Page 30 of Edge of Danger

And if they did, she mused as she stretched out along the back seat, she was too tired to make another successful getaway.

“WHATAREYOUdoing up?”

Brax stopped walking halfway down the stairs at the sound of his mother’s voice. She wasn’t the only person in the kitchen. Both Sheila and Clinton Patterson were up and around at four in the morning.

He found them sitting at the table, both reading a newspaper that had to still be hot off the press. Coffee was brewing in a pot.

“Well?” Sheila asked, eyeing him from over the top of a page.

“I couldn’t sleep.” He pointed from one of them to the other. “And you two? Is this the norm?”

“We’re both early birds, you know that.” Clinton set down the section he’d been reading and picked up another.

“But four o’clock?”

They exchanged a look. “Well, we were hoping to be up when the baby wakes. You said he gets up before dawn.”

“I should’ve known.” Brax snickered, taking a seat at the table. “You’re incorrigible.”

But it meant the world to him. Watching his parents fall in love with his nephew. They’d taken the news in stride—neither of them had a great opinion of Robert, so the news of him skipping town and handing guardianship over hadn’t shocked them much.

It only made sense for him to bring Walker to meet them. After all, they were the people who’d taught Brax what it meant to be part of a family.

“What kept you from sleeping?” Sheila leaned in with a motherly expression, otherwise known asscrutiny. “I don’t like those circles under your eyes.”

“Thanks.” He leaned back in his chair with a shrug and remembered being a kid. New to the entire concept of family. Resenting the questions his foster mother asked.

He wasn’t that kid anymore.

Which was what made him sit up straight. “I kept worrying about the woman who takes care of Walker while I’m at work.”

“Tessa, right?” Clinton asked, lowering the paper. “You mentioned her.”

“Right. She’s young, and she strikes me as being...wounded somehow. I wish I could explain it. She’s troubled. Jumpy sometimes. She never offers any information about herself other than having taken care of Walker for a little while back in Eagle Pass. I gave her the weekend off to take care of herself since she’s been with Walker twenty-four seven for two weeks straight. She deserved it.”

“You said she stays with you?” his dad asked.

“Yes.”

“So she’s at the house now? Why not call her?”

“For one thing, it’s not even dawn yet. She’s probably asleep. For another, no, she’s not at the house. I don’t know where she went. She didn’t share her plans.”

Sheila cocked her head to the side. Brax knew that move. It meant he was in trouble.

“When did you give her this gift of free time?”

“Thursday night. I told her I’d taken the weekend off and she should do the same.”

“And you forced her out of the house? Two weeks after forcing her to move in with you?”

“I didn’t force her to do anything, Mom.”

Clinton cleared his throat. “What your mother is trying to say is, you gave that poor girl nowhere to go. What if she didn’t have much money saved up? Not everybody can book a hotel room at the last minute. No wonder you’re worried about her. Your subconscious is nagging you.”

“You said she’s secretive and jumpy,” Sheila added. “What if you’re her only means of safety right now? She couldn’t have been living a safe, steady sort of life if she was able to pick up and move into your spare bedroom at a moment’s notice. You could be the godsend she was waiting for.”

“Oh, no.” He held his head in his hands. Why hadn’t he seen it sooner? “I should’ve thought about that. It’s obvious she’s been hiding something. She looked so fragile and alone when I first met her.”

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