Deep River Promise (Alaska Homecoming #2) - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,43

to think about how he could help, what he could do. It seemed as if all the adults in Connor’s life—and some of them for good reasons, no doubt—hadn’t been very clear with him. They’d kept information back. Which mean that right now what the kid really needed was to be told what was going on.

It wasn’t his place to do that, but he had a duty to Cal. And who else did Connor have to talk to who already knew his secret and who knew his father? No one. And Damon was neutral ground too, which helped. Kid wouldn’t have to worry about getting angry with him because he had no horse in this race.

“Your mom was protecting you, I think,” Damon murmured. “By not telling you who he was.”

“How is that protecting me?”

“Cal didn’t want anyone knowing he had a kid. And I guess your mom wanted to protect you from that.” Damon paused. “Every boy wants their father to be a hero, right? Running away from responsibility and denying that you have a kid isn’t exactly heroic. I suspect your mom wanted better for you than that.”

Connor stared out over the water. He finished the donut, then sipped at his coffee, his posture stiff, his jaw tight. “Mom told me once that my dad was a soldier and he was fighting a lot. And that one day she’d tell me all about him. When I was old enough.”

Damon thought about the wariness in Astrid, that prickling energy when he’d talked to her about Connor. Complicated. All of this was complicated.

“Your father was a flawed guy,” he said, sipping at his coffee too, keeping things neutral. “But at heart, he was a good one. And he was trying to make up for mistakes he’d made when he was very young.” Caleb’s haunted face from that night on watch drifted in his memory, full of regret and grief yet also determination. “I think he knew he’d left it too late, but he still wanted to do the right thing by you.”

“If he’d wanted to do the right thing, he could have left the town to me instead of you assholes.”

“Ah.” Damon tried not to grin at the boy’s aggrieved tone, something in him easing slightly since being aggrieved was better than hurt. “Is that why you’re running around helping people? Throwing yourself between the town and me? You trying to protect this place?”

Connor glanced at him, a fierce expression on his face. “Of course. My dad might not have left it to me, but it’s still my responsibility. You’re a stranger. You’re all strangers. I don’t know what you’re going to do, so someone has to make sure that Deep River stays safe.”

Sympathy gripped him. Connor was an intense, determined kid with a highly developed sense of what was right and wrong. A good kid, as Astrid had told him.

Damon met his gaze, giving him honesty, taking him seriously. “I get it. And that’s a legit concern. Any stranger that comes into your town, you’re going to want to check them out, see if they’re on the level.”

Connor’s jaw jutted, his gaze narrowing, obviously searching for signs that Damon was laughing at him. He didn’t find any. “Yeah. That’s right.”

“That’s good. Protecting those you care about is important. It’s what separates a good man from a crappy one.”

“Well, I—”

“But you can’t protect a whole town on your own, kid,” Damon interrupted gently. “That’s a hell of a responsibility for a grown man, let alone a teenager.”

“So? I can take it.”

“Sure you can.” Damon sipped on his coffee peaceably. “But you know, Cal left it to three of us. Not just Silas. Or me. Or Zeke. He spread the responsibility around ’cause that’s tough for one person to carry.”

“Yeah, but he did it,” Connor pointed out. “He was on his own.”

“No, he wasn’t. Cal had his sister. And he had the mayor. In fact, he had the whole town with him, helping him and supporting him, because people look out for each other as well. Understand?”

A muscle flicked in Connor’s square jaw.

“You’re on your own,” Damon went on, giving it to him straight. “You don’t have any buddies at your side. You don’t have a sister. You can’t have the mayor because she’s your mom and you have to protect her. And because no one knows who you really are, you don’t even have the town.”

Connor looked away. He picked up a stone sitting beside him on the dock and