Defending Harlow (Mountain Mercenaries #4)(52)

“Hmmmm, I can’t say that I do.”

“He was a year older than me, and we didn’t run in the same circles. He was in that yearbook club with me my junior year, and I had a crush on him. He joined the Navy and went off to save the world right after high school.”

“And he’s in Colorado Springs now?” her mom asked.

“Yeah. It’s a long story, but he got out of the Navy and owns a gun range.” Harlow figured it wasn’t her place to tell her mom about his other job. “Anyway, there’s been some weird stuff happening at the shelter, and I called him to see if he would help out with some self-defense classes for the residents. One thing led to another, and we’ve been sort of hanging out.”

“I see.”

Harlow had no idea what her mom “saw,” but ignored that for now. “Anyway, I started thinking about you and Daddy, and how you always said that you knew he was the man for you after only a few dates. How did you know? Was it something he said? Did?”

“I’m not sure I can explain it,” her mom said gently. “It was more a feeling than anything else. When we weren’t together, I’d think about him constantly. When I thought of something funny, I wanted to share it with him. When something interesting happened in my life, I wanted to call him over all my friends. I felt comfortable with him. After a while, I didn’t care so much about making sure I looked perfect when I saw him. I could wear my old ratty pants and didn’t worry about what he might think. I could tell him anything and knew he wouldn’t think I was being silly.”

“But how did you know he returned your feelings? That he wanted to be with you as well?”

“We just clicked, honey. It was an unspoken thing. We had crazy chemistry, and I know all my friends thought I was going to hell for fornicating before I was married, but the best day in my life was when we slept together for the first time.”

“Ewwww, Mom, I don’t want to know that!” Harlow said, wrinkling her nose.

Her mom chuckled. “You asked. But seriously. I knew no matter what I did or where I went that I could rely on him to be there for me if I needed him. Have I ever told you the story about when the house I lived in with three other girlfriends was robbed?”

Harlow drew in a harsh breath. “No, Mom. Shit! What happened? I can’t believe you haven’t told me this before.”

“Calm down. I’m fine, as you know. Anyway, it was around dinnertime, and I was supposed to meet your dad at the mall for a date. He had to work that night and offered to come pick me up, but my house was out of his way, so I told him I’d meet him there. Anyway, I was getting ready, and a man broke into the house. He had a gun, and he made my roommates and me all hunker down with him in a bedroom upstairs. We were so scared he was going to either shoot or rape us. We had no idea what to do. The man paced back and forth, obviously out of his head, either on drugs or just mentally ill, muttering and smacking himself in the head with the pistol every now and then.

“Anyway, I think we were huddled together in that room for about an hour, when the next thing I knew, your father was there. He burst into the room and tackled the intruder. He beat him so badly, I was afraid he was going to kill him. It took me and both my roommates to pull him off the man. I asked your dad how he knew I was in trouble, and he told me that he knew something was wrong the second he realized I wasn’t at the mall to meet him.”

“Wow,” Harlow said. “That’s crazy.”

“Yeah. The man went to jail, and your father asked me to marry him the next day. He said he almost lost his mind when he realized what was happening. The point I’m trying to make is, being with your dad makes me feel safe. It’s not that he’s the best athlete or even all that handy with weapons. But when push comes to shove, I know he’ll do whatever it takes to protect me. If that means tackling an armed man and beating the hell out of him, he’ll do it. If it means dropping me off at the entrance to the grocery store so I don’t have to walk in the rain from the car to the door, he’ll do it. That feeling of having a partner who truly wants what’s best for me—that’s what made me realize I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.”

Harlow wanted to cry. She loved her dad, of course she did, but she’d never really seen him in the same light her mom obviously did. It was almost impossible to think about the balding man with the potbelly tackling a man with a gun.

But then . . . hadn’t she felt that way about him when she was little? He could kiss a boo-boo and make it feel better. He could buy her an ice cream and make a bad day go away. And him reading her a story was the highlight of her night.

Her mom hadn’t made Harlow’s feelings about Lowell any clearer, however. She’d actually just confused her more.

“I knew he loved me as much as I loved him when he didn’t hesitate to track me down when I was one minute late,” her mom said, finally answering Harlow’s earlier question. “People are late all the time. If I was just another date, he wouldn’t have worried. He might’ve just assumed I canceled on him. Back then, we didn’t have cell phones we could whip out and text someone to find out what was up. He cared about me enough to come find me and see what was wrong. That’s how I knew he was it for me.”

Harlow sighed. God, she loved her parents. “You’re lucky,” she said.