The Military Wife (A Heart of a Hero, #1)(74)

Miss U.

It was an admission he wouldn’t have been comfortable making even a week earlier. And probably still wasn’t comfortable making face-to-face.

Miss U2.

I admire Bono as much as the next man, but …

She giggled. U know what I meant. How’s work?

Taking an overnight group tomorrow. Three corporate types. Should be interesting.

I’m nervous about the delivery.

Why?

Success or failure crept closer. This was the first chance she’d taken in a long time. Since she’d gone off to college and later when she’d married Noah. Both had scared her.

Delivery makes it real. Scary. The point of no return.

Your plan is solid. You have lots of support. A decent chance of making it.

Decent?!

I meant great.

Sure you did.

Bennett was realistic and honest—if not entirely forthcoming. If he thought she stood a decent chance, then maybe she should take that as a good sign.

I need my beauty sleep. Talk when I get back?

Harper smiled. Is Jack London with you?

Snoring next to me. Way hairier and not as sexy as you were in my bed.

Kiss him from me. A tiny electrical current powered her response. Sleep would be a long time coming.

I’d rather be kissing you.

Bennett wasn’t a lighthearted flirter. If he said he’d rather be kissing her, then he meant it. When nothing else came through, she set her phone on the nightstand and pulled the covers up over her head.

Morning came with a swiftness that left Harper’s eyes gritty and underscored by dark half circles. But even with her lack of sleep she was jittery. Coffee only made it worse. Getting Ben up and ready for preschool offered a brief distraction.

Every once in a while, Ben’s sunny, funny nature would be interrupted by a pensive silence. He folded the place mat into a square, a frown on his face.

“What’s up, buddy?” She cast him a look under her lashes as she fixed him a bowl of cereal. He didn’t answer. She slid his cereal in front of him and took the chair at his side. “Are you sad or worried about something?”

“Are you and Big Ben going to get married?”

The question sent an organ-rattling shock through her. “No. I don’t know.” She forced herself to stop and take a breath. “How would you feel if we did get married?”

“Where would I live?”

“With me. Always with me, pumpkin.”

“What about Yaya?”

The future was bright but indistinct, and she couldn’t honestly assure him of anything. “Yaya will be around one way or another. I promise.” She watched him drink the milk out of his bowl. “Do you not like Bennett?”

“He can do card tricks and stuff. Plus, he has a cool dog.” Ben shrugged off his worry and hopped up to grab his backpack for school.

Back home after dropping him off, there was nothing she could do except for wait and worry over things that were in motion and couldn’t be changed.

Her phone buzzed midmorning. It was an unknown Fayetteville number. She tensed preparing herself for a problem with the lease or equipment or something bigger she couldn’t even anticipate.

“Hello.” She clutched her phone with both hands.

“Har-r-per.” Allison’s voice was wavery.

It was disconcerting how a tone could rocket her back to the moment she’d opened the door to the Navy chaplain saying her name. Some moments lived like an indelible ink stain in her memory, every nuance stored away forever. A splinter biting into her palm where she’d clutched the doorframe. The spring breeze on her face carrying the scent of blooming flowers. The face of the man who had stood on her front porch, the message he had yet to impart written in the lines of his face.

In Allison’s whisper of her name, a shift occurred, although Harper couldn’t map the seismic changes yet.

“What’s happened?”

“It’s Sophie.”

Harper’s stomach went into riot mode. She’d been expecting to hear Darren’s name. “Is she okay?”

“No.”

“How bad?”

Allison’s silence was answer enough.

“Where are you?”

“The children’s hospital.”

“I’m on my way.”

Allison disconnected and Harper stared at the blank screen, her body frozen as her mind whirled in the aftermath of an EF-5 emotional tornado. Ben. Harper controlled an urge to go check on him even though he was safe and sound.

Her mom’s footfalls on the stairs accompanied her off-tune singing of a pop song. The mundane was comforting, and Harper only watched her mom pour coffee and wrap her hands around the mug, taking a deep sniff and smiling.

After her first sip, she glanced over, her smile turning into a tense, thin line. “What’s wrong? Is it Bennett?”

Harper shook her head, not sure if she could sort out the words rampaging through her head. “Allison’s youngest. Little Sophie’s been hurt. I’m not sure what happened or how bad it is.”

“Do you need to go to her?”

Harper nodded.

“Don’t worry about Ben. I’ll take care of him.”

“I know.” Harper’s voice croaked and her mom swept her into a hug that smelled of coffee and her lotion. Harper dropped her forehead to her mom’s shoulder and took a deep breath. For a second, she wished she could leap back in time to when things were simple and easy and her biggest worry was whether she’d play red rover or tag at recess.