Chapter 2
Todd O’Brien was home. How long had it been? Twenty years? It seemed like longer. Silver Cove had never looked so… good.
In the past two years alone, he’d lived through so much that the nightmares kept him up most nights. He didn’t even want to think about the years before that, when he’d been in the service.
Still, all that was behind him now. For now, he was home. Even if it was an empty return and not the hero’s welcome he’d once dreamed of. Instead, he’d returned to his childhood summer vacation home, which had been empty and boarded up for years.
She wouldn’t be missed. Not by him. Not when he still bore the scars, both inside and out, from her years of abuse.
Helen Kelly had been born in Ireland to a simple farmer.
Once she’d reached the age of consent, she’d married the first man who would jet her away from her boring country lifestyle, which happened to be Finnigan Walsh O’Brien, an older businessman who had swept in and purchased Helen’s father’s ranch and the rest of the ranches within ten miles.
Finnigan had been a wealthy real estate mogul, rich beyond even Helen’s desires.
But the man had also had a great kindness that would eventually be his undoing.
Todd’s father would end up trusting the wrong business partner, one who tried to steal all of Finnigan’s hard-earned wealth and ended up killing him to spite his failed attempt.
Helen and her young son, Todd, so named after Finnegan’s younger brother, who had died of chicken pox when he was a small child, had escaped the night of horrors. But not unscathed.
Almost instantly, Helen had turned inward and grown bitter, leaving her young son on his own mentally.
The wealth she’d dreamed of now consumed and twisted her.
Instead of seeing the world as her enemy, her eyes had turned on her young son, a boy of the tender age of nine, who had just lost his entire world.
Ten years later, Todd walked away from the massive apartment in New York that he’d shared with his mother and joined the Army. And he never looked back. Even when he’d gotten word that his mother was sick, and hospital ridden, he hadn’t sent word back to her.
Then again, he’d been living in his own personal hell at that point, and there’d been no time for him to deal with anything personal.
His first order of business after retiring from Special Operations Forces had been to open up and unboard the massive house, which overlooked the lighthouse on a small cape that held three other homes.
Upon hearing of his mother’s death, he’d hired a lawyer to oversee the selling of his family assets, excluding the summer cottage. There were more good memories in this particular home than there had been bad ones.
For the summers, they had traveled up to spend the entire vacation playing in the surf, boating, and fishing. That last summer, his father had tried to teach him how to water ski. They’d been happy here. In everything.
The first night inside the old place made him realize that he should have had someone watching out for the place all these years. At least he should have gotten it cleaned once a year.
The layer of dust on all of the furniture had taken a vacuum cleaner and two full days to clear away. There were boards on all the windows and doors, and he’d spent the following day removing them to get some light in the place, which had exposed even more dust.
Just when he thought he’d gotten the main rooms of the home clean enough to live in, he’d realized there were four bedrooms upstairs that he had yet to touch. He worked hard that entire first week to get the place livable before even stepping foot in town.
Since they’d only vacationed there, he figured that most people in Silver Cove wouldn’t remember him.
He remembered everything about the small town, though, right down to Ed’s Pizzeria.
It was one of the first stops he made, since he’d gone through the small supply of groceries he’d purchased on his drive into town.
He hadn’t expected the pizzeria to be packed and had almost turned around to leave and find another place to eat. Then he’d smelled the pizza grease and his stomach had led him the rest of the way inside.
Thankfully, there was a small table near the front of the busy place, and he grabbed it before someone else took it.
He assumed it would take a long time to get his beer and the large meat pizza, loaded down with extra mushrooms, that he’d ordered.
He was happily surprised when his pie arrived within fifteen minutes.
Even more happy when it was as good as he remembered.
He was so into his meal that, at first, the little raven-haired girl who was trying to open the heavy front door to the business didn’t register. Then she stomped her foot in frustration when the door swung shut with her still inside.
Glancing around, he watched and waited for a parent to come to either stop her from leaving or help her open the door and walk out with her.
Neither of those things happened, and she finally got the door open. She stepped out on the sidewalk and started marching down the sidewalk, alone.
He didn’t think twice. He was up and out the door, rushing after her, before he thought about it.
