Page 97 of The Archer Brothers

“Therewillbe a trial. You’ll get your day in court. I’ll make sure of it.”

Cara kisses me again before climbing into her car. We have family plans later at Evan and Ryley’s. Our mom and Livvie will be there, as well as Jensen and Carole. It’ll be nice for us all to be together again. We haven’t had that in a long time.

Evan and I get in the car, both letting out a sigh of relief. “Where to?” I ask as I pull away from the curb.

“Magoo’s,” he says without hesitation and I agree with him that we could use a beer right about now. I careen to a stop when a loud boom shakes my car. A quick look in the rearview mirror confirms my worst fears as a fireball projects toward the sky. We get out and run toward River’s, but we’re too late. The house is fully engulfed in flames and before I can call for help, sirens wail in the background.

FOR A LONG TIME I hated coming to the beach because it reminded me of Evan. When he came back to me, he didn’t hesitate to bring me out here. At first I was uncomfortable but those uneasy feelings quickly subsided because he was here with me.

Tonight marks six months since everything came to light, since a bomb leveled River’s house and Frannie went on the run. My life could be so different right now, but by the grace of God, I’m whole. I hate thinking about what could’ve been but when I close my eyes or hear the screech of tires, I know that I’m lucky that Evan and Nate walked out of River’s house when they did. If they hadn’t, EJ and I would be alone right now.

I’ve had enoughaloneto last me a lifetime.

Evan and I have both been going to therapy and, for the most part, it helps. I have so much anger that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to curb it. Not until Frannie is behind bars. I don’t know if that will ever happen, but I hope for my sanity it does. I don’t want to always be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life and, as long as she’s out there running around, that’s what I’m going to be doing.

The ocean is calm tonight with only the occasional crashing wave. My toes are buried in the sand and my arms are covered with a sweater. I can’t decide if I’m hot or cold right now. Evan sits down behind me, surrounding me with his hulking form. Leaning into him, he wraps his arms around my shoulders.

“Are you sad that this is our last night here?”

I shake my head. After everything happened, we decided to sell our house and move back to Washington. Our new place is about a block from the beach, but it’s different there. When the Department of Defense got involved, we knew it’d take years before anyone went to trial and we didn’t want to wait. The Navy also offered Evan a very nice “please retire and don’t sue us” package that was too good to pass up. Besides, he said he’s never leaving me again so he really can’t be an active member of the military.

It’s odd to think that he’s retired, though, at such a young age and I don’t know how I’m going to deal with him at home all the time but we’ll manage… I hope. Evan asked Nate to go into the private security business with him, but Nate hasn’t given him an answer. He wants to provide security detail for Washington’s finest, or anyone who needs him. He also wants to have the resources to help McCoy search for his wife and daughter.

I have a feeling Nate is planning on asking Cara to marry him, which means he’ll be moving to the East Coast once his enlistment is done. He’s leaving the Navy too. Nate tells me things, we gossip like high school girls, but it’s mostly for advice. We’re still best friends, and Evan knows that will never change.

My SEALs, my warriors, have chosen home as their battlefield.

“I’m going to miss my parents, though.”

“They won’t be far behind us,” he says, as he kisses my shoulder. “We can stay until your mom retires, if you want.”

“No, I want to be settled before EJ starts school. We’ll fly down. Besides, it’ll be awhile. She’s not ready to quit, not now.”

Evan and I sit in a peaceful calm, watching the sunset over the ocean. I am going to miss this, but I think getting far away from Coronado is for the best. I want to put all the bad memories behind us and start over back where Evan and I began.

I shift in his arms, dropping the folded piece of paper I’ve been holding.

“What’s that?” he asks, picking it up from the sand before I can. I place my hand over his and shake my head. “What’s wrong?”

“I was going to bury it out here tonight.” I adjust so my legs are wrapped around him, so I can look him in the eyes and tell him how I feel. “Before you left for basic, you wrote me a goodbye letter and gave it to Nate. After you came home, he found it and gave it to me. I never read it. I didn’t want to because the words wouldn’t have any meaning since you were home.”

Evan holds the folded square between his fingertips as if he’s trying to read the words. Part of me is curious to know what he wrote. Did he tell me to move on? Avenge his death? Did he promise to come home and never leave me?

“Do you want to read it?” he asks.

“No, I don’t. I have you so that letter is meaningless and you’re never leaving me, so I don’t need it anymore.”

Evan slants his head and kisses me softly as if he’s trying to memorize my lips. When he pulls away, he rests his forehead against mine. “I have an idea,” he says as he uses his strength to pull us up. He carries me to the fire he started earlier and once we get there, he taps my bottom and I unlock my legs so I can get down.

“The night I wrote this letter you tried to break-up with me, that’s about all I remember. I’m tempted to read it, but that would be morbid and probably bad luck and with us driving to Washington tomorrow, we don’t need anything bad happening. So I’m proposing that we burn this so we never have to see it again.”

My heart skips when he says propose. I thought for sure he would’ve asked me to marry him again by now, but he hasn’t. He could consider us already engaged and might be waiting for me to throw a date out there. I’m too much of a chicken shit to bring it up because it’s possible he’s suffering from PTSD and getting married is the last thing on his mind.

I cup my hand over his and smile. “Let’s burn it,” I say as we toss it into the flame. The paper is old and takes no time to ignite and turn to ash. I like knowing that I’ll never know the words that he wrote and I love that he’ll never have to say them again.

“Hey,” Evan says as I stretch in the passenger seat. I smile and look out the window. We’ve driven through most of the major cities and almost out of California. As soon as we were off our block I closed my eyes. I couldn’t say goodbye to the home we shared, the place where we blossomed as a couple. Even with all the bad, Coronado kept us together.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t watch as we left. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

---