“Stop!” I cried, covering my ears.
“That’s enough!” Tyler roared, shooting out of his chair, sending it flying across the room. “We’re done here. If you want to talk to my wife or me, you can go through my lawyer.”
He wrapped his arms around my trembling body as tears streamed down my face, the agent’s words hitting me to my core. And it hit me hard because it made complete sense.
“Don’t cover for him, Mrs. Burnham!” he yelled down the hallway as Tyler escorted me out of the police department. “Just tell us where he is and you can end this! If you don’t, you may just be giving birth in prison. You need to decide if he’s worth it!”
I tried to shake off everything Agent Suarez had just told me as Tyler drove me back to his house, but I couldn’t. “Please don’t give up hope,” he whispered as I stared at the ocean waves, wishing they would give me the clarity to separate the truth from the lies.
Mackenzie
“WHY DON’T YOU TAKE a break from going through all that?” Tyler said to me as I sat surrounded by boxes in the living room of his house. The lights on the Christmas tree illuminated the room on that early December afternoon. A little less than a week had passed since Charlie had died and Tyler’s attorney had put the fear of God into Agent Suarez. I didn’t know what he had said to him, but we hadn’t heard from him since the day he questioned me.
The day after Thanksgiving, Tyler’s team had somehow tracked down a storage unit Charlie had been renting the past several months. There were photo albums, yearbooks, cards… All things Charlie thought important enough to hold onto. I had been spending the past few days reading through his journals. Tyler and his team had looked through them, hoping they would find something that could help clear my father’s name, but they turned out to just be journals of his thoughts, nothing more. And I found that, over the years, I hadn’t left Charlie’s thoughts for more than a day, and neither had the family he had lost.
I was consumed with his words, the passion and heartache he had been enduring pouring through the pages. For years after the fire, Charlie suffered from survivor’s guilt, and I wondered if he ever truly recovered from it. But he was a brilliant man, a man who had learned to read people and put on an act, which was what he did in order to enlist in the army and eventually become a Ranger. He made everyone think his life was perfect, that he was a model soldier, ready to give his life for his country. And he did just that, although his downward spiral was one no one could have seen coming.
“No,” I insisted, meeting Tyler’s eyes. “I like doing this.”
“I just don’t want to see you upset,” he said, sitting next to me on the floor. He ran his hands across my back, comforting me.
“I’m not. I know he’s gone, but reading his journals… It’s like he’s here with me.”
He took a deep breath, kissing me on the cheek before raising himself off the floor. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
I smiled at him. “I am.”
“I hate to leave you, but Eli wants to go over everything again to see if we’re missing something.”
“Like what?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I keep holding out hope we’ll stumble across something we missed that will make everything clear.”
“Then you should go.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?”
“I’m fine. Jenna texted earlier and I promised I’d meet her for a coffee this afternoon, so that will force me away from all of this.” I waved at the boxes scattered around me. “I think she misses having me at the restaurant, but she’ll never actually admit it.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, apprehension covering his face. I had been cooped up inside his house since returning from Florida. While it certainly gave me time to rest and prepare for the birth of Triple B, I was starting to go a little stir crazy.
“I know what you’re thinking and I want you to stop, Tyler. I’ve barely seen Brayden or Jenna since I got back from Florida, except for the day after Thanksgiving when they found out about Charlie. Not to mention, I won’t be seeing them at all once we move to Boston. I want all the time I can get with them.”
He rubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t feel comfortable with you leaving.”
“Duly noted.” I smirked. “What can possibly happen? If it makes you feel better, I’ll text Jenna and see if she’s okay with getting together at her place instead.”
He cupped my cheek, a relieved expression washing over him. “That would make me feel better. Thank you.” He poised his lips over mine and I couldn’t help but smile at his closeness.
“You’re welcome,” I murmured as we shared a soft, beautiful kiss.
“Will you do something else for me?” he asked, pulling away.
“What is it?”
Spinning on his heels, he retreated down the hallway, disappearing into his office momentarily. When he returned, he was carrying a familiar small, black case. Opening it, I saw the pistol he bought for me all those months ago when he taught me how to shoot.
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows at him. “A bit of overkill, don’t you think?”
“Probably, but will you bring it with you when you leave here, just to be on the safe side?” His eyes were pleading with me and I could sense a hint of vulnerability about him. It seemed completely unnecessary, but if it eased Tyler’s troubled mind, there was no reason for me not to agree to his request.
“Okay.” I took the pistol out of its case, made sure the round wasn’t chambered, and placed it in my purse.
“Thank you,” he said, planting one final kiss on my lips. Pulling back, he headed toward the front door allowing me to admire his backside, just as I had that first night all those months ago. He glanced over his shoulder, a brilliant smile on his face. “I love you, Mrs. Burnham.”
“And I love you, Mr. Burnham.”
He winked and disappeared outside, leaving me alone with just my thoughts and the background sound of Christmas carols. I lost myself in Charlie’s words once more, flipping through the pages, as if I was desperate to find out the anticipated ending of some spellbinding story. However, I already knew how the tale would end. This wasn’t about that. It was about keeping a piece of Charlie with me.
My phone buzzed, tearing me away from Charlie’s words for the first time in what seemed like hours. I saw a text from Jenna saying she was leaving the restaurant in about ten minutes. I replied, asking if we could just get together at her place instead and she agreed.
Reluctantly, I pried myself away from Charlie’s journals and grabbed my bag, leaving the house. The air was crisp and a bit cool, a nice breeze coming in from the ocean. Taking a calming breath of the salty sea air, I jumped into the SUV and turned toward the main strip of South Padre. It was relatively quiet for just a few weeks before Christmas. Soon, I knew I would treasure the tranquility, especially once Triple B decided to make his entrance into the world.