The Soldier's Forever Family Read online

  “He’s had a full day.”

  “Starting very early.”

  She remembered the jolt of panic she’d felt when she’d woken at dawn and seen Simon’s bed empty. The relief when she’d found him. The shock when she’d identified his companion. “Very early. He wanted to listen to the music for a while before turning in, but he didn’t last long.”

  “So he inherited your appreciation for music?”

  Her thoughts drifted in response to the question, back to moonlit hours spent snuggled on a bench much like this one—if not this very one—listening to other bands. Getting up occasionally to dance in the sand, their fingers laced, bodies pressed together, mouths close enough for the occasional kiss. Until the tension had built too high, and they’d slipped away to find privacy. And a bed.

  That all felt like another lifetime now.

  She swallowed hard. “Yes, he loves music.”

  Adam studied her face. Was he thinking back to the same things she was? Had he remembered their previous encounter as fondly as she had, or had she been nothing more to him than a pleasant diversion he’d forgotten about since? Still, he’d immediately recognized her face and knew her name on the beach this morning. She supposed there was some gratification in that.

  But it was getting late. Looking down at Simon, she jostled him gently. “Come on, honey, let’s go back to the cabin. You need to get to bed so you can rest for tomorrow.”

  “I don’t want to go yet. I want to hear the music,” Simon roused enough to respond, a hint of whine in his protest. As well-behaved as he generally was, he could be a pill when he was tired, which he certainly was now. She hoped he wasn’t about to show one of his rare flashes of five-year-old temper here in front of...well, in front of everyone.

  Adam motioned toward the lodges. “As it happens, I’m headed that way myself. How about a lift, buddy? You can ride on my shoulders if you like.”

  Distracted and intrigued, Simon lifted his head to peer at Adam. “I’d be really high up, wouldn’t I?”

  Adam smiled faintly. “Yes, you would. You’d be able to see a long way.”

  Simon promptly climbed onto the bench and held up his arms. Joanna felt a ripple of dismay at the sight of her son reaching out to the man he didn’t know was his father. And something else...maybe a little possessiveness? Or was it fear of something she couldn’t quite define?

  Adam crouched in front of the bench while Simon climbed on, then straightened with the boy high on his shoulders.

  Giving her a slightly crooked smile, Adam asked, “Ready, JoJo?”

  From his lofty perch, Simon giggled drowsily. “That’s a funny name for her. Aunt Maddie usually calls my mom Jo, but sometimes she calls her Joey.”

  Joanna fell into step beside them. “Not if she wants me to respond.”

  “Maybe I should call you Dr. JoJo.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Not if you want me to respond.”

  “Oh, I absolutely want you to respond,” he said lightly.

  Something about his tone made her miss a step on the pebbled pathway. She pulled herself together sharply with an admonition that she had to keep her wits about her this week. She couldn’t think clearly if she allowed herself to be dazzled again by infatuation—or whatever it was she had once felt for Adam, if only for a weekend.

  It didn’t help to see him with her—their—son on his shoulders, both laughing when Adam bobbed and weaved to give Simon a more entertaining ride. Her fingernails dug painfully into her palms. As appealing a picture as they made, what would be the consequences of bringing this man—this virtual stranger, really—into their lives?

  Adam glanced down at her, and whatever he saw in her expression made him stop smiling. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just tired.” More tired than she’d realized, apparently, she decided, considering the dramatic turn her thoughts had taken. She’d be able to think straight tomorrow, after she’d had a chance to rest and process this change in their circumstances a bit more.

  They’d arrived at their building, so she reached up to help Simon down, too vividly aware of each time she brushed against Adam in doing so. “Good night, Adam. Thank you again for inviting us to dinner.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Adam?” Simon asked hopefully.

  Adam ruffled his hair. “Sure, buddy. See you tomorrow.”

  He turned his head to look at Joanna then. “I’ll see you tomorrow, too.”

  She nodded in resignation, knowing they still had a lot to talk about. “Simon leaves for his field trip at one.”

  “Right. I’ll find you.”

  Was that a promise...or a warning? She was too exhausted to decide.

  * * *

  MADDIE WAS GRATIFIED to see her sister’s number on her caller ID Tuesday morning. She’d been on pins and needles wondering how everything was going between Joanna and Adam. It had been all she could do not to hop on a plane yesterday after Joanna’s frantic call, but she’d forced herself to take some time to make responsible arrangements for her work obligations. Still, family came first. As she’d learned during the past six years, a family didn’t have to be perfect, just mutually supportive.

  “Jo? Is everything okay?”

  “It’s...nerve-wracking,” Joanna answered. “But it’s okay, I guess.”

  Hearing some odd beeping noises in the background, Maddie asked, “What’s going on? What are those sounds?”

  “Simon wanted to come into the arcade after breakfast. I figured you’d be impatient for a report, so I’m taking the opportunity to talk while he’s engrossed in a pinball machine.”

  “Pinball, huh? That kid’s probably already figured out the geometric trajectories of the balls to get the best scores,” Maddie said with an indulgent laugh.

