Page 5

She nods and looks at me with determination. When I step toward her, she holds out her hand, and I take it with both of mine. The guys fall into step behind us as my mom leads us through the quarry.

“That stand of trees over there is where we found the initials and the game camera.” I point it out.

Her smile is soft. “We used to come here during the summer. We spent time together, me reading while he drew. It was a nice shaded area, and we had a favorite tree. I’d lay my head in his lap, and we’d stay like that for hours while our other friends horsed around in the water.”

“My dad was artistic?” I study her face. My dad never interested me before. He was a non-factor in my life. Knowing he didn’t leave us willingly has me curious who he actually was.

“He never thought he was any good, but I loved his drawings. I’m not sure where they ended up after college.” Her brow furrows. “I never thought about it honestly.”

Part of me wants to tear our house apart to find those sketches and drawings. To have something to connect me to the man who’s no longer a part of my life but somehow feels more solid after that video. He loved us. He loved me.

Even after all these years, he protects me through our friend. Luke told us what his father said about if I got in his way. This is a dangerous game. A little tremor of fear races through me. But I’m not willing to give up Luke, and I don’t think he’s willing to give me up either. Mom squeezes my hand.

“Is there somewhere else that was important or somewhere Sean might have set up to watch the clearing?” Eli steps forward to ask. The others are studying the area like they expect an attack at any moment.

I’m tense, but my mom’s presence calms me. She stops. We’re in the middle of the clearing the guys think their fathers would have used for their meeting. Obviously, my father thought so too, or he wouldn’t have put the trail cam so high and pointed it at this spot.

Mom draws in a breath and closes her eyes. “We spent a few summers out here, away from everything.”

Does she mean away from their horsemen? There’s so much I don’t know about. How persistent had William been?

She doesn’t speak for a few minutes, but then chuckles. “Sorry, this is a lot. I haven’t been out here since I was a teenager. So many memories.” She meets my eyes, and I see happiness and sadness blended in hers. “So many good memories.”

I squeeze her hand back. “We have time.”

Instead of reassuring her, that seems to spur her on. She tugs me in a direction, and we pass some old equipment. She stops and looks around the clearing.

“Sean would have put it somewhere that would withstand time. Though maybe he thought I’d see that video much earlier.” Mom shakes her head. Her hair is up in a bun, but the wind blows the loose strands around her face.

After a minute, she releases my hand and grabs a stick. “You’re looking for this.”

She draws an infinity symbol in the dirt, but it’s made out of an S and a J entwined. She brushes her hands off as she stands.

Gesturing to the area we’re standing in, she says, “It would be somewhere around here.”

The guys nod and spread out to look for this symbol. Mom stares at it for a minute, obviously caught up in some memory. I don’t know what to do, so I wrap my arms around myself and wait for her to come back to me.

She sighs and turns. “I never should have stopped talking about him with you. You deserved to know your dad was a good man. He loved you with all his heart. I couldn’t risk you questioning the wrong person. Or feeling some way about getting revenge.”

Her gaze trails over my guys and a ghost of a smile lights up her face. “You might have taken it out on people who didn’t deserve it. But I want you to know your father was an amazing man. He loved both of us so much that I can’t imagine loving anyone the way I loved him.”

Closing the distance, I hug her tight. Not saying anything. A tear rolls down my cheek as I stand there, hurting for the love she lost. The man I never got a chance to know.

Her arm wraps around me as she watches the guys move around the area. I can’t imagine losing any of my guys. To not have those soft moments with Luke. To never hear Jack’s laughter and gentle teasing. To miss out on the protective beast Caden becomes. To lose Nico’s soft assurance that we’re meant to be no matter what. And Eli, he’s a constant and such a force of quiet strength that he’s become someone I can’t imagine going through life without.

“I’ve got something,” Caden calls out.

He’s in the center of some of the equipment. Mom and I move toward him, but Luke grabs my hand to hold me back.

“It’s not a safe area, princess.”

I look up into his pale blue eyes, but he doesn’t release my arm.

“Too much weight can make things shift dangerously.”

My mom touches my arm before she climbs to where Caden is. Luke draws me in close to him. I rest my back against his front, and he wraps his arm around my center. Jack and Eli continue to look in case what Caden found isn’t what we’re looking for.

“You okay?” Luke asks softly.