Page 135 of Eight Years Gone

“I’m sorry I can’t be more help with the babysitter.”

“We figured it was a long shot but wanted to ask anyway.”

“You kids make sure you keep in touch.”

“We will. Thanks, Colonel Hinders.”

“Anytime. Bye, now.”

“Bye.” He pulled Grace closer as she quietly sniffled. “Will you look at me?”

She turned in his arms as tears trailed down her cheeks. “He knew we were together again.”

He nodded. “It sounds like he did.”

Her chin quivered as more tears fell. “He knew he’d been wrong. He could have come to us. He could have tried to fix things before it was too late. Why didn’t he try?”

He caught the next tear with his thumb as her new wave of grief broke his heart. “He was a proud man. Maybe he didn’t know how. I’m sure he thought he had more time.”

“I’ve been so angry at him.”

“The present doesn’t erase the past,” he reminded her.

She shut her eyes as she shook her head. “God, Jagger, everything’s such a mess.”

He stroked her soft skin. “Yeah, it is.”

She met his gaze again. “What if he cheated on my mom? What if I really do have a brother out there?”

“Then we’ll do our best to figure everything out.”

She impatiently swiped at her hair as she huffed out a breath. “All of this is coming at me so fast. I’m starting to realize I hardly knew my dad. He was never father of the year, but I thought he and my mom had a strong marriage.”

“It’s possible that they did. Nothing’s for sure at this point, Grace.”

She shook her head. “It’s more than just the journals and the potential adultery. I had no idea he was passionate about building charitable hospitals and helping overseas.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear as it fell against her cheek again. “You two hadn’t talked for a long time.”

“We were strangers. Colonel Hinders knew him better than I did. Bea, too. Everyone knew him better than I did.”

He saw the agony in her big blue eyes—how clearly this was messing her up. “You knew the best and worst parts of your dad. I’ve seen the pictures of him carrying you or Logan around on his shoulders at the beach or him holding you two on his lap, grinning with you guys on Christmas mornings while you opened your gifts.”

“He was so rarely that man—or at least after Mom died.”

“Your dad had the capacity to be incredibly kind and generous. Steve was funny as hell. But he could also be a dick—the guy who put his own needs first.” He caressed her skin. “But he was your dad.”

She nodded as a tear trailed down her cheek. “I loved him.”

“He loved you too. You and Logan both.”

“He did. Not the way we needed him to, but he did.”

He kissed her, eager to soothe away the worst of her pain. “All of this has been a lot.”

She nodded, wiping away another tear.

“We’re not going to find any more answers tonight.”

---