Eden's Promise (24 page)

“Fine. Don’t judge me for my choices, or your sister’s. She’s every bit as stubborn as you.”

“I’m surprised my father allowed her to come,” Kelly said bitterly.

Aaron’s heart sank. Of course she wouldn’t know. “Your father died a few months ago.”

The color that had infused her face as she railed at him drained away now and she staggered. He caught her before her trailing fiancé could, and lowered her to a nearby bench that sat against the fence. He crouched before her and looked into her face.
 

“I’m sorry,” he said simply, not knowing what else to say.
 

“I thought he’d live forever. He sure planned it that way.” Her voice was just a wisp on the breeze before she focused her tear-filled eyes on Aaron. “How?”

He lifted a shoulder. “It happened before I got home, but I understand people were trying to get to the island and he was trying to stop them. There was a firefight and he was shot.”

She made a gurgling sound in her throat and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the fence.

“There’s more. Your mother is ill. She sent us to find you. We don’t know if she’s okay. We’ve been away for weeks now.”

She squeezed her eyes so the tears trickled down her face. “God. I should have known there was a reason you’d risk so much to come for me. I didn’t think it would be to tell me I had no family left.”

“You have family,” he said sharply. “Eden is out there, and we’re going to find her. We found you, didn’t we, with nothing more than an old address.”

She nodded and dropped her head forward, rubbing her eyes. Aaron straightened and looked at her fiancé—Geoff, he thought she’d said—and motioned for the other man to take over.

“The two of you wait here. We’ll be heading out in a bit.”

He rose and moved away, not wanting to be part of her grief, knowing that made him a coward. This had been a woman he’d cared about, but she had someone else to take that burden now. And he needed to focus on finding Eden, so that she did have family left.

He was pacing in front of the commander’s office waiting for the other men to show up when shouts rose from the front gate. Curious, he trotted through the buildings and saw dust kicking up from the road leading to camp before he heard the rumble of an engine.

A truck.

“Crazy,” he heard one of the guards say as he stood at the ready. “No new people in weeks, and two vehicles in two days.”

As last night, a group of onlookers had gathered, and Aaron’s instinct was to shoo them away. No telling what kind of threat approached. He moved through the crowd to stand near Kelly and Geoff.
 

“Take her to your place,” he said softly to Geoff. “We don’t know who this is.”

But before Geoff could convince Kelly to move away from the fence, the truck slowed and the door opened before it came to a complete stop. A young woman with cropped hair, wearing well-worn fatigues climbed out first, her eyes wary but familiar. Christine? Behind her, a blonde with a swinging ponytail hopped out, hanging on the door, and scanned the crowd with bright eyes.

“Eden!”

Unmindful of the people in his path, he pushed through, his heart racing, his mind not quite believing what he was seeing. He pressed past the guards and swept her into his arms, only then believing his eyes. He lowered her to the ground, took her face in his hands and slanted his mouth over hers, not the least interested in being gentle, only in feeling her against him, in tasting her, in surrounding himself with her. After a second of surprise, she kissed him back, her arms around him, pressing herself against him.

Finally he got his fill and eased back.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, just as he asked, “How did you get here?”

“Looking for you,” he asked. “Scared the hell out of me when you weren’t here. We were just about to go look for you.”

“And Kelly?” She pulled free of his arms to scan the crowd beyond them.

“There.” He pointed.

With a squeal of happiness, she pulled free of his arms and ran to her sister, who’d come out of the gate after him. With Christine by his side, he watched the two women embrace, holding each other and sobbing, Kelly dropping to her knees, Eden following, not letting go.

“Where’s my hug?” a familiar voice said from his left.

Aaron turned and his heart jerked harder than it had when Eden had gotten out of the truck. Brice Hawkins, a member of his SEAL team, leaned laconically against the front of the truck.

“Hawk! Holy hell, what are you doing here?”

The two men embraced almost as passionately as the sisters, and Aaron could have sworn he heard Hawk sniff before they drew apart.

“Returning that to you, apparently.”

“How did you come across her? What are you doing in the middle of California?”
 

After everything had gone to hell, the two men had crossed the ocean together, both eager to get back home. Hawk’s home had been in Colorado, so he’d headed west when Aaron headed south. The day they’d separated had been one of the hardest of Aaron’s life. They’d been through some rough times together, and had matching tattoos, along with six other men, to commemorate it.
 

Hawk lifted a shoulder. “Family’s gone, thought I’d keep heading west, stumbled onto an opportunity. It’s worked well for me.”

Aaron didn’t ask. He got the feeling it was best he didn’t know.

“She’s a tough one, your Eden. Wouldn’t give up until I brought her here.”

Aaron chuckled and looked at the two women. “I do know that.”

“She said she knew you, but was unclear on how well.” Hawk sobered. “I take it things didn’t go well in Texas.”

Aaron swallowed, turning away from the reunion. He couldn’t look at that joy and remember Bev’s fate. “Not well at all. She was dead when I got there.” He couldn’t use a euphemism anymore. Dead was dead. “How did Eden know you knew me?”

“Saw my tattoo.” His eyes glinted.
 

Aaron tensed before he remembered Hawk’s tattoo was on his arm, more visible than his own. The jealousy that rose in him was a surprise. He hadn’t felt it since before Bev died. He returned his gaze to the women, who were standing now, arms around each other, heads bent together. Aaron wondered if Eden was as shocked by Kelly’s appearance as he’d been. He wanted to go to her, but the sisters needed some time on their own.

“Now what?” Hawk asked.

“Now we head home.” He turned to his friend. “You’re welcome to come with us.”

