Page 107 of Forged in Steele

“She thought she was her daughter, right?”

Bristol nodded. “Which is why she took such good care of her.”

“We should give Luna a quick check-up.” The doctor flipped her ponytail over her shoulder.

“I’m not letting her go,” Mrs. Pratt said. “You’ll have to do it while I hold her.”

The doctor smiled. “I can do that.”

“We’ll just be going,” Jared said.

“I’d like to check back in with you later if you don’t mind,” Bristol said.

“Please come here.” Mrs. Pratt held out her hand.

Bristol crossed the room and took the beaming mother’s hand, surprised to find it cold.

“I will never be able to thank you enough,” she said. “I was rude and mean, and yet you did your job and brought Luna back to us. Know that I thank you for all you did. Both of you. And the many others who helped too. Please offer our thanks to them.”

“We’re glad we could help.” Bristol squeezed and released the mother’s hand then backed out, nodding at Toni on the way.

Bristol expected to find Adair in the hallway, but he’d departed. She looked up at Jared and worked hard to hold her emotions in check as they stepped out of the birthing center. The elevator doors opened, and her family poured out. Her mom and dad rushed up to her.

Bristol wasn’t surprised to see her dad, her sisters, and all three of her cousins as they’d been working in the training room, but they had to have called her mom once they’d heard Bristol was missing.

Her dad, his eyes moist, scooped her into a hug. “We were terrified, Baby Girl.”

His tender use of her nickname tore at her heart. After losing Thomas, such a scare had to have taken them to nearly unbearable pain again. “If I’d known Reya was alive, I wouldn’t have gone alone to the house.”

“You still shouldn’t have gone alone.” Her dad pushed her to arm’s length and frowned. “You never know when a killer might return to the scene of the crime.”

“My fault,” Jared said.

Her dad eyed Jared.

“I was in charge, and I let her go.” Jared’s eyes narrowed. “It was a rookie mistake I shouldn’t have made, and I take full responsibility. Honestly, I let losing a child in an abduction a few years ago push me to move faster than I should, and it could’ve ended badly.”

“Takes a good officer to admit his mistake,” her dad said. “Now promise you’ll learn from it.”

“I will. Have.” Jared looked at Bristol, and the depth of his affection for her warmed her body clean through.

“So it’s like that, huh?” Her dad crossed his arms.

“Now, Gene,” her mother said. “We all make mistakes, and you will not hold that against Jared.”

“I won’t if you say I won’t.” Her father smiled at her mother, a loving, I-aim-to-please kind of smile.

“Then while we’re confessing,” Jared said. “I’m the guy who bailed on Bristol at summer camp.”

“Aha!” Teagan pumped her fist. “I knew it!”

Bristol looked at her older cousin. “Did Grandad tell you?”

“Grandad?” Her eyes creased. “No. You two have some major unspoken vibes going on. Vibes that were too strong to develop so quickly, and your camp guy was the only one you ever felt so deeply about. So I put two and two together and shazam. Jared is camp guy.”

“I thought we did a good job of hiding it,” Bristol said.

“In a family of law enforcement officers?” Teagan grinned. “Not possible.”

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