Page 55 of Forever My Soldier

“Then who is? Because if there was someone better for her, more capable of loving her, protecting her, and keeping her safe, someone that was going to stand by her forever and never let her go, never hurt her, then I’d let her go without a fight. But I don’t see anyone around that fits that description.” I couldn’t believe I was even saying all of this to him, but here I was divulging everything that was in my heart.

“You were so young when you met. You got too serious too fast. Do you think that makes me feel good, knowing my daughter is acting recklessly? You came back for a second there and she got pregnant, Deacon.”

“I had no idea she was pregnant and I know I wasn’t there for her and that hurt her, but I had no choice. I had an obligation to the Army, so I left, but I never heard from her again.”

“I never served myself, and I respect you and your father for doing that, but not at the expense of my daughter.”

“I’d think you’d appreciate a man who sticks by his commitments, who can’t be faulted for something he never knew. Isn’t that what you and your wife think when it comes to Jenna and Michael—she didn’t know he was married, so she can’t be at fault. But you did. Both of you. All three of you, in fact, made her the other woman.”

He grinned. “You know, if you weren’t with my daughter, I could actually like you, Deacon.”

“What do you say we forget that little fact then and you just like me anyway?”

“Francesca’s husband is a good, stable man, but he doesn’t have an ounce of passion. Not like you.”

“You don’t say?”

“I had passion once before, too, you know. I wasn’t always so stodgy. Jenna was just a few months old the last time I was deliriously happy. I had two beautiful girls and a wife who I loved with every fiber of my being. We were married for six years by then. I wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary, so I chartered a private boat and planned the whole thing. Just me, my wife and my girls on a cruise to the Caribbean. At the time it was the thing to do, so I figured we’d do it, too.

“My wife didn’t like the idea of going to the Caribbean, though. She said it was not where people of our social standing went. She didn’t understand why I couldn’t just book us a flight to Paris. But I was enamored with the whole tropical thing, wanted to just live life and have fun. The whole thing was planned and we were ready to set sail, but Jenna’s mother still hadn’t come around to the idea. She was nervous traveling on a boat with an infant, but I insisted it would be fine.

“On the day we were ready to leave, we were at the docks and I held Jenna tight in my arms, not wanting her mother to worry and letting her and Francesca stay huddled together. Francesca always was a comfort to my wife. Anyway, they were already aboard and with little Jenna in my arms, I was about to join them when I heard gunshots.”

I sucked in a deep breath at the horror. “What happened?”

“The captain I hired to take us was shot dead a mere feet away from Jenna and I,” he explained. “The gunman ran away as soon as he saw the body fall, hitting the deck, blood everywhere. Still to this day, I have no idea what motivated that man to do what he did.”

“Did the authorities ever find him?”

He shook his head. “No, but even if they did, it wouldn’t have made a difference for us. It forever changed our family.”

“Just a baby, Jenna could’ve been hurt, or worse,” I said, absorbing it all.

“To think my reckless notions could’ve taken her from me,” he said, shaking his head at the memory. “My wife used it against me, blamed me for so long it became the one thing that always sat between us. It was my fault and she made sure I knew it.”

“There’s no way that was your fault.”

He shrugged. “Had I not insisted, we wouldn’t have been in danger.”

“That was a long time ago, though, and everyone was fine.”

“Except for our captain. A good man.”

I nodded. “You can’t blame yourself.”

“I do and ever since then I promised myself I would never let anything come to hurt my family again, to endanger them.”

“I’m not a danger to your family,” I reminded him. Although, I was glad he shared that and could finally understand what motivated his and his wife’s actions all these years. Misguided as they were.

He closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands. “What do you want me to say to you, Deacon? That I’ll defy my wife again, that I’ll have your back when it’s something she is so vehemently opposed to? You saw firsthand the lengths she’s gone to for our daughter, to keep you apart.”

I smirked. “It’d be nice, but really I suppose I’d just like you to acknowledge that I love your daughter.”

“That I can do.”

“Good because I’d like to marry her.”

He sucked in a breath and looked up at me again finally. “You would?”

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