  Joanna’s answering chuckle sounded strained. “He’s working on it.”

  Maddie really did adore her funny nephew. The way her own love life had fizzled lately with one disappointing date after another, Simon could be the closest she would ever come to having a kid, something she hadn’t realized she wanted before spending so much time with Joanna and Simon. She just didn’t want to make babies with any of the guys she’d been out with lately.

  “So? Have you talked to Adam again?” She’d waited as long as she could to ask.

  “We had dinner last night,” Joanna said, then added quickly, “Not alone. We ate with Simon and Trevor Farrell, the owner of the resort. So we didn’t talk about anything important, just small talk.”

  Even mentioning the man’s name added another layer of tension to Joanna’s voice, something Maddie noted with a deepening frown. “So how’s Adam acting? Is it weird with the two of you? Is he trying to get to know Simon? He totally believes Simon is his kid, right?”

  “Yes, it’s weird. And yes, he believes me. Or he says he does. He seems sort of fascinated by Simon. Maybe even intimidated by him. Like he’s not quite sure how to behave.”

  Maddie supposed that all made sense. Had to have been a shock for the guy to find out suddenly that he had a kindergarten-age son. She cleared her throat before asking the next question. “I don’t suppose you’ve told Mom and Dad that Adam is—”

  “No!” Joanna interrupted quickly. “And don’t you dare say anything until I’ve had a chance to talk to them.”

  “You know I won’t. Trust me, I want nothing to do with that conversation.”

  Henry and Gail Zielinski still hadn’t recovered from the shock of having their most responsible and previously compliant daughter return from vacation pregnant and unmarried. They’d wrung their hands and asked—within Maddie’s hearing, of course—what they’d done wrong to be the parents of not just one but two rebellious daughters.

  Maddie shook her head at the memory of that conversation. To give them credit, their p
arents had supported Joanna’s decision to raise the child, and they’d welcomed Simon with as much warmth as their reserved personalities allowed. Still, Joanna had seemed to feel even more pressure to excel in her career and lead an exemplary life to make up for her “lapse in judgment.”

  Joanna had never quite mastered Maddie’s ability to shrug off their parents’ disapproval and live the way she wanted, though Jo said she was working on that. The cross-country move ahead should help. Still, Maddie hated thinking about how much she would miss her sister and nephew.

  She brought the conversation back to the present. “When are you going to talk to Adam again?”

  She could almost hear her sister’s swallow. “This afternoon, I think. While Simon’s on an outing with Explorers Club.”

  “What are you going to say?”

  “I don’t have the foggiest.”

  It wasn’t like Joanna to sound so lost. She was always so efficient and prepared. Maddie felt her own hackles rising in perhaps unjustified annoyance with the man who’d caused this distress. “And if he wants to be a part of Simon’s life in the future?”

  “I’ll deal with it. Somehow. I have to go, Maddie. I’ll call you later, okay?”

  “You’d better.”

  After disconnecting, Maddie set down her phone. Then turned to her computer to find the first available flight to South Carolina.

  * * *

  JOANNA MADE IT to midafternoon before she saw Adam. While she’d appreciated having the time to prepare, she’d grown more tense as the minutes ticked past, probably because she knew it was coming and didn’t know exactly when.

  Maddie had often accused her—sometimes teasingly, others more irritably—of being a control freak, and Joanna supposed that was fair. She liked her schedules, her routines, her notes and outlines and calendars. True spontaneity was a rare indulgence, especially during the past six years, when she’d lived every day with the consequences of letting her hair down once. She wouldn’t trade a moment of the challenges for the joy she’d found in her son, but for Simon’s sake, she’d been careful not to take any more risks. Sexy, enigmatic Adam Scott was an emotional hazard if she’d ever seen one.

  The hour she’d just spent in the spa should have left her relaxed and loose. Though she’d enjoyed the pampering and had appreciated having some of the tension eased by the skilled masseuse, she was still on edge. The reason for her discomfort fell into step beside her only a short distance from the spa.

  “Having a nice day?” Adam asked in a casual tone he might have used with any guest.

  She shot him a look. “Working on it.”

  When he merely gave her a bland half smile in return, she pushed her hands into the pockets of her shorts. “How’s your day going?” she asked, knowing it was an inane question, but it was also the best she could come up with.

  He replied cordially enough. “Good. Busy. It’s peak time for us here. Almost every unit is occupied, and we have a few big events coming up next weekend. Two family reunions and a wedding.”

  Hearing him speak so easily and familiarly about resort business made her pause and tilt her head in his direction. “How long have you worked here? You never mentioned you were even thinking about it when we met before.”

  “I wasn’t considering it then. Trevor told me before I left that he makes a point of helping out vets looking for work. He encouraged me to look him up if I ever found myself in that situation. When I got out of the hosp—out of the military, I remembered what he’d said, and I thought I might as well stop by. His previous assistant manager had to move away for family reasons, so he needed someone to step in. That was a little over three years ago.”

  He’d covered his verbal stumble smoothly, but she caught it. “You were in the hospital? Were you injured in Afghanistan?”

