“You mean about Brant’s death?”
Surprise flickered in his eyes. “What do you know about that?”
“Not enough,” she said. “Sam—”
“Damn it.”
“Don’t you be mad at him,” she said quickly. “He thought you’d already told me whatever it is that you’re keeping from me and when he realized you hadn’t, he wouldn’t say anymore.”
Outside, night was falling and the setting sun was painting the sky in brilliant colors. Crimson-stained clouds studded the horizon and Daisy realized a storm was brewing. Well, that was appropriate because another kind of storm was building right here.
“What happened to my brother?” she demanded, moving right up to him, fixing her eyes on his. “How did he really die?”
Pain shot across his eyes, but Daisy wouldn’t be moved. She had to know. Was she in love with a man who was the cause of her brother’s death? Had she created a child with a man she should hate?
“You know how he died,” Jericho said softly, staring into her eyes.
“I don’t know why.”
“Ah, hell.” Jericho peeled off the worn brown leather bomber jacket he habitually wore and tossed it onto the couch. He wore a red T-shirt with the words King Adventure stenciled on the left breast pocket. Folding his arms across his chest, he braced his feet in a wide stance and said, “All right. Here we go.” Watching her as if he couldn’t bear to look away, he said, “Brant volunteered for a dangerous mission and I could have stopped him from going.”
“He volunteered?”
“Yeah.” Now it was as if he couldn’t stand still. He walked past her to the hearth, then turned around and came right back again.
He looked at her, but Daisy thought he was really looking into the past. A past that was haunting them both.
“He knew it was dangerous. The captain called for volunteers and Brant’s hand shot up.” He smiled in memory and shook his head. “The kid knew no fear. He was eager to serve. Proud to serve.”
“Yes, he was,” Daisy said and nearly sighed with relief as the knots inside her began to loosen. She couldn’t say why because she didn’t know the whole truth yet, but looking up at Jericho now, she knew with a bone-deep certainty that this man would have done anything to keep her brother safe. There was simply no way he could have been responsible for Brant’s death.
“And why do you think you should have stopped him?”
“Because he was a kid,” Jericho snapped irritably. “Sure of himself and not cocky with it either, but he was just a damn kid.”
Her brother’s face rose up in her mind and Daisy saw what Jericho was obviously not seeing. Her brother had been young, yes. Too young to die and, God, she would always wish that he’d come home, married, had had a family and lived to be a cranky old man. But that hadn’t happened, so she would deal with reality.
What she wouldn’t do was take away from her brother’s sacrifice by playing ’what if?’
“I could have stopped him,” Jericho muttered thickly, spearing his gaze into hers. “Could have gone to the captain, recommended he choose someone else. Done…something.”
“I have one question, Jericho, and I want you to give me your gut reaction answer, okay?”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“Was Brant ready for that mission? Trained? Capable?”
“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation.
And the last of the knots inside her fell free. Daisy took a deep breath, sighed it out and moved toward the man she loved to distraction. Reaching up, she laid one hand on his cheek and said, “Then you have nothing to regret.”
“But—”
“You know, it’s ironic,” Daisy told him thoughtfully. “I raised him, and you’re the one who made him into a man. Yet you’re the one thinking of him as a boy.”
Jericho’s jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. A hundred different emotions chased each other across his face as seconds ticked past.
“It wasn’t your fault, Jericho,” she whispered, leaning into him, willing him to believe her. “Brant made his choices. He was a Marine and he took the same chances any of you did. You can’t take that away from him now by putting the blame for his death on yourself.”
“You surprise me. Endlessly,” he said.
“Good.” She smiled. “I understand how you feel, believe me. But you could have told me this before.”
He grabbed her and yanked her close. He dipped his head, buried his face in the curve of her neck and inhaled her scent as if he were taking one long, last breath. “I’ve carried that around with me for so long…”
“Time to let it go. Time to think about the future, not the past.”
“Our future,” he said, lifting his head to kiss her once, twice. He threaded his fingers through her hair, skimmed his gaze over her face as though he were burning her image into his brain. “I love you, Daisy. I want you. I want our baby.”
“Jericho…”
“Stay, Daisy,” he said. “Marry me and stay.”
She sighed, smiled and whispered, “Okay.”
Epilogue
One month later…
“You noticed it’s snowing, right?”
Jericho grinned at his wife and pulled her up close to him. “Yeah, I noticed. Pretty, isn’t it?”
It really was. Their campsite was alongside the lake and the snow was falling in huge, soft tufts. Silence reigned in the white darkness and the only sound came from their whispered conversation and the hiss and snap of their fire.
“Gorgeous. And cold,” Daisy said, burrowing in even closer. “Don’t forget cold.” She turned her face up to his. “Tell me again why we’re taking a honeymoon camping trip in late October?”
“To be alone,” he reminded her, using one hand to toss another piece of wood on the campfire in front of them. “Most of the King family is still at the lodge. My family doesn’t like leaving a good party in a hurry. Some of them will probably still be there when we get back.”
“I like them all.”
“Yeah,” he said, “me, too. But I’m just as glad they’re not here at the moment.”
“True.”
Nikki hadn’t been happy about being left behind, but she was so busy being spoiled by Bella, Daisy didn’t think the little dog would miss them for long. Besides, this trip was about them. Newlyweds. That word made her smile. Behind them, a tent stood, waiting for them to snuggle in and Jericho had already told her of his plans for just how to spend their first night on the trail.