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His smile faded. “I should’ve been there. I’m sorry that I wasn’t.”
“I wasn’t there either. She knew something was wrong. She knew it was time to go.”
“She told you that?”
“We’d moved so many times that there were things we said without words. She told me we had to go soon, but I knew from the look in her eyes that something was going on, something… scared her.” Tess shook her head. “Maybe if I’d paid more attention… If I’d insisted we left that minute—”
“We can’t foresee the future,” he said, touching her jaw again. “I know, I’ve met men who’ve dedicated their lives to trying to do just that. Maybe if you’d insisted, she would still be with us… or maybe we’d have lost you both.”
“You’d never have known. Her and I would be gone, and no one would know it.”
The chilling truth brought her arms around her body. Anne was her life, her only companion. Sure, it had been necessity, but they’d leaned on each other. She hadn’t appreciated their bond until it was lost.
“I would’ve known,” he said. “Daire would’ve known.”
She sighed. “Daire didn’t have a clue who I was until a month ago.”
H exhaled a laugh. “You and Daire spent a year together, more than a year, when you were an infant.” Shock took her breath. “You lived at Olympus… He’s six years older, but you fascinated him. He had never seen another child at the beta site, let alone a female one, an untrained female one… He was protective of you, fiercely protective.”
But how did that…? Being on the run with her mother was the only existence she’d ever had… at least, that’s what she’d believed.
“I don’t remember that,” she murmured, peering into him. “How could I—”
“It’s not a time we like to talk about. Your mother wouldn’t have known how to tell you.”
“There’s a lot she didn’t tell me.”
“You can’t blame her,” he said. “If you have to blame anyone, blame me.”
“I understand why she needed to protect me when I was a child. I wouldn’t have understood. She should’ve told me after I was grown.”
“And where do you begin with a conversation like that? ‘Your father is principal agent of a covert organization with a shady remit and severe trust issues’?”
The agency had the shady remit and trust issues or H did? Probably a mixture of both.
“Saying something would’ve been better than nothing,” Tess said. “She could’ve tried.”
From nowhere a hand rose next to H’s little device. Startled, she recoiled and was shocked to see Daire there behind H, presenting the little red tube he must’ve fetched from the water. With no ambient noise and just them there, she couldn’t believe he’d approached without making a sound.
“Good,” H said, pressing something on his device.
She hadn’t noticed the tee-shirt draped on H’s shoulder until he tossed it to Daire, who used it to dry his face, then pulled it over his head. For a split second, she was obsessed with trying to recall what it had been like to press her mouth to that chest. Had she ever done that? Why hadn’t she done it more often?
Daire went around them and crouched to pull on the boots he must have removed before getting into the water. His clothes were wet, so it made little sense to put the boots back on.
He stood to attention for H again. “Ten point three miles around the lake. Be in your bunk in less than an hour.”
“Sir,” Daire said and sprinted off.
Watching him go, Tess couldn’t equate what she was seeing with the Danny she knew. Danny wasn’t so motivated, wasn’t so physical, wasn’t so bothered. He’d become a whole new person to dupe her. Witnessing just how disciplined he could be, she began to comprehend that his training was more than physical. Danny didn’t exist, and Daire was a complete mystery.
TWENTY-FIVE
“IN HIS BUNK” meant sleep. No way she’d let Daire slumber wrapped in memories of them. Stripping the bed, Tess made it with fresh sheets. Maybe he’d take it as altruism. Their intimacy could be the last thing on his mind; Daire could be gay for all she knew. Danny wasn’t his true self. Somehow being sex obsessed didn’t seem like the disciplined Daire’s style. No way.
Whatever. It made her feel better to erase as much of “them” as possible. Scrubbing both of their memories would be the ideal, but she had to make do.
While she tidied up and collected the laundry, H stayed outside. With another mouth to feed, they’d have to go into town for groceries. Fine by her. She wanted an excuse to get away from the Beast anyway. Coming to terms with the turnaround of her life wasn’t easy while surrounded by reminders of so many untruths.
