Page 11 of Back To Our Beginning

I watched her get into the ambulance with Eli, then watched as the ambulance drove away. This was the exact reason I hadn’t contacted her when I first got home. I knew I was going to get in too deep, and here I was, smack dab in the middle of the ocean.

Chapter Three

“That’s what I said. He followed me to the scene. He was out of his mind.”

It was the third time I had told my sister Evie what happened, and she still didn’t seem to understand.

“I still don’t see the problem.”

“He followed me to the scene!” I screeched into my phone.

It was three days later, and I was still parked on my couch, one leg tucked under me, a carton of half-melted Chunky Monkey ice cream balanced on my thigh. Each bite was supposed to calm my nerves, but all it did was make me feel slightly nauseous.

“What else did you expect to happen? He’s a Marine Raider, right? What do you think Drake would have done? What about Aiden?”

“Our brother and your husband are nuts. They have proven that over and over. I just figured that something was coded into their DNA and that’s what made them become SEALs. Beau was always cautious.”

I heard my sister snort.

“The guy stuck around even after Drake threatened to bury him in the woods. That should’ve been your first clue he wasn’t cautious. It figures he turned out to be the same kind of man as the rest of them. Anyway, what’s wrong with the SEAL types? Trenda and I are married to SEALs. Are you picking on our choices?”

I shoveled another big scoop of Chunky Monkey into my mouth, so I didn’t have to answer.

“I can hear you eating. It’s ice cream, isn’t it?”

I continued to chew and avoided answering the most annoying sister I had. Why in the hell had I thought calling Evie would be a good idea?

Dammit! I sprang backward on my sofa when a plop of ice cream dripped onto my couch. I set down my phone and ice cream carton on the coffee table and ran to the kitchen for a wet paper towel.

By the time I had the stain wiped up, I could hear Evie yelling at me through the phone’s speaker.

“I’m sorry,” I said, cutting her off mid-rant. “I spilled some ice cream on the couch. I needed to blot it out before it stained.”

“You’re as bad as my boys.”

I laughed. “Not even close. When are you, Holden, and Zephyr coming back for a visit?”

“Probably next month. Aiden has some leave coming up next week, so we’ve got some family time coming up. Plus, Karen and Drake are going to take our two well-behaved sons for a long weekend, so Aiden and I can get away.”

This time I snorted. “Well behaved, huh? Weren’t you the one who told me that last year he got Rufus out of his dog crate in the middle of the night so he could do reconnaissance after he found his Easter basket beside his bed?”

“I didn’t say reconnaissance. That was Aiden’s term.”

“Yeah, it was because Holden wanted to catch the Easter Bunny.”

“I should have thought of that. Of course, Aiden’s son would have been wigged out about a strange creature coming into his room in the middle of the night.”

I laughed. “I still have to hand it to the kid for confronting you after he found all the chocolate candy wrappers in your office trash can.”

“Shit, he was only four years old. Aiden is still mad that he wasn’t home to see that. But I hope you understand now.”

I scraped my spoon across the bottom of the carton of ice cream and came up empty.

“What do you mean, you hope I understand?”

“Some men are just wired that way. Holden is going to follow in his father’s footsteps. He’s a protector. Sounds like Beau is too.”

“I had things handled,” I protested.