Chapter Four #2
She also learned Willow provided horse therapy to the vets, and some of the women in the Malone family gave classes as well.
“What type of classes?” She took a bite of sweet honeydew and chewed.
“My sisters-in-law are so talented. Honor hosts an art therapy class. When Juliette’s not performing to some packed arena, she gives violin concerts for all of us here.”
Sinead straightened. “Juliette? As in the Juliette?”
She smiled around her bite of chicken. “The very one. She’s a delight. She and my brother Theo just eloped.”
She leaned in, intrigued. “You’re telling me your brother married Juliette? I saw the headlines about their elopement!”
At that moment, another woman approached the table. “Mind if I join you?”
Willow waved at the chair beside her. “Of course. Sinead, have you met Rhae? She’s our resident therapist, and she’s married to my brother Denver.”
The little girl who’d pushed her way into the infirmary when Sinead and Hawk were there earlier marched up to the table carrying her own tray with a single fat blueberry muffin in the middle.
Rhae threw them all a knowing smile as her daughter placed her tray on the table and scrambled into a seat, looking pleased with herself.
“Say hi to everyone, Navy.” Rhae took a plate off her own tray and set it in front of the child. She began cutting chicken for her.
“Hi, Auntie,” she said to Willow. Then her gray gaze fixed on Sinead.
In an instant, she clamored down and popped up beside Sinead. “Up.”
She stared down at the girl. She couldn’t possibly want to sit with her, could she?
Willow and Rhae were both smiling, waiting to see how she’d react.
She looked at the child. “You want to sit with me?”
Navy bobbed her head, making her braids bounce.
She pushed her chair back to allow room to lift her into her lap. The child twisted to look up at her. “You like lollipops?”
Her heart melted at the question. “I do like lollipops. What flavor is your favorite?”
Navy thought for a moment, her adorable face screwed up. “Strawberry!” Her face lit with a wide smile and wiggled in her lap. Holding her wasn’t unlike holding a puppy, and the girl reached for her muffin.
Rhae stopped her. “The muffin is your dessert, Navy. You need to eat your dinner first.”
“Baby Maren can eat the chicken.”
Rhae’s eyes creased with her smile. “Baby Maren doesn’t eat chicken yet. Soon.”
Sinead was used to meeting new people and was skilled with making observations. What she’d learned so far about the Malone family was how warm and inviting they were. How kind and generous too, from the care they offered to veterans all the way down to little Navy.
Rhae caught Sinead’s gaze. “You don’t have to hold her if you don’t feel comfortable.”
She looped her arm around Navy’s side. “She’s fine. Actually, she’s great. It’s almost therapeutic to hold her.”
Rhae and Willow traded a knowing look, and Rhae smiled into her coffee. “I know.”
Navy looked up as if she knew they were talking about her, then offered Sinead the mangled corner of her muffin.
Her chest did a strange squeeze. “Thank you, sweetheart, but that’s yours.”
Navy shrugged and went back to eating.
The vets kept drifting over to the table. Big men. Rugged men. Men with scars, tattoos, weathered faces and many with visible injuries that might frighten a child. But every single one of them softened when they reached Navy.
One crouched to ask if she saved him a bite.
She giggled. “No way! It’s my muffin.”
“Sure I can’t have a bite?”
She stuffed a huge bit into her mouth to keep it from him. He laughed and straightened. Obviously this was a routine between them.
Another came by to ask her if she would bring apples for the horses tomorrow instead of carrots.
She looked at her mother. “Can I have apples?”
Rhae nodded. “We have apples in the kitchen.”
A third stopped just to tug one of her braids and get a giggle out of her before moving on at a painstakingly slow amble with the aid of a walker.
Sinead watched it all with a tightness in her throat she hadn’t expected. This child wasn’t treated like an interruption. She wasn’t shooed away from the adults or pushed to the edges. She was loved so openly by everyone in the room that it seemed to soften the rough edges of the entire lodge.
Rhae followed her gaze. “She’s basically the ranch’s emotional support pet, except I gave birth to her.”
A laugh slipped out of Sinead before she could stop it. Then she felt a prickle on the back of her neck. She looked up to see Hawk had entered, and his presence seemed to shift the air in the hall.
He stood there in dark clothes and his cowboy hat, shoulders broad enough to block part of the light streaming through the entrance.
His gaze locked on her.
Each step he took toward her carried the same command she’d seen on the mountain. As he neared, she saw a tendon in the crease of his jaw tick.
One of the vets approached from the other direction, eyes on Navy. “Hey, little bit—”
“She’s busy,” Hawk cut across him.
The man stopped in his tracks, confusion creasing his brow. “Navy?”
Hawk didn’t look away from Sinead.
“Brandon, it’s fine,” Willow jumped in to say. “Navy, can you say hello to your friend Brandon?”
The guy glanced between them, obviously picking up the strange pulse in the air. He lifted a hand to wave at Navy. “I’ll see you later.”
Navy waved the last blueberry from her muffin at him before popping it in her mouth. “Bye!”
Sinead centered her stare on Hawk. “Are you like this with all your clients?”
“Nope. You’re the first.” Rhae sipped her water, entirely too pleased with herself.
Hawk held out a hand. “We need to go back to the ridge.”
The warmth left her body.
Navy shifted on her lap, and Sinead tightened her arm around the child for one last second before slipping out from under her.
She rose, wiping crumbs from her shirt. “Did your guys find out something?”
“Not yet.” Hawk’s gaze moved over her face as if he was trying to spot something she was withholding. “We sent a team out to search for any abandoned vehicles. They’ll sweep the area while we dig.”
Dig.
Her heart squeezed hard.
She faced him. “You’re taking me back to the site?”
He nodded.
The thing her father had sent her to find was still out there, buried. Only now those men died trying to stop her from finding it.
She turned to the ladies and Navy. “It was lovely having dinner with you.”
Willow darted a look at Hawk and back to Sinead. “I’m glad you got to meet so many of the vets too.”
A low noise, a rumble of a growl, emitted from Hawk. That tic was back in his jaw, but he said nothing.
“Bye, Navy.”
Navy waved. “Next time bring a lollipop!”
“I will.” Her smile faded as soon as she and Hawk turned to go.
As they drove to the property, Hawk’s mood didn’t change. It only seemed to grow darker, and he’d added something new to his routine—checking the side mirrors, the rearview, the road—and her.
They bumped along the road lined thickly with trees. Then she spotted a truck ahead.
She threw out a hand and her fingers collided with Hawk’s steely forearm where it took over the console.
He glanced at her hand, and she jerked it back.
“There’s an SUV.”