A deep male voice echoed through the house, and Belle’s hand froze on the quilt covering her lap. She’d played with it ceaselessly since Greyson left for the airport to pick up Benjamin Long. Brent had flown in the night before and had gone with him. Their voices moved towards her, and from the sound of it, all three men had already hit it off.

He’s not your dad, so calm down, she told herself. He just might lead you to your dad… hopefully.

“Belle?” Greyson called out before he entered the bedroom. “Benjamin’s here. You up for talking to him?”

She knew he was worried after what had happened at the hospital, but she nodded. There wasn’t a chance in hell she would miss this. “I’m ready.”

Greyson nodded and called over his shoulder for Brent and Benjamin to come in. She smiled at her brother, who kissed her cheek, standing by her bedside as another set of steps followed. Benjamin—wearing a black leather jacket and matching cowboy hat—appeared and smiled kindly at her.

“Belle, it’s good to finally meet you face to face,” he said and held out his hand.

She took it and grinned back. “Same to you.”

“I must say, I really like your young man here,” he said, smiling wider when he noticed her pregnant belly. “James will be blown away when he finds out he’s going to be a grandparent.”

She rubbed her belly. “I hope so,” she said quietly, and Greyson squeezed her shoulder in comfort.

“I’ll bring in a few extra chairs,” he said and kissed her.

Brent sat on the edge of the bed, and Benjamin removed his hat and jacket, holding them until Greyson returned with two chairs. Once they were seated, Greyson took a spot beside Belle on the bed, and she took his hand, holding it tightly in hers.

“So, I guess you want to hear about your dad,” Ben started in his gruff voice.

“You went to school with him?” Brent asked.

“Nah, I went to school with your mom. She was a firecracker, that one,” he said with a wry grin. “I met your dad at a summer camp for boys who needed a firm hand. Military academy type stuff.”

“Dad was in the military?” Belle asked, then gave Ben another once over. “You served with him?”

He nodded. “We joined the SEALs together. It was hard on your mom, but they loved each other so damn much, they knew no matter what happened, they’d make their lives work out for the best.” He choked on his words and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. “Sorry. Penelope’s death hit your dad hard, and me. We never saw it coming.”

Belle wanted to give him a moment to collect himself, but her curiosity got the better of her. “So he left but didn’t know she was sick?”

Ben fiddled with the fabric in his hands, and Belle noticed the initials stitched into it. J and H. Her dad’s. “We were gone a lot, your dad and I, always to dangerous parts of the world. Half the time, we didn’t have communication with our own commanders, let alone family. After you were born,” he said, nodding to Belle, “we were sent to Asia for a job.”

“What was it?” Brent asked, leaning closer.

“Can’t tell you, top secret,” Ben said. “We were cut off completely for months. It wasn’t until we got back to base nearly a year later that James was given the news by Penelope herself.”

Belle’s hand went to her mouth, her heart breaking for her dad. “How?”

“She’d written him a letter. She’d been diagnosed with lung cancer, stage four. She knew she wouldn’t see him again,” Ben said quietly, pausing to wipe his eyes. “She would die before he returned home, and she had to tell him one last time how much she loved him. Sent pictures of you two to keep him going. He tried to leave, but we were grounded for another month.”

Brent hung his head and sniffed hard. Greyson grabbed the tissues from the nightstand and handed them over. “What about Belle and Brent?”

“She said she was taking them to her parents since James’s were long dead. He’d assumed that’s where you two would be, but your dad… There was a time when he was a POW during our mission,” Ben said, his eyes filled with anger. “They tried to break him. He was never the same after that. Suffered from PTSD and night terrors. He was sent home, and once he got here, he was discharged for medical reasons. Said they couldn’t have someone so unstable out in the field.”

“And when he got here, Mom was dead,” Belle murmured softly.

Ben didn’t meet her eyes as he nodded. “He wrote me, said he found Penelope’s gravesite. He drank a whole bottle of whiskey that night and slept by her tombstone. My friend—my brother—needed me, and I couldn’t be there for him.”

