Page 51 of Operation Protector
“She’s escalating,” Quinn said, and his voice was grim enough that even Grace picked up on it and looked worried.
“Daddy, what does undertaker mean?”
He didn’t really want to tell her. But he didn’t want to lie to her, either. She was too smart anyway, and she’d know. But then Hayley spoke, in that quiet, gentle way she had.
“What your mother said means she wishes your father would go away and never bother her again.”
“Oh. She always says that.” She looked from Hayley back to Colby. “But if you go away, you’ll take me with you, won’t you?” she asked anxiously.
“I’m not going away without you,” he promised her.
“Okay,” Grace said, smiling now, as if that were all she’d needed to hear.
“Trust,” Ali murmured, just loud enough for him to hear. “A beautiful thing to have earned.”
He liked the way she put it, not that it was a gift—which it was, to him—but that he’d earned it. But then, Ali always seemedto see things that way. That he deserved any good thing that happened. Like Foxworth being pulled into his life by her own little pup, via the apparently far too clever Cutter. Who was now acting like a well-trained guardian for his precious little girl.
The Foxworths, Cutter and Ali. He’d never had a run of luck like that in his life before. He supposed that was why he was a little wary of trusting it now.
That word again. Trust.
I trusted you! I trusted you would see the sensible path, that you would realize what you had to do, the only possible thing to do. Not that you would cling to your pitiful former life. I trusted you would see the enormity of the gift my family is offering!
Liz’s long-ago tirade was etched into that part of his brain he tried not to visit. But he’d never really had much ammunition to fire back at her accusations. Because she’d been right about the size of the opportunity the Hollens were offering. He could become a mover and shaker, someone of importance, of influence.
What she’d been wrong about was thinking he wanted that.
He supposed that was the moment he’d realized where they were headed. Because it was the moment he’d realized that her shouted words about trust no longer meant much to him. That he didn’t care anymore if she trusted him. In fact, he’d even resigned himself to not caring if anyone ever trusted him, not if Liz’s kind of life was the price.
But now…
Grace trusted him. The Foxworths trusted him. Ali trusted him. If the value of trust was directly related to the value of the person offering it, then it meant something.
To him, them trusting him meant everything.
And he would do anything not to betray it.
Chapter 23
Ali watched as the girl and the two dogs romped in the meadow. Even this time of year there was lots of green, and the expanse out to the towering evergreens—even, she thought, a few redwoods—was dotted here and there with some maple trees she knew would have been brilliantly red just a few months ago in fall, and various shrubs she was willing to bet would explode with colorful flowers come spring.
And she thought the tree they were next to was a magnolia. She’d bet it would smell wonderful when it was in bloom, and knowing what she knew of Hayley, that that was probably the reason it was so close to the patio they were standing on. Colby was beside her, also watching intently, while Hayley was on her other side, enjoying the show along with them.
“What a beautiful space,” she said to Hayley as Grace’s laughter rang out.
“It is.” She smiled. “We love it so much we got married out here. Which seemed to have started a Foxworth trend.”
Ali laughed. Hayley had told her about the string of marriages both done and upcoming, all of which she credited to Cutter.
She watched Grace do a cartwheel that was nothing less than…graceful.
“She’s well named, in several ways,” she said to Colby.
“Grace is her middle name,” Colby said. “I wanted it to be her first, but Liz insisted she be named after her father, Brian. So legally, she’s Brianna.” He couldn’t help smiling then. “But when she got old enough to understand, which for her was about agetwo, she refused to answer to it. Would only answer to Grace. Even Liz finally gave in, since legally she’s still Brianna.”
“So you’ve already beaten her once.”
Colby blinked. “I…never thought of it that way, but yeah, I guess so.”
