For Simon, it had been a long, tedious workday. The tourists he’d taken out had insisted he make two extra trips circling Smuggler’s Bay, so they could take more photos, which made him late picking up Delaney and Jayden at daycare.

It was nearing six-thirty when he walked through the double doors of the church and headed straight for their classroom. He was met by two little bundles of energy that seemed happy to see him. He didn’t think it was his imagination that when they spotted him, the kids dropped what they were doing and came running up to greet him like he was the king of the world.

Jayden began to chatter and tell him about a dinosaur. That was certainly different since T-rex didn’t come with wheels. But it didn’t last long before Jayden went to get his stuff.

“He’s obviously ready to go,” Simon commented. “Sorry I’m late.”

Ophelia, who’d stayed behind to accommodate his schedule, waved off the apology. “They’ve only been here for three hours since Gilly dropped them off. We all understand around here that not all parents have a nine-to-five setup. We don’t mind making allowances.”

His baby girl toddled over, looking relieved to see him. Lifting her up, he gave her a big raspberry on her belly. “Daddy missed you.”

“Da-da,” she said, patting his face.

Simon held the baby out away from him and looked in her eyes. “She just called me daddy again. Da-da. Did you hear that?” he said, whirling around to Ophelia. “It’s only the fifth time she’s said it.”

Ophelia smiled. “You’re counting. That’s adorable and amazing. I might mention that Delaney put up quite a fuss when Gilly dropped her off. She cried for almost twenty minutes afterward.”

He nodded at the information. “Gilly texted me about it. Delaney’s started to call her Mama.”

“Susan and Neenah noticed that, too.”

But then he looked down and caught Jayden staring up at him with wide eyes from the floor. “What’s wrong, buddy?”

“Are you my daddy?”

Simon squatted down to Jayden’s level. With his free arm, he lifted him up to his chest and looked him in the eye. “You want me to be?”

Jayden bobbed his head up and down. “Jes.”

He kissed the top of the boy’s head. “Then let’s talk to your mom about it.” And when Jayden threw his arms around his neck, it made him feel ten feet tall.

“Let’s get out of Ophelia’s hair now and go make us some supper. What do you say to that?”

“Supper!” Jayden yelled.

After getting them fed and tucked in for the night, Simon did the dishes and started the dishwasher. The sofa called his name from the living room. Dead tired, he put his feet up on the coffee table and texted Gilly about Jayden’s question.

I told you he was getting attached.

So is Delaney, to you. Look what happened this afternoon.

I hated leaving her bawling like that. Does it freak you out if Jayden wants to start calling you Daddy?

Does it freak you out when Delaney calls you Mama?

It doesn’t. It warms my heart.

Same here. We’re two only children. If we make a go of this, at least we’ll know that Jayden and Delaney won’t end up only children.

Amazing that you would even think of that.

I think about a lot of stuff because I’m not going anywhere, Gilly.

Neither am I.

Then what are we so afraid of here?

Don’t know. Gotta get back to work now. Looks like a busy night. Car accident out on the 101 and we’re the closest hospital!!! Love you.

With the house quiet, he was able to sort things out without having little miniature people underfoot. Merlin trotted over, plopped his butt down on top of Simon’s feet.

Simon combed his fingers through his fur thinking about the hundred chores he still had left to get done. He and Gilly had talked about putting up a porch swing. They’d already settled on a spot. He still had to install the doggie door and finish unpacking.

His head fell back on the cushion and soon Simon had drifted off to sleep.

 

 

The first time he’d set eyes on Colt Del Rio, he’d been about to drift off then, too. After a long flight he needed shuteye. Nestled in his bunk, a commotion to the right had him opening his eyes to see a man staring at him in the dark.

Unsettled, Simon noted the man looked almost feral with raven-black eyes that matched his hair. Short, at five-feet nine inches, the guy seemed like a ball of muscle and not all there. Simon could see crazy in his huge dark eyes.

He wouldn’t find out until later that the lovable wild man was half Apache, born and raised in a New Mexico orphanage located outside Albuquerque on a dirt-poor speck of land where it was impossible to grow anything in the hard, unforgiving dust and drought. Dumped there as a baby, it seemed no one had wanted Colt Del Rio from the moment he’d let out his first war cry, a fact that had the boy growing up not giving a damn about much of anything.

Now, deep in the barren hills near Kandahar province in one-hundred-plus-degree heat, the man was dressed in a pair of cut-off camouflage shorts, an olive-green undershirt, and his trademark bandana wrapped around his head. It wasn’t so much his lack of conversation as it was his sing-song approach to any subject matter that caused him to stick out from the rest.

As a twenty-year-old hot-shot marksman, Simon had been anxious to meet his spotter. But he hadn’t expected the man who stared at him now. Colt let out an ear-piercing war whoop to get his attention.

It worked.

“Hey, bro. I hear you aced your MOS. That’s good. My guess is, getting to 11B you ended up here quick as they could get rid of you. Trust me, this ain’t no promotion.”

Simon sat up on his elbows to get a better look. “I’m beginning to get that.”

“This your first sniper gig?”

“Yep.”

“You can handle that M4?”

“Yep.”

“Good, cause I been hunting game all my life and hunting humans who want to kill me is just another kind of wild animal, just a helluva lot more dangerous.” Colt let out another war whoop, but Simon sensed he wasn’t done talking.

Leaning in closer, Colt whispered, “You’d better be a damn good shot cause I’m the best fucking spotter in this whole damn Army and I’m not looking to get my nuts blown off any time soon.”

With that, Colt unceremoniously reached over to the bunk bed and flipped it over with Simon in it.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Simon yelled. “Get away from me!”

But before he could react, Colt had picked him up like a rag doll, set him on his feet, and slapped him on the back. “Welcome to the Army’s version of hell, bro. Whatever you did before to get here, ain’t nothing like the real thing.”