Special Forces Father - By Mallory Kane Page 0,36

moment, his mouth set, his eyes flat.

She touched his shoulder, but he shrugged off her hand. “Talk to me,” she said softly.

But he turned away. He walked over to the window and looked out on the darkness. “I had a tough mission, that was all. It was long and hard and lonely.”

“Come on, Travis. I know it was more than that.”

He turned back around and his face was expressionless. “You might be a shrink, but you’re not my shrink. I left Walter Reed because I didn’t want to hear all this. I’m sure not going to accept hearing it from you.” The words were cutting, but Travis’s tone was neutral, maybe even bordering on kind. Then, with no change in his expression or his tone, he asked, “How are you doing?”

Tears stung her eyes again. She massaged her temples with her fingertips. “I’m okay,” she said, her voice thickening with the urge to cry. “I’m not sure if I’m going to ever stop crying, though.” She gave a slight laugh. “Not until Max is home—” A little hiccup cut her sentence short and she felt what little resolve she had left crumble.

“You need to go to bed,” Travis said, eyeing her closely. “You’re exhausted. I know for a fact you were restless all last night. Between you and the wooden car sticking into my back, I didn’t sleep very well, either. This stress is eating you up inside.”

“I can’t sleep,” she said dismissively.

“Come on,” he said with a smile. “Don’t try to tell me that a physician doesn’t have some kind of sleeping tablet or tranquilizer around the house.” His voice went from neutral to gently amused.

She shook her head. “I don’t want to take anything. What if something happens during the night?”

“Nothing’s going to happen during the night. Besides, I’m here.” His shoulders moved in a small shrug.

Kate started to protest again, but Travis spoke first. “I’ll bet you haven’t eaten all day, have you? Want some soup?”

She shook her head. She didn’t think she could swallow anything.

“Okay. I know. I’ll make you some hot chocolate while you go put on your pajamas and climb into bed.”

“I should—” she began. “I need to—” But suddenly, her insides felt as though they’d run out of steam. Maybe she should have hot chocolate in bed and take something mild, just for tonight, just this one time, while Travis was here to take care of anything that might happen during the night. She felt guilty—for wanting to sleep while Max was being held by strangers, for allowing Travis to take over all her responsibilities.

He stepped close to her and lifted her chin with his finger. “You won’t be any good to Max if you walk around in a fog,” he said, as if he’d read her mind. “You need rest so you can work out what you’re going to say in your evaluation of Stamps.”

“You’re right.” She sighed. “I’ll go to bed. I’m going to set my alarm for seven, so I can get into the office and work on the evaluation. I’ve got to schedule Stamps’s interview, too. I haven’t talked to him yet.” Kate went into her bedroom and changed into a cami top and pajama bottoms, then went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. There was a bottle of children’s cough medicine. She checked the label. Sure enough, it contained a mild antihistamine that was often used as a sleep aid. Reluctantly, she swallowed one child’s dose and washed it down with a few sips of water from her bathroom glass. Then she got into bed and picked up the Nero Wolfe mystery she’d been reading, and stared at it as she waited for Travis to bring her a cup of hot chocolate.

She thought about Max and wondered if he’d had anything warm to drink before he went to bed. That set her eyes to burning and called up a nasty little headache at the base of her skull. She closed her eyes.

Some time later, she was aware of the lamp being turned off and Travis lying down on the bed next to her. In a sleepy haze, she turned and snuggled next to his warm body, resting her head on his shoulder.

“You awake?” he whispered, hardly more than mouthing the words.

“Kind of,” she whispered back.

“Have you slept any?” he asked, pressing his face into her hair.

He felt her nod. “A little,” she said. “I dreamed about Max.”

“Good dreams?”

A tiny sob escaped from her throat. “Yes. Very