The silence in the room was heavy. Belle was almost afraid to breathe too loudly. She pictured the smiling face of the young man from the yearbook—her dad—drunk and crying for his lost love alone in the graveyard. “Did he… did he even look for us?”

“He went to the Tinson’s place, but they turned him away, said they didn’t take their grandchildren in, not from a daughter who shoved them out of her life. He went to social services, but they told him… They told him with his record he wouldn’t be a fit parent. Said it would be too hard on him and too traumatic for you both to take you away from your foster families.”

All of the anger that had built up over the past week in Belle, knowing their dad was alive, faded away little by little, replaced by pain and longing. “He needed us,” she whispered. “We could’ve helped him.”

“Yeah, you could’ve, but the system said no. Slapped him right in the face, but he found you both,” Ben said as he pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. “Sent me these not too long after.”

He handed the pictures to Brent, who shifted closer to Belle so she could see them. “Is this… these are of us, aren’t they?” he asked. “We were so little.”

“He tracked you both down within days, snapped those photos, but didn’t go to the families who had you,” Ben said. “It broke him to see you there, looking so like your mother, but he wasn’t a stable man. He still isn’t, really, even after all these years.”

Belle ran her fingers over the picture of her younger self—two, maybe—playing in the front yard on a swing set. “I remember this family,” she whispered. “They were one of the nicest I lived with.”

“James said you both looked happy and he couldn’t pull you away. He worried you wouldn’t even remember him,” Ben said sadly. “When I got out of the military, I found him holed up in a cabin in the mountains. Right mess he was—a drunk, hardly eating, hardly doing anything except keeping tabs on the two of you.”

“Wait,” Brent said, looking up from the picture, “he watched us grow up? This whole damn time?”

Ben scratched his chin. “Yeah, he did. He always knew where you were, what you were up to, although I haven’t spoken to him for a few months so I’m not sure if he knows about this,” he added with a grin, nodding at Belle. “He’d be mighty proud, though.” He dug out his cell from his pocket, tapped the screen a few times, and handed it over to Belle. “You should give him a call.”

“Just like that?” Belle asked, hands trembling as they held the phone. “What do I say?”

“Whatever you want,” Ben said. “He needs to hear from his kids. He’s a stubborn old ass and thinks you two would be better off without him.”

Belle shared a glance with Brent, and he urged her on with a nod.

“Mind you, he’s a damn drifter… He probably won’t answer, but what have you got to lose?”

So many years of searching, of wondering if she was wanted by her family, rushed before her eyes. She had her brother back, knew their mom had loved them, and finally, they would find their dad. She hit the send button and put it on speaker for Brent to hear too. It rang four times on the other end before going to a generic voicemail. After the beep, she fumbled for a second before the words came.

“Dad? It’s… it’s Belle and Brent,” she started. “We’re here with Ben, calling you to see where you are and to let you know… we would really love to see you again. Please, just… just call us back or come visit. Brent’s here for a few more days. We… uh, we love you,” she added, and Brent smiled. She rattled off her number and Greyson’s home address so he could find them, then hung up and slowly handed Ben his phone.

He tucked it away. “Maybe that’ll get him out of his cabin.”

“Thank you, Ben,” Belle said and took his hand again. “Really, you have no idea what this means to us.”

He held her hand tightly and took Brent’s as well. “Your dad was a brother to me, and your mom a sister. She named me your godfather in the letter she sent your dad, and I’m sorry… I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you either.” Tears welled in his eyes, and Belle climbed out of bed so she could hug him and Brent. They held each other close as they cried for what they’d lost and what they’d gained again after so many years apart.

Belle glanced over her shoulder. Greyson wiped furiously at his eyes, and she held out her hand for his, dragging him into the fold of her newly found family.

“We couldn’t have done this without you,” she told him.

Brent patted Greyson hard on the back. “She’s right, you know. You did this, man, and I can’t ever repay you.”

“You never have to,” he assured them.