The SEAL's Valentine (Operation: Family) (17 page)

Though Brynn couldn’t hear Tristan’s answer, Cayden’s slumped shoulders and crestfallen expression told her all she needed to know. Her son was once again in pain, and she was powerless to help. And who did she have to thank for all of this? Tristan.

* * *

A
FTER
TALKING
TO
T
RISTAN
, Cayden hung up the phone and tried really hard not to cry.

“Everything all right?” his mom asked.

No!
Cayden might’ve nodded for his mom, but in his hurting belly, he missed Tristan superbad. And he was mad at his mom for letting him go. Why hadn’t she stopped him? Had she even asked him to stay in Ruin Bayou to be his dad? Even Mackenzie missed him. Cayden could tell by the way she hardly ever laughed anymore.

“You’re awfully quiet over there.” At the table, his mom frosted a cookie.

He still stood by the phone.

Mackenzie had been taking a nap, but over her baby monitor she was now screaming.

Cayden said, “I’ll get her.”

“Thank you, sweetie. That’s awfully grown-up of you to help me like that.”

“I know.” He frowned the whole way up the stairs. What he needed to do was think of a plan to make Tristan come home. Something really big and exciting. He had $23.47 in his piggy bank. Would that be enough to hire one of those skywriter planes like they’d seen on the Fourth of July?

In Mackenzie’s room, he scooped her from her crib and could tell she’d peed in her diaper. He knew how to change that kind, so he did it real fast.

Finished, he sat with her in her big rocking chair. “Wish you weren’t just a stupid baby and could talk.”

When she smiled at him real big, he felt kinda guilty for calling her stupid.

“If you were bigger—” he jiggled her on his lap “—we could make a plan to get Tristan to come home.”

She made one of her cute and funny baby sounds.

“Does that mean you think I should do something by myself?”

Now she made cute noises and kicked.

“I know his navy thing where he works is someplace called Virginia Beach. Think I could ride my bike there in a day?”

Really excited, she wiggled and laughed.

“Maybe it wouldn’t even take that long? I’m a really fast rider. All I need to do is make a sandwich and take granola bars and maybe my favorite baseball that Dad gave me that all of his friends signed. Tristan liked it a whole lot, so if I give it to him, then he’ll for sure come home.”

Cayden jumped when his mom came into the room. “What’re you two doing up here?”

“Just talking.” He usually asked permission before riding his bike somewhere far—like his friend Dom’s house that was two whole blocks away—but this time, he didn’t even want his mom to have a chance to say no. All he needed to do was bring back Tristan and his mom and Mac would never do anything but smile again.

Chapter Seventeen

With Cayden spending the night at Dom’s and Mackenzie crashing early, Brynn found herself with way more time on her hands than she would’ve liked. She channel-hopped, but found nothing that held her interest. Turning off the TV, she picked up the novel she’d been wanting to read, but her mind was too busy to focus on even the first page.

Just needed to touch base. Hear your voice.

She should’ve been encouraged by the fact that Tristan was at least thinking of her and her children, but at best, it came as a hollow victory. So what if he occasionally thought of them? It didn’t change the fact that he obviously didn’t miss them enough to do anything about it.

She finally fell into a fitful sleep, only to be awakened too early by a violent thunderstorm. Eerie yellow morning light showed high wind had taken a toll on the yard. Leaves and small twigs littered not just the lawn, but her flowerbeds. Looked like Georgia’s yard would need a good cleaning, too.

After orange spice tea and a bowl of cereal, she handled all of Mackenzie’s morning needs, then packed the baby into her carrier to start work.

By noon, she and Georgia had their yards tidied and still had time left to help a few other neighbors. Brynn wanted to talk with her friend about Tristan’s call, but in the end, she figured what was the point? All the talk in the world wouldn’t bring him back. And honestly, did she really even want him back? He’d hurt her so badly. The safest thing for not only her own heart, but her children’s would be trying to put Tristan far to the back of their minds.

“Where’s Cayden?” Georgia asked, taking off her gardening gloves. “We could’ve used him this morning.”

“He spent the night with Dom. He’s usually home by now, though. Maybe Vivian’s got him helping out in their yard?”

“Probably.” Georgia waved before heading into her home.

Before feeding Mackenzie her lunch, Brynn dialed Vivian’s number. “Hey,” she said when her friend picked up on the second ring, “just checking in to make sure everything’s all right.”

After a few minutes of talking about the storm, Brynn said, “What are the boys up to? They’ve usually ridden their bikes down here by now.”

“What do you mean?” Vivian asked. “Dom spent the night with his cousin in Shreveport. We took him yesterday afternoon.”

Brynn’s pulse raged. “So Cayden hasn’t been with you?”

“No...”

Covering her mouth to keep from crying out, Brynn fought to keep calm. There had to be a logical explanation for where Cayden had gone.

Brynn told Vivian she’d call her back, then raced up the stairs to Cayden’s room. Maybe once he’d found out Dom was with his cousin, Cayden had come home?

