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She should. In one form or another. They’d all written her with their version of the events that had unfolded in al-Sadidiq. When you destroyed the wrong village in another country, they didn’t tend to look too kindly on the foreign forces responsible. The Navy had a PR issue on their hands, and Caleb’s strike team became the sacrificial lambs slaughtered in the name of Syria’s goodwill toward the US.
They needed to atone for that mistake, bad intel aside.
That was the real reason they were all here.
“Sweetie, you’re welcome here. Of course you are,” she said and stretched to pat Tristan’s hand, her maternal smile tinged with a note of caution that warned them she wasn’t about to recant her previous statement. “But I shouldn’t have burdened you with my struggles over what’s happening to this town. Least ways not so that you thought enough of it to drive all this way. Y’all put all that nonsense out of your heads.”
There was far more to this story she wasn’t saying, important information that she’d held back for some reason.
Caleb glanced at Hudson for confirmation, and the other man gave a slight nod, his experience with questioning baddies so ingrained he automatically assessed anyone’s body language for tells. Even when the person in question was a sweet lady they’d never met.
“I don’t think you understand,” Isaiah said gently and took Serenity’s hand without hesitation, curling it into his. “Your struggles are not a burden. We want to help you. Tell us what’s happening here so we can stop it.”
Genuine tears formed in her eyes as she smiled, somehow encompassing them all in the expression as if she’d hugged them at once. “I don’t know what to say. I wish you could help. But this mess with Havana… it’s a family matter. You can’t get in the middle of it.”
Havana was Serenity’s niece, who had come to live with her aunt in Superstition Springs along with her two sisters when their parents had died back when they were all still kids. Caleb knew that from her letters—in fact, it had been one of the major factors that solidified their bond since Caleb had lost his own parents—but how the niece factored into this was still a mystery. “I thought Havana left to go to college. Did she come back?”
“She came back all right,” Ruby announced sourly, apparently with no qualms about butting into the discussion. “With her developer fiancé in tow, determined to throw her weight around with talk of razing the main downtown area to the ground in order to build a shopping center.”
The diner’s owner practically spat the word, her opinion on that idea clear. Of course, if Havana had a plan to demolish the old buildings in this area, Ruby’s would be included in that. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess whether she’d be on board.
“That’s ridiculous,” Isaiah insisted immediately. “You can’t destroy all this history, and neither can she come in here and start knocking down buildings. There are laws and zoning restrictions—”
Serenity shook her head. “The land for the town was donated by a wealthy patron in the nineteen sixties. This used to be an artist’s colony way back in the day, and it’s been privately owned since then.”
“Well, that’s good.” Relieved, Caleb sipped his coffee, his mind already ten steps ahead. “That means she can’t do anything without permission of the owner. Who is that?”
“All of us.” Ruby spread her hands. “We own the town jointly. We made it legal when we incorporated way back in the day. And she’s not talking about getting permission. She’s offering millions of dollars to the residents to sell, and some of them act like they’re considering it. Others won’t. Neighbors who have been friends for decades are suddenly not speaking to each other, fighting over it. It’s a terrible thing when a girl raised here can’t see the harm she’s causing with her shiny urban-planning degree.”
“Hush now.” Serenity firmed her mouth and shot Ruby a look. “You’re airing our dirty laundry to the guests, and they don’t need to get caught up in what’s nothing more than a family squabble.”
Well, that was one way to put it. Caleb had a few more things he could say about Havana and her plan to ruin a town her aunt loved. How she was already causing division and strife. And that pretty much put the stake in the ground.
Caleb wasn’t going anywhere. “This is not a family matter, Serenity, or rather it’s not only that. There’s right and there’s wrong, and turning Superstition Springs into a shopping mall makes literally no sense. Who’s going to drive all this way to shop for crying out loud?”
The scenery in Superstition Springs was… sparse for lack of a better word, and there wasn’t much but scrubby trees and hilly terrain to stare at for an hour until you got here. Serenity’s niece must have some kind of fantastic marketing plan if she thought she’d get folks to drive all this way.
Serenity and Ruby glanced at each other, and Serenity shook her head, eyes shut. “It’s for the people who will come to the resort Havana’s fiancé is building. That part is a done deal. He bought land outside the city limits from the county. I have to admit, I was all for the resort, at first. The town needs some traffic. But that was before I found out there was more to it.”
“Some of the townspeople are blaming Serenity for being in favor of it,” Ruby filled in bluntly. “And some simply because Havana is her blood. They aren’t too fond of her right now.”
“They’re saying I’m influencing people one way or the other. I can’t tell them how to vote,” Serenity continued, her voice cracking. “I wouldn’t. They have to make this decision on their own. Either their home is for sale or it’s not, and a town that’s little better than a speck on the map is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. We need to grow. The town is too small to continue on without the resort. But I’m not saying knock down the heart and soul of this town!”
The emotional distress in her voice affected everyone. Caleb could see it in the line between Rowe’s brows and the tight se
t of Hudson’s mouth. And yeah, his own heart hurt for Serenity as she laid out the bare bones of the dilemma.
And yet she still wasn’t telling them everything. Her niece had put her between a rock and a hard place, forcing her to choose between family and neighbors, progress and preservation of history. Serenity needed someone in her corner who didn’t have an agenda.
“Don’t worry,” Caleb said firmly. “I’ll tell them how to vote.”
Serenity glanced at him sharply. “You’ll tell them? What are you about, Caleb Hardy?”
He shrugged. This was all so obvious. Finally his purpose had gained crystal clarity.
Serenity’s letters had led him to this path, and he blessed her for it. All five of them had left Syria a little bit broken and a whole lot determined to make restitution. They’d destroyed a town half a world away. Here was an opportunity to build one up. It was nearly poetic.
At the same time, he could create a place for his team, a home. He wasn’t the only one searching for something more, and he wasn’t the only one without a family outside the team. Permanence would allow them all to replant their roots. They deserved to have something good happen for once.
