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

It was then that she noticed he wasn’t looking around in the same way she was. She scanned things at street level exclusively, seeking shadows behind shrubs, people sitting in cars, danger in alleyways.

He scanned the ground level, too, but spent much less time on it. He looked higher, as well, to rooftops and upper-story windows. His perception of possible threat seemed significantly greater than hers.

But of course it would be, she realized. Nothing in her life could compare to war.

All of a sudden she felt as if she’d been whining. He’d seen things she couldn’t even imagine, had probably lost friends in the ugliest ways imaginable.

But Sophie... Sophie was precious, too. Incalculably precious. To her. Ethan seemed to understand that or he wouldn’t be here with her right now.

Nor had he given her any sense at all that he didn’t consider her feelings and her daughter to be as important as anything he had ever dealt with.

She felt a warm flutter toward him, and a burst of gratitude. “Thanks so much for helping me with this.”

“What kind of man would I be if I didn’t?”

She glanced at him before returning her attention to the street. “Trust me, there are men who wouldn’t.”

“Well, I’m not one of them. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that every single life is precious.”

She believed him. And in believing him, she understood the horror of the life he’d led. By choice or by mandate, he had sundered his soul.

They reached the school. Around it, everything was dead quiet, so they took the time to walk the perimeter. Nothing caught their attention, but by the time they reached the front of the school again, busses were pulling into the circular drive, and cars were pulling into the parking lot.

Connie looked at her watch. “Five minutes till the bell.”

He nodded. “I’m going to stand back a little and watch while you collect Sophie.”

She understood. Only one of them should be looking for Sophie, the other should be keeping a lookout. “Don’t stand too far away,” she said. “You don’t want to look suspicious yourself.”

He nodded acknowledgment and stepped back only a couple of feet. In his chambray shirt and jeans, he looked pretty much like anyone else around here who was over thirty, except perhaps for the heritage writ plain on his face. He received more than one look from arriving parents, but no one approached him, perhaps because he stood in a way that indicated he was with Connie.

A group of teachers and administrators emerged from the building, smiling and saying hello to everyone, but taking no time to pause in conversation. They looked around as uneasily as anyone.

Shortly after, the bell rang over speakers inside and out. Within fifteen seconds kids began erupting through the doors, headed for buses or parents.

Sophie arrived within a couple of minutes. She ran over and threw her arms around Connie’s waist, hugging her tightly but giggling at the same time.

“Jeremy has green hair!” she exclaimed.

“How did he get green hair?” Connie asked, squatting to eye level with her daughter.

“He painted it in art class. Mrs. Belgia tried to wash it out, but it stained. His mom is gonna be sooo mad.”

“Maybe.” Although if Connie knew Jeremy’s mother as well as she thought, she figured the woman was going to laugh herself silly. Far better than getting angry, in her experience. And Jeremy would have to live with the hair.

Connie stroked her daughter’s blond curls. “I’m glad you didn’t decide to paint yours. I like it the way it is.”

“Me, too.” Sophie beamed.

Connie straightened, taking her daughter’s hand. “I want you to meet a friend of mine. He’s going to be staying with us for a little while. Ethan, this is my daughter, Sophie. Sophie, this is Mr. Ethan.”

Sophie looked up, then up farther, her eyes widening. “You’re an Indian!” she blurted.

For an instant Connie wished she could stuff cotton in Sophie’s mouth.

But Ethan only smiled and squatted, the soccer ball still under his arm. “I am,” he said. “You’ve seen Indians before, right?”

“Yeah.” Sophie grinned. “I think they’re cool. I wish I was Pocohantas.”

“Like in the movie?”

“Yeah. She’s beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you.”

Sophie’s brow creased. “Why not?”

“Cuz she’s not seven years old, plus she’s only a cartoon.”

Sophie giggled. “I know that. What’s the ball for?”

“I thought we could kick it around a little at the park.”

“Cool.” Sophie tugged her mother’s hand. “Let’s go.”

With Sophie skipping and holding her hand, Connie started walking toward the park. Ethan was on her other side.

Part of her felt relieved that Sophie didn’t seem afraid, but another part worried about Sophie’s ready acceptance of Ethan. Of course, she’d introduced him to Sophie herself, but still...

“Maybe,” she said quietly as Sophie sang cheerfully about the wheels on the bus as they passed the long line of waiting vehicles, “a little shyness would do her some good.”

“Naw,” said Ethan, just as quietly. “I didn’t mind what she said, and you don’t want to change her because of this thing.”

“No.” She looked at him. “That really worries me. That this could change her.”

“Then don’t let it.”

“Easier said than done, I fear.”

Sophie waved to friends, skipping along tirelessly, eager to get to the park. Connie kept scanning for anything the least bit suspicious but saw nothing. Everyone who was there should have been there. Nobody lurked or seemed out of place.

And the farther they got from the school, the thinner the crowds became, until they were nearly by themselves.

“Where’s Jody?” Connie asked Sophie. “I didn’t see her. I thought the two of you were stuck together like bubblegum.”

Sophie giggled again and downshifted from skip to walk. “She didn’t come to school today. I think maybe she was sick.”

Connie’s heart slammed. “I’ll call and check on her.” What if something had happened to Jody? But then she reminded herself that Jody’s mother had been the first to learn of what had happened, apart from the police. So maybe she had just kept Jody at home today.

“I got a surprise for you,” she told Sophie.

“Yeah? What?”

“A cell phone.”

“Oh, boy!” Sophie let out a shriek of delight. “I get my own cell phone!”

“I got one for me, too, so when we get home, we’ll figure out how to work them, and then I’m going to give you some rules.”

Sophie’s face scrunched up. “Everything has rules.”

“Everything,” Connie agreed.

Sophie peered around at Ethan. “Do you have rules, too?”

“Lots of them,” he said. “More than you do, I bet.”

“How come?”

“Because I was a soldier.”

“Oh.”

“Lots of rules for soldiers.”

Sophie shook her head. “Not as many as my mom makes.”

Ethan laughed. “We’ll see about that.”

They reached the park without seeing anything unusual, which contradictorily both eased Connie’s mind and heightened her fear. No threat right now, but what if the threat was merely hiding and waiting?

She shook her head, trying to clear it of such thoughts. No good to think that way. Utterly useless worrying.

No one else was at the park. Not a single swing moved. Connie would have expected to see at least a few children, preschoolers out with their mothers, if nothing else. Cold winters made spring days welcome and cherished, but apparently everyone had hunkered down.

Ethan chose an open patch of ground between the swings and the baseball diamond, and set the ball down. “We’re just going to practice kicking it around, okay? Because there’s no one else here yet to play with.”