She prayed she’d find him in bed, but all she found was a note on his bed.

Deer Mom, don’t wurry I’m bringing Tristan home
.

Don’t worry?

It was all Brynn could do not to faint.

* * *

T
RISTAN
MADE
THE
EIGHTEEN
-
HOUR
drive to Shreveport in fourteen. He’d looked into flying, but with scheduling issues, that would’ve taken even longer.

During the drive, he’d done nothing but pray that by the time he reached Ruin Bayou, Cayden would have already been found—safe.

Worse than the nerves screaming in his stomach was the knowledge that he’d done this. If he’d never left, at this late hour Cayden would be safe in his bed.

He pulled his truck into Brynn’s drive at 1:30 a.m. All lights were blazing and cars lined the street—telling him the boy still hadn’t been found.

“Tristan...” He hadn’t bothered knocking and went inside. His mother ran to him, crushing him in a hug.

Over his mother’s head, his gaze met Brynn’s. Her eyes were bloodshot and the dark circles beneath told him her terror.

Donna said, “Jason’s down at the station, directing searches. I’m sure he’ll be grateful for your help.”

“I—I have to find Cayden, Mom.” Tristan felt as if his whole life had come unhinged. If something unspeakable happened to Brynn’s boy, Tristan wasn’t sure how he’d live with himself. “If I’d stayed...”

“Stop.” His mom gripped his hand. “There’ll be enough time for blame once Cayden’s found. Until then, do what you’ve trained for and finish the task at hand.”

* * *

B
RYNN
HAD
WANTED
TO
RAIL
ON
Tristan as soon as he’d walked through her front door. But how could she be upset with him when she hadn’t even called Vivian to check out Cayden’s story? All of this could’ve been avoided with one simple call. Didn’t matter that the boys slept over at each other’s houses all the time without formal invitation. What mattered was that when Brynn had needed to be a mother most, she’d failed.

She’d set a fresh tray of sandwiches on the dining-room table before seeing Tristan exit not five minutes after his arrival.

Not caring if she looked like a crazy woman, she charged through the subdued crowd, chasing him out the door. “Just like that? You’re leaving?”

He was already halfway across the yard, and when he turned to face her, even in faint porch light, she saw he looked no better than her. Red-rimmed eyes and pressed lips told her he cared every bit as much as her about her son. “I’m not leaving, but heading out to bring Cayden home.”

Hugging herself, fighting tears, she nodded.

“I’m sorry about all this, Brynn. So sorry.”

“Me, too. I know you had to go back to work, but Cayden...” She shrugged. “He didn’t understand.”

Charging toward her, Tristan wrapped his solid arms around her, and for the first time since realizing Cayden was gone, Brynn felt as if her son really would be okay. He held her and held her, and then kissed her hard before heading for his truck.

* * *

C
AYDEN
DIDN
’
T
WANT
TO
CRY
, but it was getting kind of tough not to. He’d taken a map from his mom’s car, but all the lines looked the same.

He’d ridden his bike on the highway for a long time, but once it started thundering, he hid under a bridge. The wind was superscary and all he kept thinking about was how bad he missed his mom and little sister. He missed his dad and Tristan, too, but sometimes he felt guilty that he couldn’t remember his dad’s face.

By the time the rain ended, it was daytime and so he got back on his bike and kept riding until he saw Virginia’s BBQ on a sign in front of a restaurant.

He leaned his bike against the side of the building, then went inside. Only instead of it being like a real place, it was all broken down inside with weeds growing through the floor and lots of broken glass.

Cayden felt really stupid for thinking this was the same Virginia where Tristan lived. He felt even more stupid for not being able to read the map. And this place was smelly—like bunches of wet dogs.

After taking off his backpack, he unzipped it, ate one of the granola bars he’d packed, then sat on the dirty floor, wishing he knew what to do. Should he get back on his bike and ride farther or stand in the road and wait for a policeman to drive by?

A big spider crawled out from under a newspaper.

Cayden scrambled to his feet.

He hated spiders and now, he especially hated this old place. Back on his bike, he rode until his legs ached. But knowing he probably still had a long way to go, he tried not to think about how bad he hurt and instead thought of how awesome it would be once he found Tristan and brought him home. Mackenzie would be so excited, but especially his mom. She and Tristan could get married and they’d be a family again, back like it used to be before his dad died.

* * *

T
EN
FRUITLESS
HOURS
INTO
HIS
search, Tristan tried thinking like a little kid. What would Jack have done in a situation like this?

Tristan returned to Brynn’s house, only not to go inside, but to hopefully get his mind wrapped around the route Cayden may have taken. Tristan left the neighborhood, aiming for the nearest highway—or what Cayden may have perceived as a big road. Once there, he fought to squelch crushing waves of hopelessness and fear. Those kinds of things weren’t in his nature, so why, when he most needed a cool head, was he losing it?

Think, Tristan
.
Think.

