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“I was just coming to find you,” she said. “I made you an omelet. Come eat it before it gets cold. I’ve got this guy.” She took the baby from him and led the way to the kitchen. The omelet was already plated with two slices of toast and a cup of black coffee. His stomach growled as he sat down at the table.
“Thanks.” He sat and picked up his fork. “This looks great.”
“How’d you get him to calm down?” she asked. Eddy was still wakeful but quiet as she took the chair across from Cole.
“Luck,” Cole said, taking no credit for it.
“Sometimes it seems like that’s what it takes. It might distract him to go somewhere today. I thought the park or the beach. The weather promises to be beautiful.” Sunshine poured in the kitchen window.
Cole hesitated. The outing the day before had made them feel like a family, and he’d loved that, but the threat was still real. “I’d like that, but I think we should be cautious. Yesterday was great, but let’s keep any trips out of the house to essential ones.”
“If you think that’s best,” she said, taking Eddy’s hands in hers and lightly clapping them together in front of them. “You’re still that worried?”
He didn’t want to alarm her, but caution seemed the best approach. “Yeah. Until I hear Gomez’s partners have been taken into custody, I’m not going to let down my guard.” Just then, Cole’s phone buzzed with a message. “It’s Raymond.”
Thought you’d want to see this. The text included a link. Cole tapped to open it, sliding the phone so Kelsey could see it too.
A video of Commander Dobson came on the screen. He stood in front of the gates to the naval base and delivered a statement to the press regarding the arrest of Lieutenant Gomez and stressing that the perpetrator responsible for the death of so many SEALs would be punished accordingly. The Commander confirmed what Raymond had already told them about the money in Gomez’s account and his connection to the traitorous actions.
“Maybe Dad’ll come home now that this has gone public,” Kelsey said after they’d watched the video through twice. He could hear the hopeful note in her voice. She wanted her dad, and he couldn’t blame her there.
“If he sees it,” Cole cautioned. Edwin was almost certainly lying low. Whether that included going on a media blackout, Cole didn’t know. He thought it likely that Edwin was monitoring what was happening at home, but it could still take him time to return, depending on where he was.
But the situation with Gomez’s arrest bothered Cole. It was all too clean-cut and tidy. Someone might as well wrap it up with a bow and put a gift tag on it. In Cole’s experience, situations as complicated as this didn’t conclude so easily. Edwin would think that, too, which might keep him in hiding longer.
And maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, because Cole wasn’t ready to leave Kelsey and Eddy yet. They had things to work out, decisions to make about how they’d handle the future, but he wasn’t walking away again as he had last December. He couldn’t. His son was a beautiful baby who deserved to have a father in his life, and Cole wanted to be there for him.
As for Kelsey…he could get used to holding her every night.
“We still don’t know why Dad went to ground, do we?” Kelsey asked, apparently working through the holes in the case as well. “We’re assuming that he did so to investigate the leak, but there may have been more to it. What did he know that we don’t? Did he feel threatened by someone?”
“I can’t imagine Gomez intimidating your father,” Cole said. The lieutenant was a decent instructor, but nowhere near the experienced and hardened SEAL that Edwin was.
“Exactly,” she sighed. “I just want Dad home and safe. Maybe Raymond and David know something that we don’t.”
Cole nodded and picked up his phone. He fired off a text to Raymond and David asking them to come over later that day. Even if they didn’t have any new information to share, he also needed them because they would give a fresh perspective on the situation. He heard back from them seconds later. They’d be over when they were dismissed for the day.
“Probably be here in time for dinner,” he said.
She glanced toward the refrigerator where the shelves were getting bare. “We should shop. Okay if we go to the grocery store?”
“Let’s make it an early trip.” It was just past eight. He wanted to be in and out of the store before it got crowded. As much as yesterday’s outing had been a success, he wasn’t completely comfortable with leaving the house. He tried to avoid being superstitious, but making public targets of themselves for two days in a row did feel like tempting fate. He did his best to push aside the unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him that this was a mistake…but it refused to go away.
SIXTEEN
Ten minutes later in the garage, Cole buckled Eddy into his car seat. “Wait a sec,” he said to Kelsey when she went to climb in the front. “I want you to carry this.” He pulled a 9mm from his waistband and held it out to her butt first.
“Cole, you know how I feel about guns,” she said, looking from the weapon to him. Her lips pinched together.
“I also know you can shoot.” They’d gone to the range once together. He’d won a silly bet between the two of them, and his prize had been that he’d gotten to choose where they went for an adventure that weekend. He’d imagined teaching her—the whole corny movie moment where he’d put his arms around her and teach her how to aim. Well, the joke had been on him. She hadn’t needed any instruction at all, and she’d put all of her shots within a four-inch circle. Center mass—always the goal of shooting. He’d been as impressed as hell, but while she’d smiled at his praise, it had been clear that she wasn’t really comfortable. Finally, she’d admitted to him that guns made her nervous—that she was competent with them but would never be at ease around them. She’d tried to be a good sport since he’d won the bet and all, but she’d really rather have gone anywhere else for their adventure. That had been the last time they’d visited the gun range together.
“Dad made sure I knew how to handle a gun,” she said. “You know how he has his whole collection. He didn’t want me growing up around them without knowing how to deal with them safely. But I’m not comfortable with carrying, and I’m sure it’s not necessary. You’ll be there to protect us.”
That’s what he expected, too, but if something went sideways, he needed to know that she had the means to ward off attackers. He hadn’t forgotten what she’d said the day he’d arrived on her doorstep and told her that he’d be staying by her side until the danger was over. She’d admitted that she was letting him in for Eddy’s sake, because if it came down to a confrontation, she wouldn’t be able to protect both Eddy and herself with just the self-defense skills she had. But she could if she had a gun.
“You may need to defend yourself and Eddy.” He deliberately emphasized that part, knowing she’d do whatever necessary to protect her child. “Put it in your bag. Just as a precaution. Please.” He wasn’t backing down on this. Too much was at stake.
With a sigh, she took the gun from him and immediately checked the weapon, making sure the safety was on. Edwin had trained her well. She opened the top of her purse and slipped the gun in. “I won’t need it,” she insisted to Cole.
