled him. She was a fascinating woman and viewed her time in the service very differently than he had. Karen had been in combat and had led men into danger many times, and had lost men as well, but viewed the losses with pride.

“Those men served exactly as they meant to serve, and they all knew that their lives could be snuffed out in combat. There’s no need for you to feel guilty for their loss. You were doing your job, as were they. No regrets.”

Yeah, that was the sticking point, though. He had regrets. Thanks to the LNF job he was now working with a counselor and getting all those regrets out in the open. It was painful and harrowing, but somehow cleansing, as well. And he knew it would be a process.

Logan glanced out the window. Spring was coming to Colorado, and he was the happiest he’d been in a very long time.

“Hey, babe. Here’s that info you needed on the McClain wrap-up.”

Logan looked up at Marigold. The woman wore a pair of black pants, short heels and a red blouse that went really well with her dark hair. It was curled slightly and hung over one shoulder. Those squarish black glasses were high on her nose, and she looked damn cute. And damn intelligent. Yes, he was in the slot for investigator, but she could totally do the job herself.

Marigold seemed content to help Shannon for now. In the fall she would start her undergrad psychiatry classes and things would change.

“I’m going to miss you when you start classes,” Logan told her, already worried about the loss.

Marigold made a face. “I know. I’m going to miss everyone here and I’m going to have a serious case of FOMO.”

Logan snorted, shaking his head. “I don’t think you’ll miss anything too big. If you do, we’ll whisper about it in bed.”

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