Going on pure gut feel, he turned east, and kept heading east until reaching the small town of Perry. Once there, he asked around in a few shops and a gas station if they’d seen a kid, showing them Cayden’s most recent school photo. All said no, until a gas station attendant said he’d seen a boy riding by himself on his way into work that morning and thought it odd he was out that far on his own.

Tristan thanked the man, then climbed back in his truck, searching, searching for what he didn’t know.

Twenty minutes later, he eyed an old abandoned barbecue joint with the name Virginia on the burned-out sign. Following a hunch that Cayden may have thought there was a connection between this Virginia and the one where Tristan lived, he parked his truck and went inside.

The place reeked of mildew and piss.

His footsteps crunching on broken glass, Tristan did a room-by-room search only to come up empty.

He’d circled back to the main room, taking one last look before leaving when a glimmer on the floor caught his gaze. He knelt to pick up the wrapper from one of the Scooby-Doo granola bars Cayden favored.

Tristan held it to his nose to find the grainy scent still fresh. Heart racing, he bolted for the door.

A few minutes later, he found bike tracks. Once he located the spot where Cayden had left the dirt lot to get back on the asphalt, Tristan hopped back in the truck, searching the shoulder as he traveled farther down the desolate road.

Ten minutes after that, he spotted Cayden, perched on a metal guardrail, knees scraped and crying, but otherwise in good shape.

Tristan veered the truck onto the shoulder, slamming it into Park, then jumped out to lift the boy into his arms. “Don’t
ever
run away again,” he managed to choke out past his throat that had tightened with tears. Holding Cayden close, Tristan drank in his familiar, little boy smell. “You scared your mother and me something fierce.”

“I—I’m sorry,” Cayden sobbed through sloppy tears. “I was scared, too. L-last night there was a really bad storm and I knew alligators were gonna eat me. I missed Mom and you and even M-Mac...” The boy clung to Tristan, making his chest ache with emotion. How could he have ever left this beautiful child? Yet in the same respect, how could he risk his heart on Brynn one day taking him away just as Andrea had done with Jack? Tristan honestly feared he wouldn’t survive that kind of pain.

* * *

“M
OM
!”

Brynn’s knees buckled with relief upon seeing her son leap from Tristan’s truck cab. Gripping the porch rail for support, she forced deep breaths, welcoming the relief of happy tears. In a heartbeat, he’d run into her arms and she clung to him, kissing the top of his sweet, sweet head.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I promise I’ll never run away again.”

There’d been so much she’d planned to say, delivering a lecture he wouldn’t soon forget. But now, all she could focus on was how grateful she was to Tristan for bringing him home.

When the crush of neighbors jockeying to see Cayden and hear his adventure had finally lessened, Brynn felt secure enough to leave him on his own for a short while to properly acknowledge what Tristan had done.

“How can I ever repay you?” she asked past a fresh batch of tears.

“No need. Anyone could’ve found him. I got lucky that it was me.” Was she imagining things, or did he seem reluctant to meet her gaze?

“Tristan, if you think this changes anything—that I expect you to stay, you can relax. I understand you can’t make a commitment to us and I refuse to settle for less.”

Jaw clenched, he nodded. “What about Cayden?”

“He’s been in counseling. Trust me, after this stunt, he’ll no doubt have plenty more. But eventually, I have to believe he’ll be okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That you can’t trust me? That you can’t give more?”

“Stop...” His tone was uncharacteristically low.

“Why? You’re the one apologizing. That means something. That you feel something.” More than anything, she wanted to cling to him, fisting his shirt while kissing him breathless. But what was the point? He was still scared and after what Mack had put her through by not communicating, the last thing she needed in her life was another man who was too thickheaded to talk.

* * *

“
B
UT
I
THOUGHT
NOW
THAT
YOU
were here,” Cayden asked Tristan at the breakfast table the next morning, “that you were going to stay?”

“Wish I could,” Tristan said, “but my CO called and said he needs me back on base.”

“What’s that?” Cayden wrinkled his nose.

“It means he’s my commanding officer—or boss. If I don’t do what he says, I’ll go to jail.”

“Oh.” While pushing his pancakes around in the syrup, Cayden felt sadder than he had in a real long time. When Tristan rescued him, he thought that meant he wanted to be his new dad.

“Next time there’s a holiday, I’ll be back. Maybe I can bring my son. You’d like him.” Cayden flinched when Tristan ruffled his hair. He wasn’t a baby and he hated it when grown-ups treated him like one.

“If you don’t like us anymore,” Cayden said, “you don’t have to lie. Just go away and stop making my mom and me cry.”

“Cayden...”

His mom came and stood behind him. “Tristan, I think it’d be best if you go.”

“Yeah.” Cayden held his mom’s hand real tight. He loved Tristan and more than anything wanted him to be his dad, but running taught him Virginia Beach was too far away to get to on his bike. Even worse, no matter what Cayden said or did, it wasn’t going to be enough to make Tristan come home.