“Hi,” he said when he finally caught up with her. The little girl glared up at him, but when she noticed he was an adult, she stopped walking. “Are you running away?” he asked.
“I hate him,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and stomping her foot again.
He held in a smile at the stubborn move.
“Who?” he asked, glancing around.
“Conner James.” She drew out the name, and he held in a chuckle.
“Is he the reason you’re running away?”
“I’m not running away.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I’m going to my MeMa’s house.” She pointed to a large home less than a block away.
“By yourself?” He glanced back at the pizzeria, hoping her parents would come along soon.
“I’m old enough to.” She raised her little chin in the air in a challenge. “Even if Conner James doesn’t think so.”
“Course you are, but maybe now that it’s dark, it would be best if you told your parents before you head out on your own. I’d hate for them to worry about where you went off to.”
He could see her dark eyes dart back to the pizzeria, then she tucked her little bottom lip in between her teeth and winced slightly.
“Want me to walk you back?” He held out his hand for hers.
As if she realized what she was doing for the first time, she took a step back. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”
“And that is a great rule,” he agreed. “My name is Todd.”
Her eyes narrowed. “No, it’s not. I know Todd. You’re not him,” she accused.
He smiled. “There could be more than one Todd out there.”
She seemed to think about this for a moment. “Are there more Simonas?”
“Is that your name?” he asked. She nodded quickly. “Then, yes, I’m sure there are. What are your parents’ names?”
She seemed to think about this. “Mommy.”
He smiled. “See? How many other Mommies are there out there?”
She rolled her eyes. “Her name isn’t Mommy, it’s…” She seemed to think about it. “Olivia.”
He nodded. “Simona and Olivia. I bet they are really common names just like Todd. How about we head back and find your mom? I bet she’s real worried about you.”
She squished up her mouth and then nodded and took his hand.
When they stepped in the door, his waitress walked over to him.
“I thought you’d skipped out on the bill,” she said cheerfully. Since she’d been flirting with him earlier, he smiled.
“Just catching a runaway. Happen to know where Simona’s mother Olivia is?” he asked.
The waitress knelt down and tapped Simona’s nose. “Running off again?”
“Conner James is a jerk,” Simona said with a sigh, causing the waitress to chuckle.
“Olivia is in the back.” She motioned to a smaller area in the back of the pizzeria. “Jet-black hair, larger version of…” She rustled Simona’s hair. “Can’t miss her.” She turned to go, then asked. “Want another beer?”
“No, thanks. But if you could box up the rest of my pie, I’ll take it with me.” He handed her a credit card. “Thanks.”
“Sure thing.” The woman turned and left.
“What do you say we go have a talk with your mom?” he asked Simona. He wanted to berate the woman for leaving her child alone for so long. Anything could have happened to the child. Over the past decade, he’d seen the horrors that man could do. Even to the innocent.
When he spotted the dark-haired woman sitting and listening to a blonde woman, he cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but is this your daughter?” He was still holding Simona’s hand when the raven-haired woman turned around and assessed him with the most beautiful silver eyes he’d ever seen.
He actually felt his heart skip a beat as she looked at him. The waitress had been correct—Simona was a mini version of her mother. Except her mother was a knockout.
“Yes?” she asked, pulling her daughter into her lap.
He smiled, trying to seem very casual. “I followed her out to the sidewalk.” Seeing the worried look flood those silver eyes, he held up his hands.
“I saw her leaving the pizzeria on her own and got worried. Thankfully, I convinced her to return here. Where, I assured her, her parents would be worried about her.”
Olivia turned to look down at Simona.
“Did you leave?” she asked
Simona was biting that bottom lip when she nodded. “Conner James says I’m a baby. That I’m too young to walk across the street on my own.”
Another blonde woman sitting at the table jumped up, no doubt to go look for her son.
Olivia’s eyes moved back up to him. “I’m so sorry,” she started, but he chose that moment to open his mouth. He really should have thought about it before speaking.
“You really should keep a better eye on your kids,” he blurted out. Those silver eyes went from soft and appreciative to hard and cold in a blink.
“Excuse me?” she said, shifting Simona on her lap.