Military Heroes Bundle: A Soldier's Homecoming / A Soldier's Redemption / Danger in the Desert / Strangers When We Meet / Grayson's Surrender / Taking Cover

“So do I.”

“I wish I had a dad like him, instead of the other kind.”

Connie didn’t need to ask what kind her daughter meant. “I’m sorry. I made a big mistake when I married your father.”

Sophie surprised her with an impish smile. “But if you didn’t marry him, you wouldn’t have me.”

Connie managed a little laugh. “I don’t know about that. I think God always meant for me to have you. The angels saved you specially.”

Sophie laughed. “I’m not that good.”

“Oh, yes, you are.”

Sophie’s smile faded. “The man’s still there.”

A fist punched Connie in the chest. “Have you seen him?”

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

“After school yesterday. That’s why I went a different way home.”

Connie didn’t know what to say. For several long seconds she hung in the balance between terror and anguish. Calm, when it came, had a price. But for Sophie’s sake, she had to remain calm. Finally she cleared her throat. “You would have been safer staying with your friends.”

Sophie shrugged. “I was safe. I’m here.”

Connie didn’t know how to argue with that. She didn’t want to scare the child more. Yet Sophie needed to be cautious. “Honey...”

“I know. Don’t trust strangers and stay with my friends.” Sophie rolled over on her side again and took her mother’s hand. “I’ll be okay, Mommy. Don’t worry.”

“Just stay close, honey. Just stay close.” Leaning over, Connie wrapped her daughter in a tight hug and felt those warm little arms wrap around her in return. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, Mommy.”

“Now sleep a little longer. You were up all night, Enid said.”

Sophie smiled brilliantly. “It was fun.”

“I bet it was. Later we’ll play some games or something, okay? But get a little more sleep first.”

Sophie’s eyelids, still puffy with sleepiness, were already sagging to half-mast. “I really like Ethan,” she said again. Then she fell sound asleep.

Connie envied her daughter’s ability to drop off so quickly. These days, finding sleep herself could be a struggle. And after Sophie’s little bomb, she wondered if she would ever sleep again. As if in response to an emotional overload, a kind of numbness settled over her.

She sat with Sophie for a while longer, until the little girl’s breathing deepened; then, after dropping a kiss on her daughter’s forehead, Connie tiptoed from the room.

Downstairs, still wearing her numbness like a cloak, she found Julia and Ethan shuffling cards. “What’s going on?”

Julia grinned. “Ethan’s going to teach me how to play Texas hold ’em. Don’t we have chips somewhere?”

“Maybe. I seem to remember getting them for some project.”

“Well, go find them, girl,” Julia said. “This man wants a chance to clean me out.”

Ethan’s chuckle followed Connie as she went to look in the living-room credenza.

The box was still there, after all this time. She carried the chips back to the kitchen, but her mind wasn’t on poker. While Ethan started divvying up the plastic chips, she said, “Sophie saw him again.”

Ethan’s hands froze. Julia’s smile faded.

“After school yesterday. She said that’s why she took a different way home.”

Ethan swore softly.

Julia’s face sagged. “Why didn’t she tell us this yesterday?”

“I don’t know.” Connie, who had maintained a calm facade until this moment, couldn’t hold it together any longer. Her voice stretched thin, became thready, and the panic that had been clawing at her all week grabbed her fully in its jaws.

“He’s still here,” she repeated. “He’s still here, and Sophie saw him. How can we make her safe if he can get to her without our knowing it? How can we protect her?”

Her voice had grown shrill, and she bit back further words, knowing that she was only feeding her own panic and sense of helplessness.

But, dear God, how could she remain calm in the face of this? A stranger, maybe Leo, maybe not, was stalking her little girl. She pushed back from the table, ignoring it when the chair fell over. Like a terrified horse, she wanted to race from one end of her corral to the other and beat down the bars that held her in.

Before she could dash from the room, Ethan caught her. His strong arms surrounded her, restrained her, held her close. Surrounded her with security.

“Shh,” he whispered, and stroked her hair. “Shh. She’s safe upstairs right now. I swear to you, Connie, I’ll be right beside her every time she leaves this house. I’ll walk with her everywhere. I’ll watch her when she plays. Nobody’s going to hurt that child as long as I have breath in me.”

Connie wanted to believe him. She desperately needed to believe him.

“It’s gone past trying to keep a loose watch on her,” Ethan said. “With a second encounter, we have to tighten up. Sophie may not like it, but that’s the way it has to be until we catch this guy.”

Connie leaned back and looked up at him. “What if it isn’t Leo?” she whispered. Much as she feared Leo’s violence and that it might spill over onto Sophie, there were other things to be feared more. Like real strangers. Horrible, terrible sick men who would do the unthinkable.

Not even when she had faced an armed burglar had she felt this much gut-wrenching, sickening fear. Fear for Sophie. Fear of all the monsters that could walk into her innocent daughter’s life.

A shudder ripped through her, then another. Flying apart seemed like a valid option right now. Shattering into a million pieces.

But for these few moments, Ethan’s arms held her together. His strength seemed to infuse her with something she desperately needed. Little by little, her shudders eased, until finally she sagged against him. He continued to hold her, seeming to understand that the strength needed to return to her muscles.

Something else began to shift within her. All of a sudden she remembered the dreams she’d had before Leo, dreams of a man who would support her and protect her and care for her, not one who would use her. Abuse her.

All those dreams had died at the end of Leo’s fist, at the toe of his boot. Or so she had thought. Maybe they had only gone into hibernation.

Ethan had suddenly awakened them, but even as she realized that, she feared the cost of allowing them to reappear. Ethan wasn’t here for the long haul. He’d merely come to town to meet Micah, and once he’d established whatever kind of relationship he wanted there, he would move on. Besides, he had problems of his own, and she doubted she was the solution to any of them.

There was danger here, emotional danger, but she couldn’t bring herself to step away. Not yet. She needed these moments with near desperation.