Forever Mine: Callaghan Brothers, Book 9(66)

“Why lately?”

“I don’t know all the details; he can’t tell me unless I sign on. But my gut tells me he’s been taking the riskier jobs, going for the bigger payouts, and he’s had some close calls. He says he’d feel a lot better having me at his six.”

Jack waited patiently while Kathleen digested that. He ran his hand along her arm, quietly relishing the soft, floral scent of her shampoo.

“Why did you refuse?” she finally asked, surprising him.

“Why?” he echoed.

“Yes, why?”

That question was not so easily answered. How could he explain something like that to his sweet, caring wife? The one who could not possibly conceive of the horrors he had experienced firsthand. The one who had lived in her own personal form of hell, not knowing if he was alive or dead, or in his case, worse.

No matter how much he wished otherwise, those things had happened. He had experienced them, and they had as much to do with making him the man he was as all the good things that had happened in his life, maybe even more so. It was the hard times that really defined a man, tested his faith as well as his mettle.

Perhaps the time had come to crack open the door that he had kept locked up all this time and share that part of himself with her.

It was the first time he’d talked about his time in Vietnam –—any of it—– with her or anyone else. Even he and Brian never spoke of what had happened. When the subject came up, they spoke only in vague generalities, never anything specific.

But Kathleen was his croie, his heart, the other half of his soul. She already knew more about him than anyone else and still loved his sorry ass. Was there to hold him in the dark when the nightmares gripped him and wouldn’t let him go. It was she who brought him back, without ever once demanding an explanation.

If he was going to talk about it with anyone, it would be her, because in a way, she was already sharing his hell.

She coaxed his head down into her lap and stroked his hair while he spoke; somehow, she’d known exactly what he needed. If he’d had to look into her eyes or see the horror his tales would surely bring to her beautiful features, he wouldn’t have been able to do it. Instead, she let him tell her in his own way, in his own time.

He didn’t tell her everything, of course, but enough that she got the gist. She held him like that through most of the night, and when he was finished, he felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

When he finally found the courage to look into her eyes, he was humbled by what he saw. Not horror. Not disgust. Not pity. No, what he saw was something far more powerful: limitless, fathomless love.

“Thank you,” she whispered, holding him close.

“For what?”

“For trusting me. For sharing that with me. I know it wasn’t easy for you.”

She was right. It hadn’t been easy. But it would have been impossible with anyone else.

When they made love that night, he’d never felt closer to her. And when they fell asleep in each other’s arms, he didn’t have a single nightmare.

Kathleen, once again, had vanquished his demons.





Chapter Twenty-Five




Neither Jack nor Kathleen brought up the subject again, not until Adonia showed up at the Pub in tears with the news Jack had been dreading: Brian had gone missing.

Jack sat her down in the kitchen with a glass of brandy while Kathleen made tea. After several unsuccessful attempts, Adonia finally calmed down enough to tell them what she knew.

It wasn’t much. Brian had left the previous week, promising to be back within a few days. Nearly a week had gone by; Brian hadn’t returned and Adonia had heard absolutely nothing.

“You have to do something, Jack,” she pleaded.

“I don’t know what you think I can do, Adonia,” Jack told her honestly. Because of the sensitivity of the missions, Brian rarely offered any advance information beyond a last minute notice that he’d be out of town for a few days, and not always even then. Over the last couple of months, Brian missed more shifts at the bar than he’d worked. For that reason, Jack had hired Declan’s college-age sons and nephew to help out a few nights a week to pick up the slack.

“Brian said if anything ever happened, I should give you this.” Sniffling, she pulled a small card out of her pocket and handed it to him.

Jack turned it over in his hand, his brow furrowing. It was the size of a business card, matte black, with only a phone number in stark white text, nothing else. Someone, presumably Brian, had written “Jack” and “ICE” in white grease pencil in the upper left corner. ICE. In Case of Emergency.

With Alexis in the capable hands of her grandmother O’Connell, Kathleen coaxed an exhausted Adonia into staying the night in one of the upstairs guest rooms. As Kathleen closed the door behind her, she sat down beside Jack on their bed.

“What are you going to do?” she asked quietly.

Jack flipped the card in his hands. Jaw tight, his blue eyes blazed. He was angry. Angry at Brian for getting himself into this mess. Angry at the system because Brian hadn’t really had a choice, not if he wanted to take care of his family. And angry that despite his best efforts to remain uninvolved, that was no longer possible.

Because Brian was in trouble.

Kathleen nodded, hearing the response he didn’t voice aloud. Her expression gave nothing away, but her eyes reflected everything he was feeling. She stepped into his arms, laying her head over his heart in a gesture of silent support. No matter what he chose, she would be right there beside him. He closed his eyes and soaked in her warmth. Kathleen would always have his back.