Chapter 31
Jenna saw two figures in the heavy growth to the left of the path—one tall, one small. They stood still in the gray, filtered light between the trees.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
Liam. It was Liam!
The relief hit her so hard her knees almost buckled.
He was upright. He was still. He was whole.
Then her eyes moved to the man beside him, and her relief curdled into something colder.
He was twentysomething, tall, and broad through the shoulders. A toothpick moved slowly from one side of his mouth to the other.
She froze and took in all the details. His size. His stillness. The way he stood just close enough to Liam to make a point without making a move.
Her hand found Luke’s arm.
Then Liam moved. “Daddy!”
Luke broke into a jog. When they were close enough, Luke crouched with open arms, and Liam ran straight into them.
Jenna pressed her hand flat against her sternum and tried to breathe.
Liam was okay. He really was okay!
Luke held his son a long moment, one hand at the back of his head and his eyes closed. Her throat constricted when she saw Luke’s shoulder’s drop. He’d been worried—more worried than he’d let on.
This could have turned out so much differently, and she thanked God it hadn’t.
The man stepped out of the trees and onto the path, closer to them. He watched the reunion with an expression Jenna could only describe as satisfied—but not in a genuine way. More like in an amused way.
A toothpick moved slowly from one side of his mouth to the other.
Luke pulled back from Liam and looked at the man. Something shifted in his gaze. Recognition. “Travis . . .”
She tried not to suck in a breath at the name.
She’d heard Travis Henderson’s name enough times in the past two days to know exactly who he was. The neighbor. The one who resented the Kings for buying land his family had lost. The one whose boot prints were probably pressed into the dirt around Refuge Cove’s utility box right now.
Travis worked the toothpick to the corner of his mouth and looked at Luke with a mild, unhurried expression. “Found your boy out here wandering around. Figured I’d bring him back up to the house. Seemed like the neighborly thing.”
Liam’s face confirmed Travis’s words. The boy wasn’t frightened—not of Travis, anyway. He looked like a child who knew he’d done something he wasn’t supposed to do and was bracing for the consequences.
However, the important thing was that he was okay. He was genuinely okay.
Jenna pressed her lips together and held onto that.
Luke put a hand on Liam’s shoulder. “Why did you leave?”
Liam looked at the ground. “I just wanted to explore.”
“You know better than to ever leave without telling someone.”
Liam nodded once, still looking down.
That was all Luke said.
Jenna looked at Liam, and everything in her wanted to close the distance between them. To put her arms around her son the way she hadn’t let herself do this morning. To hold on the way Luke just had and not let go for a long time.
Instead, she stayed where she was.
Her son hadn’t reached for her. He hadn’t looked at her since he’d come out of the trees. He was still angry with her. In fact, his anger might have been the reason he left.
Guilt pounded at her.
Whatever this moment was, it belonged to him and his father, and she didn’t have the right to step into the middle of it.
She was so grateful her son was safe. That was all she could ask for right now.
Luke stared at Travis Henderson and prayed for self-control.
Travis stared back with that same cocky expression he always wore. His toothpick moved between his lips. His hands stayed loose at his sides.
Luke’s patience was running thin with the man—to put it mildly. “Walk with me.”
It wasn’t a question.
He glanced back at Jenna, who seemed to read his meaning. She positioned herself between Liam and the two men.
Then Luke turned and moved a few yards up the path, far enough that Liam wouldn’t hear but close enough Luke could still see him.
Travis followed, as unhurried as a man taking a Sunday stroll.
Luke stopped and faced him. “The cottages.”
Travis raised his eyebrows. “What about them?”
“Someone put a rock through the windows. Tore up some of the new siding. Kicked in a door.” Luke kept his voice even. “Did significant damage.”
Travis shook his head slowly, the picture of a concerned neighbor. “That’s a shame. You get a surprising number of lost hikers out this way on your property. Could’ve been anybody.”
Luke fisted his hands. “It wasn’t anybody.”
Travis cocked his head to the side. “You got proof of that?”
“I’ve got security footage.”
“Do you?” Travis worked the toothpick. “Well then . . . sounds like you don’t need anything from me.”
“I need you to understand something.” Luke held his gaze. “Whatever you think you’re going to get away with—you won’t. I’ll make sure of it.”
Travis looked at him with something that wasn’t quite amusement and wasn’t quite contempt but lived in the neighborhood of both. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Stop playing games, Travis.”
“I’m not playing games. I found your boy wandering around out here.” Travis spread his hands in a gesture of open innocence. “That’s the truth. I don’t know anything about your cottages.”
Neither of them spoke a moment.
Finally, Travis shrugged. “I’m glad I found the boy when I did. These woods go on a good while past this point. It doesn’t take much for a person to get turned around out here.”
He glanced toward Liam then back at Luke.
“It’s a dangerous place for someone who doesn’t know where they’re going,” he added. “All kinds of things can happen.”
Travis’s words and tone sounded ordinary.
They were anything but.
Anger swept through Luke like a current—clean and hot and entirely controlled.
He didn’t move. He didn’t step forward or raise his voice or do any of the things that he wanted to do. Instead, he held Travis’s gaze and let the silence do the work.
Travis held his stare a beat longer than was comfortable. Then he nodded with a small, satisfied dip of the chin. “I’ll be seeing you around.”
He turned and moved back into the trees the way he’d come.
Luke watched him until couldn’t see the man anymore.
Then he breathed out slowly through his nose and turned.
Liam was watching him from down the path with his careful eyes. Jenna stood close beside him, not touching him but present.
Luke walked back to his son, knowing he’d made the right choice by remaining in control.
He had to be careful of the example he set for Liam.
A boy remembered his father’s actions more than he did his words.
And Luke had always taught Liam that violence wasn’t an answer—even when it might be a desire.
Whatever came next with Travis Henderson—and something would come next—it wasn’t going to happen in front of his eight-year-old.
He put his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go home.”