seems every time I turned around, he was leaving again. Mom never seemed to mind. Or if she did, she simply accepted it.”
“She knew what the life was like when she married him, didn’t she?”
“Of course, but in my opinion, they shouldn’t have brought kids into it.”
“That’s pretty harsh, don’t you think?”
She locked her gaze on his. “After one particularly nasty confrontation with the general, I asked him why they had us. You know what his answer was?”
“No.”
“‘I agreed to shut your mom up. Kids were her idea. I just went along with it because I was tired of hearing her whine about it.’”
“Okay, that was harsh.” He paused. “He really said that?”
“A direct quote.” She set the half-eaten bowl of ice cream on the coffee table. “Just for the record, my mother never whined about anything—not even when she was dying from stomach cancer.”
He stilled. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
“I am too.”
“She was strong.”
“So very strong.”
“You’re like her.”
She started, then smiled. “I’d love to think so.”
“Regardless of what he said or whether you believe it or not, your father loves you.”
Sarah gave a light snort. “No, he doesn’t. He’s learned he needs to put on the appearance of loving us—such as flying to Afghanistan when he thought I was going to die—but he doesn’t.”
Gavin thought he was beyond feeling shocked these days, but found himself stunned that she truly believed what she was saying. “He wouldn’t do the things he does if love wasn’t behind it.” Would he? He flashed to the man’s devastation when he’d walked into her hospital room to tell her Dustin was dead. That kind of agony couldn’t be faked. And the worry on his face when he practically ordered Gavin to be her personal bodyguard? Was that fake? If he didn’t care, why bother?
She shot him a look that could only be described as pity. “Are you really that naive?”
“Naive? I don’t think I’ve ever been accused of that before.” Was he? He knew it was a sad fact that not everyone loved their children, but he didn’t get that from the general. Quite the opposite, actually.
“Just because you have a great relationship with your father,” she said, “doesn’t mean everyone does.”
“What makes you think my relationship is great with him?”
“The tat.”
Gavin glanced at his right forearm. A man and young child sat on the end of a dock, fishing lines dipped in the water. They wore matching jerseys with the name Black across the top. “Oh. Okay, yeah, I consider him one of my best friends, but that doesn’t mean I have blinders on. Trust me, your father loves you.”
She gave a small sigh. “I’m sorry you’ve fallen for his act. I won’t. So, let’s just agree to disagree and figure out what the next step in Plan B is.”
“Plan B? What’s Plan B and what happened to Plan A?”
“Plan A is to figure out what truly was going on with Dustin. Plan B is to find Brianne.”
Okay, apparently this time there was going to be a Plan B.
CHAPTER
TWELVE
After reassuring Caden that she was fine and asking him one more time to try a little harder to find Brianne, the next few hours consisted of naps, food, movies, and watching Gavin pace to the window, then step outside to walk the perimeter—“just to make sure there aren’t any surprises out there.”
And waiting for Caden to bring news about Brianne.
Not to mention the nonstop thinking about the fact that her kidnapping may not have been a random terrorist thing due to threats against her father. Truthfully, she wasn’t surprised at the threats—only that it hadn’t happened before now.
Her brother finally walked in the door and dropped his keys on the foyer table. “I’ve got Brianne’s address. Or I guess I should give Annie the credit. Having the last name helped. She was able to find her, thanks to one of her contacts with the Army’s CID.”
Sarah blinked. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
She sat up and let her feet drop to the floor. “So, where does she live?”
“Not too far from here, actually. About a thirty-minute drive.”
“Do you know anything else about her?”
“I spoke to her dad. He said she was wounded in Afghanistan about a week before you were kidnapped. Like you, she was shipped home for care here at the VA hospital.”
“So, she was there.”
“He said she was, but turns out that the hospital didn’t contact them. Brianne was there for three days before they actually learned she was back from Afghanistan. He said an anonymous