All the men looked at him in surprise. Dumbfounded, was more like it.
“I know,” he said, nodding. “I didn’t expect to have a child. But, when a one-night stand ended up telling me a year afterward that she’d had my child and had put it up for adoption, yeah, you could say it wasn’t exactly the highlight of my life. I went from fury to grief in a heartbeat and settled somewhere in between.”
“Well, we don’t pay for these jobs,” Badger said, “but there are benefits.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Weston said, his face drawn. “It’s time for me to face the music.”
“Good,” Badger said. “Because the dog up there—her name is Shambhala—and she could really use a calm retirement home.”
“Why is that?”
“She’s blind in one eye, and she’s missing a leg.” And, with that, Badger reached for a stack of folders. Flipping through, he pulled out the one in question and handed it to Weston. “You get a copy of that and not a whole lot else.”
Weston grinned. “I’ll take it.”
Chapter 1
Weston knew he’d asked for this. But, as the plane landed in Anchorage, he felt the misgivings ripple through him. It was fine and dandy to be on the side of right and to do the proper thing, but, in this case, he knew it would come with some pain and some sense of not having done the right thing a long time ago. But then it wasn’t like anybody had given him the chance to be a father. That opportunity had been taken from him right at the beginning.
If he’d only known about the pregnancy, he could have done things differently, but he hadn’t. He hadn’t had a choice in the matter, and yet he still felt guilty that his daughter was growing up without him. Not that she was very old, but every day was a day she hadn’t had Weston in her life. And that was devastating. Mind-boggling, in a way. It was wrong, but he just didn’t know what he was supposed to do about it. Long-term.
He hadn’t told the adoptive mother he was coming, and he should have. Daniela Rogers had contacted him a couple times, but he’d held off, not knowing when he’d get there, and then, all of a sudden, it happened, and he was here.
As he stared up at the runway on this early July morning, he realized just how much he both missed and didn’t miss this place. He’d spent a lot of years here. Good years.
Weston would have taken his daughter in a heartbeat, if he’d known about her, and, once again he was back to that—if he’d known—but, at the time she’d been born, he’d been getting blown up. Would knowing have changed any of that? The surgeries? The rehab? No. And no.
It took a good ten minutes for the plane to finally taxi to the gate, and, by the time he made it to the center of the airport, his checked bag had arrived.
With the big backpack he always traveled with tossed over his shoulders, he still hadn’t made up his mind as to where he was going first. With a big sigh, he walked out of the airport, heading to the nearest taxi.
A woman stood there, her hands on her hips, studying him.
Okay. Hard to miss her. He raised an eyebrow—noting she was pretty, very pretty; wore a wedding ring, so off limits; but also seemed mad—and was about to walk past when she called out his name.
“Weston?”
He stopped, then turned to look at her and slowly nodded. The adoptive mother. The widow. “Are you Daniela?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming?”
“I figured I’d do that when I got here,” he said. “Sometimes traveling doesn’t go the way it’s expected. How did you know I was coming in?”
“I have my ways,” she said.
At that, his second eyebrow went up. “Interesting,” he said. “That sounds like you’re stalking me.”
“No,” she said. “I’m not, but, in truth, I’m glad you’re here.”
“I am too,” he said. “I just don’t know how it’ll work.”
“You’re here for a job?”
“For you, my daughter and a job. Yes,” he said.
“But I suppose it was the job that brought you here,” she said, her tone turning hard.
His first instinct was to glare at her. His second was to win her over. He sighed. “It’s been a rough few months. And the plan was to come, but I was also healing. And I’ll be honest. This whole thing has sent me for a loop.” At that, her face softened, and he hated that almost more. The last thing he wanted was pity. No place for that in his world. He just felt this need to share with her, to communicate transparently. For Sari. Right?
But he held back going into more details about his unplanned-for exit from navy life. For most people, when they heard about his injuries and his long recovery, sympathy was the first thing that came to mind. That his injuries had been horrific enough a new-to-him but seasoned doctor winced when he brought him up to speed on his last visit didn’t help. Multiple compound fractures, soft tissue damage all resulting in several metal plates in his body and now missing a rib. But he’d survived. Still he wasn’t completely against Daniela knowing if it softened her attitude toward him because, of course, he should have hopped a plane the minute he had heard about his daughter. But he hadn’t. Yet kicking himself more than he already had wouldn’t help.
“Well, you’re here now,” she said, and her smile was a little easier than before.
He studied her for a long moment and then nodded. “That I am. And I apologize,” he said. “I had no idea of her existence.”
“She’s waiting for us at home,” she said.
He stopped and looked at her in surprise. “Alone?”
“No, of course
