The Long Journey Home
A single mom. A wounded veteran.
How can Kaedon Powell say no to a woman five thousand miles away from her daughter?
He’s had enough responsibility to last a lifetime, so when the eight-year-old next door asks for help, he’s reluctant to step in, especially since her grandmother doesn’t like him on sight. But the girl’s mother is in Germany as part of her tour. As a vet, he knows what it means to be military. He steps up.
Neurosurgical nurse Holly Miller has no choice but to rely on the stranger next door until a single phone call turns worry into a yearning destined to become more. Their long-distance connection turns personal as they discover how much they have in common.
Can her love help him accept that sometimes, commitment is worth the reward?
~EXCERPT~
Kaedon ran a hand through his hair, short, but longer than he’d had for years in the military. He didn’t cave. Ever. Yet here he was, in his garage, looking for holiday decorations his sister swore she’d shipped to him. Getting overheated, even with the So Cal’s winter weather, and he was about ready to throw every single box into the neighborhood dumpster.
Tapping the garage button to open the big door and get some air flow, Kaedon stepped outside into the warm California air. He’d grown up in South Carolina, but moving back after his last tour hadn’t been an option. There was a taint there he’d worked hard to eradicate from his mind and heart. Going back wasn’t a sane choice for him and he had no idea how his sister managed to live her life in their childhood home.
Staring at the boxes, he tried to think like Kerry. What box would she pack holiday decorations in? Glancing next door, he saw a girl of seven or eight sitting on the porch, a backpack still slung on her shoulders. She’d probably just gotten off the school bus. Her dark hair fell over her face as she sat with elbows on knees, chin in hand. Where was her mother? He’d seen an older woman in the house and yard. Her grandmother?
Shaking his head, he went back to the problem at hand. Kaedon had purposely not met his neighbors and this little girl wasn’t his problem. He’d done his stint and no longer took care of other people’s problems. He was finished with all that.
Kaidon dug back into the boxes, trying to forget the youngster next door. She wasn’t his responsibility. So why did he keep thinking about her? Trying to focus, he moved the boxes he’d looked through to the right side of the garage. One of these days, he’d have to get this all cleared out so he could park his car inside. Right now, his 1967 Cougar sat under a canvas cover in the driveway. Not the best for a classic car.
“You have a lot of boxes.”
Kaedon whirled at the young voice, his fight or flight instincts hitting the ceiling in point oh six seconds, his heart racing. He looked down into the dark brown eyes of the girl from the porch. He breathed deeply, trying to calm the chaos inside him. She’d caught him off guard, which was unusual. He saw everything coming, or at least, he thought he did.
“You ought to know better than to sneak up on strangers, kid. You could get hurt.”
She puffed out her chest. “I’m the daughter of a strong, military mom. I can take care of myself.”
About to laugh, he saw the seriousness in her face and stifled the urge, though he couldn’t quite stifle the adrenaline still priming his body for a fight. Scenes tapped at the edge of his consciousness. Ugly memories.
Focus. Don’t think about the past. It’s over and done with. Work today’s problems, not yesterday’s.
“Where’s your mother?” he asked.
The girl stared at him for a long moment. Why did he feel like she saw right through to his soul?
“You’re military, aren’t you? Special forces?” she asked.
While he was trying to figure out how she knew that, the girl pointed to his arm and the tattoo his t-shirt didn’t quite cover.
Not Special Forces. RECON. The ones that go in first, who find the danger first, who die first. Not that he planned on explaining that to this kid. “Ex-military.”
“Marine. That’s what the tattoo is. Hey, I thought there was no such thing as an ex-marine.”
Not going there. Not now, not ever. It was time to nip this in the bud. “I’m going to ask again. Where is your mother?”
Cocking her head sideways, the girl bit her lower lip, making some sort of decision. “She’s in Germany, working at a hospital. I’m living with my grandmother.”
He should have guessed her mother was deployed. “Where’s your dad?”
“Don’t know.”
How could a child not know where her father was. Covert ops, maybe? Kaedon cringed as the memories tried to nudge their way back in.
“Then where’s your grandmother?”
“Don’t know that, either.” For the first time, worry furrowed the girl’s face.
Kaedon knew pain and apparently, this girl did, too. He wiped the frown off his face and softened his voice. “Do you know when she’ll be home?”
The girl shook her head.