If she wanted privacy, all she had to do was go to her room to place the call. But she wanted this instead. Wanted her dad and brothers to see for themselves that her friends were kind and protective.
Ford and Jolie squeezed in to be on screen with her and Seth, and her brother hugged her. “I’m glad you thought of this. It’ll make it easier to tell them at once and let them see that you’re good.”
It was still going to be hard. She placed the call, and her father logged in first. “Hi, Dad.”
His eyes studied her closely, looking for evidence of injuries. “You’re okay?”
She nodded, focusing on the way Seth’s fingers drew circles on her shoulders, keeping them connected, and lending her his strength.
Her dad looked at Seth. “You too, son?”
Seth nodded. “We’re good, James.”
Her brothers popped up in quick succession. Like her dad, they all looked her over and then checked in with Seth.
There were no happy to meet you comments. She thought for a moment they were being rude, but then it clicked. “You’ve talked to them before today?”
Seth nodded. “Sure.”
Sure? Her eyes returned to the screen to find all the men smiling at her like they’d pulled off a good one on her.
Sam grinned. “Seth called us all over the past few days. Wanted to introduce himself.”
Mara turned back to Seth. “You did?”
His eyes softened as he smiled at her. “Of course. They’re your family. Most of them are great.”
There were immediate protests of laughter over the line as they pointed fingers at each other, trying to decide who wasn’t great.
Mara laughed and turned to brush her lips over Seth’s. “Thank you. You’re pretty great yourself.”
Cries of ick and ewww and watch it, that’s our sister filled the room, making everyone laugh.
She grinned at them all and then kissed Seth for real.
When she turned back to the screen, every face was happy. He’d already won them over. No small feat when faced with so many.
Her dad’s eyes turned serious. “Tell us what happened.”
Mara nodded, but it was Seth who spoke first. “When I was overseas, a man on my team was killed when an IED exploded. His brother came to the farm to get revenge. He tried to hurt Mara.”
Seth’s voice was tight, filled with sorrow, so she squeezed his hand. “It wasn’t your fault. None of it.”
Her family echoed her words, and Seth nodded. “I’m getting that, but it’ll take a while to really believe it.”
Her dad’s solemn eyes looked into the screen. “I haven’t served, but we’ve all been through something. When Kerry died, it was like half of our family had been ripped away—half our hearts. The guilt of not spotting signs of cancer earlier will always be with me, but I know it was an aggressive kind that wasn’t anyone’s fault. You’ll get there, Seth. It gets easier to live with.”
Mara hadn’t heard her dad talk about her mom’s cancer that way, and she wished he were closer so she could hug him. “Neither of you is to blame. You’ve always been the best parent anyone could ask for, Dad. And you’d be so proud of how Seth spoke with Blake yesterday. His compassion for the man’s pain helped keep everyone safe, and is helping Blake heal, too.”
That caused more questions until her dad whistled. “It's probably easier if you tell us the story from the beginning.”
She nodded and told it all from waking up in the dark, to her escape attempts, to a device being taped to her, to Seth coming and saving her.
Seth kissed her hair. “Actually, it was mostly Mara who talked him down. She told Blake what she knew about Maki, about what he would want for his brother. And that we’d named a chicken after him.”
“A chicken?” All her brothers echoed the question.
Seth explained how that had come to happen, and how they thought Maki would get a kick out of it.