  “Yeah. Obviously, I recovered.”

  It was clearly not a topic he wanted to discuss, but she couldn’t resist asking, “How long were you in the hospital?”

  He didn’t answer right away, and she wasn’t sure he would. But then he muttered, “Six months, counting inpatient rehab. Like I said, I got over it.”

  Six months. She bit her lip as those words sank in. He hadn’t just been banged up; he’d been seriously injured. She couldn’t help wondering exactly what those injuries had been, and whether he still suffered from them.

  He changed the subject with abrupt finality. “Want to get a coffee? Or maybe walk on the beach for a while? We’ve got a couple hours before Simon gets back, and I don’t have anything pressing to do in the meantime. Nothing that won’t wait until later, anyway. And you and I need to talk.”

  She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, wishing again that she were anywhere but here, facing a conversation that was going to be difficult at best, but then she nodded. “Let’s walk.”

  Staying in the open should hold back that claustrophobic feeling she’d had when Adam was in her suite yesterday. She was as aware of him now as she had been then, but at least there would be more space around them—and no flashback-inducing beds within sight.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ADAM EXTENDED A HAND, palm-up, toward the path to the beach, signaling for Joanna to lead the way. He strolled beside her, keeping a careful distance between them on the wide walkway. He didn’t try to start a serious conversation, and she was too tense to make small talk, so they trekked in silence. They had to move to one side to make way for a couple holding hands and snuggling together, seemingly oblivious to anyone and anything around them. The young woman giggled at something her companion whispered as they disappeared toward the guest quarters, and it wasn’t hard for Joanna to guess what they had in mind.

  Remembering similar whispers between herself and Adam on this same path six years ago, she cleared her throat, suddenly needing a distraction. “The grounds are beautiful. I’ve noticed quite a few things that are new since my last visit.”

  Adam nodded, and she thought he looked pleased by the praise. “Trevor’s about run out of room for expansion here. He’s opening a second resort on the Texas Gulf Coast next year and has plans in the works for a third in Florida.”

  She would’ve liked to know the whole story of the evolution of Adam’s job here, but she supposed if he wanted to tell her more, he would. Instead, she kept the focus on his employer, which seemed safe enough. “Trevor’s young to have accomplished so much. I got the impression that he’s single?”

  “He’s widowed.”

  Startled, she slowed her steps. “Widowed? That’s tragic.”

  “Yeah.”

  “No children?”

  “No.”

  “Did you ever meet his wife?”

  “No. It was before we met him.”

  So, more than six years and Trevor hadn’t remarried, though he was probably only in his late thirties. She doubted it was from lack of opportunity. Trevor was handsome, personable, respectable and successful, the type of man most women looked for. Was he still grieving his late wife? The thought saddened her.

  She was tempted to ask if Adam had ever been married. She’d have liked to know if there was a woman in his life now, though she’d seen no signs of it. Yet another great-looking guy, good job, sexy as all get-out. The only reason a man like that would be single was that he wanted to be, which must have made his instant fatherhood even more of a jolt.

  She clenched her hands and moistened her lips as they stepped out of the tree-lined walkway and onto beach sand. “Will your responsibilities here increase as Trevor becomes busier with his new projects? He seems to have a great deal of faith in you. Would you want to be the senior manager at one of the resorts?”

  His face expressionless, Adam shrugged. “I haven’t committed to anything at the moment.”

  Before she could respond, he changed the subject again. So far, they’d be
en carefully civil, but still the air between them seemed charged with tension. The guarded conversation was beginning to remind her of the pinball games Simon had played that morning. Every time they encountered a topic that made Adam uncomfortable, he bounced to a new one. “You implied to Trevor that you’re making a career change, too. Are you looking for something different in Georgia or moving to a new state?”

  She tasted a fresh coating of salt when she moistened her lips. “Actually...I’ve accepted an offer in Seattle. Of course, it means a big change for Simon, so I had to consider it very carefully, but I decided I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

  Adam didn’t quite stumble, but his steps faltered. His eyebrows drew together when he repeated, “Seattle?”

  Was he thinking of how far Washington was from South Carolina? Was he wondering how he could get to know his son at all if they lived three thousand miles apart? Because she certainly was.

  She nodded. “I’ll be working with patients and their families dealing with long-term disabilities as the result of stroke, traumatic head injuries and other catastrophic health issues. It’s always been a particular field of interest for me. I’ve been to Seattle a couple of times to observe their program, and I think it will be a good fit for me.”

  His face was hard to read when he asked, “What does your family think?”

  “My family has always encouraged me to pursue my career goals.” More than encouraged, actually. Her parents had been almost obsessively single-minded about making sure she and Maddie were studious and career-focused from an early age. Their mission had been easier with her than with her obstinate younger sister.

  “And they aren’t opposed to you moving so far away?”

  “My parents aren’t exactly the clingy type. They’ll expect regular visits home, of course, but they won’t try to stop us from going. My sister...well, my sister will miss me,” she said with a faint sigh, thinking of how much she’d miss Maddie in return.