Hawk gave a snort. “Me, hemmed in on a little island? Nah, I’ve got a good thing going here, like I said. If you decide you can’t handle it anymore, well, Eden knows where to find me. I could use someone like her, too.” He eased away, toward the still-open door of his truck. “You take care, Jenk.”

Aaron was surprised at his longtime friend’s sudden farewell. “I don’t suppose I could get you to take us over to the coast where we could get a boat.”

Hawk frowned. “Not enough fuel for there and back. And I need to save what I’ve got for business.”

“And this?” Aaron motioned to Eden.

“This was for you, my brother.”

Eden turned to see him standing by the door, and ran the short distance. “Are you leaving so soon?”

“This wasn’t a reunion, sweetheart. I have business.”

She put her hand on his arm and rose to press her lips to his, a sight that jolted Aaron to his toes, despite the innocence of the kiss. “Thank you.”

“Don’t give him any trouble,” Hawk said with a nod to Aaron.

The two men clasped hands and embraced again before Hawk turned away, tossed three packs out of the bed of the truck, and climbed in, gunning the engine in salute before he drove away.

Eden reached for Aaron’s hand as they watched him leave. “You came back for me.”

“I never should have left you.”

Her fingers tightened on his as they turned toward the camp. “We made it.”

“A near thing,” Christine muttered as they approached Kelly and Geoff. “And I don’t even get a kiss for my trouble.”

Eden stepped around Aaron and gave Christine a smacking kiss on the cheek.

“Pretty free with those today, wouldn’t you say?” he scowled.
 

She cupped her hand over his cheek and looked into his eyes. He saw relief there, joy, but behind them, a shadow of pain and fear before she kissed him again, softer this time.

“Are you hurt?” he asked quietly.

She shook her head and smiled, but even her smile held a ghost of...something.

“The two of you have some explaining to do,” Kelly said as they approached.

“We’ll explain on the way home,” Aaron said. “Get your things. We’re leaving.”

***

The ride west was cramped in the old pick-up. Eden sat between Aaron and Kelly, and Geoff and Christine rode in the back with their supplies. Eden had never expected to find Aaron waiting at the camp, never expected him to have the use of a truck, which wouldn’t take them to the coast but would take them a good deal closer, shaving days off their journey.
 

And her sister was beside her. Eden held Kelly’s hand, like she had when they were little girls and Kelly had been the big sister she’d looked up to. Now Kelly was gaunt and beaten, but that was okay. They’d be home soon and she’d come back to life.

“Tell me how Dad died,” Kelly said, her voice barely audible over the sound of the truck’s engine, the jounce of the shocks. “Aaron said he was shot.”

Eden looked at Aaron, and he lifted a shoulder.
 

“Dad didn’t want people coming to the island and depleting our supplies. He died keeping people away. You know how he was when you left? Well, he was even more driven at the end, so certain something was going to happen.”

“He was right,” Kelly said bitterly. “I never wanted him to be right.”

“He didn’t want to be right,” Eden said gently.

“I said terrible things to him when I left, and I never went back,” Kelly murmured. “Now I can never apologize.”

Eden squeezed her sister’s hand, not knowing what to say. Her father had never really been one for apologies. “You know him. Even if you’d apologized, he would have huffed, and put you to work.”

“But at least I would have apologized. And Aaron said Mom is sick. Will I have a chance to make up everything to her?” Tears spilled down Kelly’s cheeks.
 

“Just you being home will be enough.” But Eden’s stomach tightened. She had no idea if her mother was still alive or not.

Kelly swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “And the two of you? How did that happen?”

“Aaron was with me when Mom got sick. I needed to come to the mainland, he had just come from here. We thought we’d look for you for a week.” She huffed out a short laugh. “I’m glad we didn’t give up.”

“You’re not answering my question. Clearly you’re together.”

Eden drew in a deep breath. She’d known this conversation was coming. “It’s not something we’ve even talked about,” she said, hoping Kelly would drop it.

“So he’s just sleeping with you. After he slept with me.”

Eden winced and felt Aaron tense beside her.

“It’s not like that, and it wasn’t that way between us,” Aaron said sharply. “Don’t cheapen it, Kelly. It’s not a conquest.”

Kelly opened her mouth to say something, then slumped back against the seat.

“I didn’t do it to hurt you,” Eden said softly when Kelly tried to pull her hand away. “Aaron’s a good man. A good man,” she repeated. “How could I not fall for him?”

She thought the truck swerved a little at that, as if she’d surprised him with her words, but she couldn’t look at him, her cheeks too red. He pressed his thigh against hers in some kind of signal, some kind of approval, she thought, and smiled to herself.

***

Aaron’s gut squeezed inexplicably the closer they came to the farm. He wasn’t sure if it was giving up the truck that had him anxious, knowing he’d be in charge of getting four women, a nearly worthless man and an infant over the mountains to the coast. Maybe it was the tension in the truck. Kelly had been prickly as hell, for someone who’d just been rescued. She was a stranger now. Eden had done her best to placate her sister, to lighten the mood, but Kelly seemed to prefer the dark. Lovely. And most of her bad mood seemed to be about his relationship with Eden, though their relationship had been over ten years. Maybe he’d pull her aside and clear the air. At least a shouting match would be preferable to walking on eggshells. And they had known how to fight. They’d been damn good at it, in fact. He was surprised to find he was looking forward to it.

He crested the rise over the farm and saw what his gut had been warning him about.

Two trucks and a Hummer were parked in front of the farm, two at an angle that told him all he needed to know.

Commander Wayne had found them, and they were under attack.