his arm wrapped around her shoulders. “I made brownies,” she said.
“They look awesome. Thank God I went for a run earlier.”
“I brought some beers,” Jackson said, walking inside.
“Where’s Kimberly?” Taryn asked. “Oh, I see her out back. I’ll go introduce myself and say hello.”
“How’s she doing?” Jackson asked as they stuck the beers in the fridge.
Ethan lifted a shoulder. “She had a nightmare last night. She seems worried she’s forgetting something from when she was in captivity. I’m not sure what. It sounded like they spoke freely around her, but since it was in Farsi, she didn’t understand most of it.”
“Maybe she remembers who kidnapped her?” Jackson asked.
“I don’t know. She remembers waking up in a tent.” Ethan lowered his voice. “She was attacked the first night by a man missing part of his ear. She’s terrified of him.”
“Fucking bastard,” Jackson said. Although the team had suspected she’d been assaulted while in captivity, Ethan hadn’t point blank told his friends. No doubt they could read the report just like he had, but hell. It was brutal to imagine what she’d endured.
“She thought she saw him on base,” Ethan admitted.
Jackson raised his eyebrows.
“Yep. When Raptor, Ghost, and I took her to meet with the investigators.”
“So we pull up pictures of the Afghanis working on base,” Jackson surmised. “They’ve got photo identification. Let’s make some calls and get access to that. We can rule that out pretty easily.”
“Shit.”
“What’s wrong?”
Ethan blew out a sigh. “Ghost and Raptor looked around that day, but I kind of figured her mind was just playing tricks on her. What if I blew it off and that asshole is still working there at Bagram?”
“I assume she told the investigators about him.”
“Yes. I don’t know,” Ethan admitted. “She told them about her kidnapping and rape, but I don’t know if she mentioned him specifically. Reliving all of that might have been too awful.”
Jackson clenched his jaw, nodding. He probably understood better than most men the trauma that Kim had endured. Taryn had fled from an abusive ex-husband. She’d been reluctant to turn him in to the police, and Ethan knew part of the reason was because she wanted to move on and not divulge every awful detail.
“I’ll ask her later,” Ethan said. “I admit I read the initial report, but I don’t remember if that detail was included.”
“I’ll make some calls when we’re on base tomorrow,” Jackson said. “If I can get photos, I’ll look through them. If he’s not there, it might put her mind at ease.”
“I appreciate it. It’s a long shot, but hell.”
Taryn poked her head in the door. “Are you guys coming out or what?”
“We’ll be right there,” Jackson said as the doorbell rang again.
“I better get it,” Ethan said, watching as his teammate walked out to the patio where their women were. Their women. Was Kimberly his? He’d do whatever he could to convince her to be. To give them a real shot. She might’ve had a lot to go through as she readjusted to life, but he wanted to be part of all of it.
***
“What?” Ethan asked in surprise later that evening as Ghost and Hailey sat grinning at the table in his backyard. “You’re having a baby? Holy shit!”
Hailey giggled beside Ghost, and Ethan glanced over at Kim. She was smiling but didn’t look completely shocked. “Wait—you knew about this?”
“Hailey just told me yesterday. She hadn’t even told Grayson yet, so I couldn’t very well tell you.”
“Holy crap,” Ethan muttered, standing up from the table and walking over to the grill.
“Well shit,” Troy said, grinning at everyone. “Congrats to you both!”
“Damn. Congrats, man,” Blake said, fist bumping Grayson. “Does this mean you two are getting hitched soon, too? We all knew it was inevitable with the way you were chasing after Hailey back in Bagram.” He winked at her, and she laughed.
“Actually, it does,” Grayson said with a smile. As everyone watched in shock, he stood up from the table and dropped to one knee in front of Hailey. Tears filled her eyes, and Ethan grinned as all their friends watched in excitement.
“Hailey, I knew from the moment I first saw you that you were meant to be mine. I’ll do everything in my power to protect both you and our future child. I love you more than anything. Will you marry me?”
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at him. “Yes! Yes of course I will!”
Everyone clapped and cheered as he slid the ring on her finger, the diamond twinkling