Love Inspired Suspense November 2023--Box Set 1 of 2 by Dana Mentink

Author:Dana Mentink
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Ryan watched Hadley disappear into the bedroom and close the door behind her. He knew he’d messed up.

Why was he letting his feelings get the better of him with this little family? Other than his mother and Bridget, he hadn’t hugged another woman since Jessica’s funeral. And then it had been an automatic response to others. He’d numbingly returned the embraces of the other mourners, knowing deep inside that none of them would want to comfort him if they knew he’d been the one to let her down. The reason Troy had been able to kill her in the first place. Jessica had begged him to elope prior to his last deployment. She said she didn’t want them to be separated without being husband and wife, but he’d convinced her she deserved the grand wedding of her dreams and not to let fear make her do something she would later regret. He’d promised he’d come back to her and they’d live happily ever after.

If only he’d married her like she’d wanted, he could have moved her into base housing and Troy never would have been able to reach her that night.

Opening the small pantry cabinet, he found the box of matches he’d purchased when they picked up groceries and went outside to light the campfire. It was dark enough now that anyone driving past shouldn’t be able to identify them, and he wanted Sophia to experience making s’mores. He’d have everything ready so they could have the treat after she awoke from her nap.

Ryan quickly set to work lighting the fire and then dropped down onto one of the rustic, Adirondack-style log chairs. “Dear Lord, I know I’ve not prayed as much as I should have these past few years. Actually, I’ve probably prayed more the past three days than I have since Jessica died. It’s not that I blamed You. Honestly, I didn’t want to talk to anyone, feeling like I had to be the one to make things right.” He propped his elbows on his knees and put his head into his hand. “You know I’ve never been a person who believed in regret. Mistakes are the things that help us grow so we become better people. But why did I ignore Jessica’s pleas? She was so afraid something would happen during my deployment, and we’d never make it to our wedding. Why did my deployment have to cost Jessica her life?”

A noise sounded behind him, and he spun to find Hadley, her hand on the doorknob, frozen like a statue, in the act of turning away from him. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you...”

“It’s okay. I was just—”

“Blaming yourself for Jessica’s death.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, well, if I had married her before my deployment like she wanted, she’d probably still be alive.”

“You don’t know that,” she said matter-of-factly. “He could have cornered her at graduation the next day, and then other peoples’ lives may have been put in danger, too.

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