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Once she’d closed the garage door and gone in, she peeked through the plantation shutters in the living room window. Nothing but a quiet neighborhood, so hopefully no one had followed.
Jasper went to the glass door in the dining room that opened to the backyard patio and whined, wanting out.
“Just a second.” Closing the shutter, she hurried and let out the impatient dog. As she watched him dash away, she wondered how she could make it up to Brett for sneaking out to see Jacob.
Maybe she didn’t have to.
She dismissed that idea right away. Brett was putting his entire career at risk to help her. And he’d been so angry to find her at the school. She had to do something. Beg forgiveness? That would be a start.
She hoped she could make him understand how much it meant to actually see her child. Though the brief moment hadn’t been nearly long enough, she felt comforted. She could tell Carol loved her grandson. No matter if Walter grew to resent the boy for his heritage, Carol would defend him. Of that Dania was certain. She could tell by the loving way she’d held Jacob’s hand and looked at him. No one could fake that kind of affection.
Jasper scratched at the door. She’d been so deep in thought, she hadn’t noticed he’d returned. Once inside, the dog went straight to his empty food and water bowls.
“That’s a good idea.” She was hungry too. Maybe if she fixed something to eat for Brett when he got home, it would help smooth things out between them.
The dog’s food was in a huge bag in the pantry. She filled his bowl, then got him some water, and while he ate, she went to the fridge to see what she could fix. She found only Sunny D and soft drinks; that was it. Even though Brett had said he’d stopped at the store, by the spare items he’d purchased, she could tell he ate out too much. But he’d also mentioned that he left canned chili here for times when he stayed over. She checked the cupboards.
Finding the cans of chili, she pulled a can opener from a drawer and worked the lid off. She stirred the beans and sauce into a pot. As it bubbled on the edges, she retrieved a couple of bowls.
She turned the chili to a simmer to heat it through and glanced at Matthew’s planner on the table. She had loved reading his handwritten words at first, but it had become harder and harder as she’d turned the pages. It reminded her that she’d been three years without him, three years of not hearing his voice, three years of not feeling his touch, but worst yet, three very long years of knowing she would never see him again. Not in this lifetime. Maybe the next.
Her father had taught her a little about God. But they’d rarely gone to church. Her father believed a person was closer to God out in Mother Nature than in a church house.
Dania didn’t know what she believed. She’d like to hope that there was life after death. It gave her great comfort to think that she and Matthew might be together again. Right now, that seemed like a fantasy. If there was a God, why had He let all this happen to her and Matthew... and little Jacob?
The chili splattered sauce on her hand as it boiled, and she quickly wiped it off. She took the pot off the burner, grabbed a bowl, and poured some in. She set a lid on the pot and carried her meal to the table, next to Matthew’s planner. She could hardly believe Brett had been able to get it.
She blew on each spoonful before eating. Her mind had definitely changed about Brett. Misplaced guilt over what his dad had done, plus wanting to help his late friend’s wife was probably why he’d decided to help her. But those things alone weren’t the reason. No. Brett believed her. He had to, to have put his entire life’s work on the line, which was such a noble thing to do. She wanted to get to know him better.
Besides, chasing bandits didn’t fill his entire day. What else did he enjoy doing? She hadn’t a clue. Maybe she could snoop around the house and learn more on her own.
Finished eating, she cleaned up the kitchen and stored the rest of the chili in the fridge for Brett when he got there.
Now, where would be a good place to find more information about him?
His bedroom, his childhood safe zone. Ah, that was the place.
She dashed upstairs with Jasper close on her heels. Before opening the bedroom door, she looked at the dog. “This is just between you and me.”
The retriever stared at her.
She stepped inside the room with the posters of old marshals and the baseball bat. On the shelves were Little League trophies. A twin bed stood against a wall with a shelf above it loaded with even more trophies. His team had won several championships. What position had Brett played?
A small desk rested against another wall with a picture of a woman, too young to be his grandmother, on it. This had to be his mom. A pretty, rail-thin woman who looked like she enjoyed whimsy and dreamed of where life would take her.
And Brett had had to watch as his father had killed her. The grief she’d carried from losing her own mother had been tremendous, but she’d had her father to go to. Luckily, Brett had had the love of a caring grandmother to strengthen him as he’d grieved and learned to live without the person who had been his entire world to that point.
Dania couldn’t help but draw a comparison between Brett and her son. Carol, her mother-in-law, was like Brett’s grandmother in the way she’d cared for Jacob as they’d walked to her car. Though Jacob wasn’t as lucky when it came to his grandfather, he was fortunate to have Carol, just like Brett had been lucky to have his grandmother. Dania didn’t even know her grandmothers on either of her parents’ sides. For years, it had just been her father and her. And that had been enough.
She opened the nightstand next to Brett’s bed. Inside was a deck of playing cards, Hot Wheel cars, a flashlight, and comic books. About to close the drawer, she caught sight of an old photograph. A tall lanky man stood beside a boy. The boy had to be Brett, but who was the man? She turned the picture over. The name written on it was Deputy Marshal Logan Mansfield.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
She whirled around.
Brett stood in the doorway. She couldn’t tell by his expression if he was angry with her or not.
How had he snuck into the house without her hearing him? A bit embarrassed, she decided to confess. No sense in denying what his eyes told him. “I wanted to get to know you a little more.”
