Page 101 of The Deadly Shallows

She reached for the box, and he handed it back to her.

“Thanks,” she said. She opened the lid, and sifting through the contents, she pulled out a photograph. She angled it to face him.

He studied the picture clutched in her hand. It was a girl about Megan’s age, but instead of the mop of curly red hair that Austin’s neighbor had, this girl had blond hair—much like the shade of Austin’s . . . and her eyes.

He looked up at her.

She offered a soft smile. “She’s my daughter.”

FIFTY

Caleb took the photograph, his gaze shifting between Austin and her . . . daughter? He pushed down the detective side of him that wanted to drill her with questions. “She looks like you.”

Austin smiled, but tears pooled in her eyes. “You think?”

“Definitely. She has your eyes and your beautiful hair.”

Austin leaned against his arm and looked at the picture—almost afresh, it seemed. “Yeah, she does.” She glanced up at him. “You’re mustering some great self-control.”

Of course, only Austin would call him out on it. “I don’t want to press.”

“But it goes against your nature?” She smirked.

“As it does yours.” He smirked back. He was surrounded by gifted investigators, but Austin was the first one who seemed to share his need to understand things from all angles—to question and piece together an intricate puzzle that made up the whole, even if that curiosity went beyond the needed evidence and facts.

“I was seventeen and thought I was head over heels in love,” she began. “He was nineteen and said all the right things. Did all the right things . . . until that night.”

Austin shifted and ran a hand through her hair before walking over to put the picture up on the fridge with a magnet. Finally, she faced him again. “I told Heath it was okay, but then I changed my mind.” She swallowed. “But he didn’t.”

Caleb pulled her in his arms, rubbing her back, resting his chin gently on top her head. “I’m so sorry,” he said, his gut aching like a sucker punch had nailed it, and he fought the urge to track Heath down and throttle him or arrest him. Continuing when Austin said to stop constituted rape.

“Anyway,” she said, sniffing and swiping at the tears beading down her face, “I got pregnant, and my parents said it was an embarrassment.”

He leaned back an inch to look at her, his brow furrowing. “Seriously?”

“I grew up in Johns Creek, Georgia. My parents cared more about pretense and appearance than . . .” Pink colored her cheeks, and she looked away.

He’d heard of the area a bit north of Atlanta during a trip to the city last year. Serious money. While Austin was certainly refined, she was so down-to-earth and casual, he’d never guessed she grew up in such an affluent environment. “I’ve heard of it,” he finally said.

“Then you know what it’s like. Country clubs. Manicured lawns.” She released a shaky exhale. “My mom sent me to stay with her sister, Tracey, who lived on a ranch out in Arizona. She said wild things belonged with wild things.”

Tension racked his body, his breathing growing shallow. How could a parent be so cruel to their child? Though he knew that cruelty all too well. But treating someone as special as Austin like that? Realization of just how deeply he’d fallen for her—nosedive fallen—struck through him as he held her in his arms, never wanting to let go.

“Well,” she said, slipping from his embrace and moving to lean against the kitchen counter, “my mom’s idea of wild was a bit off. Aunt Tracey and her husband own a sprawling ranch in Scottsdale. Definitely not what most people picture when they hear the word ranch.”

He stepped closer, leaning back against the kitchen counter opposite her, the toes of their shoes touching—his large work boots, her petite navy flats. “Was she kind to you?”

Austin inhaled. “She was better than my mom and her snooty friends, who would have treated me terribly. Not to mention Heath, who I broke up with immediately and who basically pretended he barely knew me when I told him I was pregnant.”

Caleb took a quick intake of air, cutting back his heat-fueled anger and desire to track this Heath down ASAP. But he remained silent, letting her talk as she was ready to.

“I gave birth in Scottsdale, and my parents insisted I ‘get rid of the baby,’ but giving her up for adoption after holding her in my arms was beyond painful.” Tears streamed down Austin’s face, and he pulled her back in his arms, enveloping her.

“After the adoption went through, there was no way I was going to go back home, so I moved into Tucson and tried to forget. But I couldn’t, and that’s what my tattoo is for.” She swept her hair up into her hands, revealing the neck tattoo again. “Two hearts, one for me and one for my baby girl.”

His heart broke for her and the loss that must have been. “It’s nice you still get pictures of her.” He didn’t think that happened often with adoptions, but that definitely wasn’t his area of expertise.

“Yeah. It took a while, but I found her.” The lines around her eyes tightened. “With her new family.”