Someday, he would pass them all down to his own children.
“I love you that you honor your family by displaying all of these wonderful objects and in such a gorgeous, handmade piece of furniture, too.” She ran her hand down the edge of the cabinet. “You’re very talented, Hawk.”
“Thank you, but I can’t take all the credit. I couldn’t have built it without Michaleen O’Halleran’s help.” Hawk knew what he liked and knew his way around a workshop. But he wasn’t nearly as skilled at furniture-making as the patriarch of the O’Halleran clan—that man was a master craftsman. “He’s the father to all of the O’Halleran siblings. I asked him if he would be willing to draw up some basic plans for a few pieces, and lucky for me, he said he’d love to. We spoke once on the phone about what I had in mind, and the next day, the plans showed up in my email and were exactly what I wanted.”
“I can tell you have a great deal of respect for him,” Charlotte said.
“I absolutely do.” He was a bear of a man with an artist’s soul who loved his wife the way a man should, and, together, they raised six incredible humans.
That said, mistaking Michaleen’s gentle, creative nature for weakness would be a huge mistake. The man had deadly skills and would not hesitate to kill to protect the people he cared about.
“Come on.” He took her hand and walked to the hallway. “Let’s put your suitcase away so you can relax and make yourself at home.”
He grabbed the handle of her suitcase, picked it up, and led her toward the first room on the right.
She slowed to take in one of the candid photos on the wall. “She’s lovely.”
“That’s my Kaasii, my grandmother on my mom’s side,” he said. “She was smiling at something my grandfather said off camera.”
That was another one of his brother’s photographs. Daniel used to have it sitting on the dresser in his childhood bedroom, right next to an old scuffed-up baseball from when he played Little League.
“She must’ve really loved your grandfather.” Charlotte stated it as if she’d known them.
“She did, very much. And he loved her.” He moved up behind her and stared at the photo he’d passed by a hundred times before. “How can you tell?”
“Because there’s love and a shared history in that smile, and there’s just”—she tilted her head—“something about her eyes and the way she’s looking at him.”
“They were so much fun, always teasing each other and laughing at their private jokes. My grandmother was outgoing and never met a stranger. My grandfather, on the other hand, was usually more reserved and quietly intense.”
“Sounds like someone I know.” She grinned and bumped him with her hip.
“Yeah, I’ve been told I’m a lot like him.” His mother used to call Hawk “Mr. Serious.” “But my grandfather was different with my grandmother—more lighthearted. She was only about five feet tall, and he used to call her his little honeysuckle because she would make her own perfumed oil from the honeysuckle blooms that grew wild around their house.”
Even the slightest hint of honeysuckle made him think of his Kaasii.
“They sound wonderful.” She smoothed her hand down the front of his shirt. “I wish I could’ve met them.”
“They would’ve loved you.” He kissed the tip of her nose, lifted her suitcase, and headed into the guest room. “You can keep your stuff in here.”
He set the suitcase on the lodgepole pine bed, then walked over to the closet and slid the door aside.
“There’s plenty of space if you want to hang anything. And feel free to use any of the empty drawers in that dresser.” He pointed toward a closed door. “There’s a connected bath right through there.”
“Okay, thank you.” She dropped down onto the edge of the bed, her shoulders drooped forward, and she started playing with her thumbnail.
“What is it, Sweets?” He squatted down in front of her, gently pulled her hands apart and held them in his own. He rubbed his thumbs across her knuckles.
“How long do you think this nightmare is going to last?” She lifted her chin with a look of pleading in her eyes.
“I wish I could answer that, but I can’t.” Being suddenly uprooted from your life, your routine, was never easy. “Just know that we are doing everything to make sure you’ll be safe from these assholes.”
“Wait … no, no.” She shook her head. “I’m not worried about me. I meant, how long is the nightmare going to last for all of those innocent kids out there? What I’m dealing with is nothing compared with what those poor children have endured at the hands of those monsters. We need to make sure they can never hurt anyone again.”
There was the fire he’d seen from her earlier.
“You’re amazing, you know that?” Charlotte’s outrage on behalf of innocent kids outweighed her concern for her own safety. “We will take those bastards down, along with anyone else who’s involved.”
Dark Ops was the best of the best—those evil pieces of shit didn’t stand a chance against them.
