Page 2 of Operation: Return
ChapterOne
Cole Bradly strode into Connor’s office and stuttered to a stop at the sight of Edwyn sitting at the desk. Even after two months, Connor’s office still didn’t feel right without Connor there. Edwyn, the ranch foreman, had done a good job. Cole would give him that much, but the room needed—the ranch needed—Connor. He stood in the doorway and waited for Edwyn to look up.
Edwyn motioned him inside and bade him to sit down. They both knew why Cole was there, even though he didn’t want to be. In fact, if he didn’t respect Connor completely, he’d probably quit before agreeing to this mission. Only that respect kept him seated.
“Brendon gave you the address and let you know about Erica’s son, Pete, right?” Edwyn leaned back in the office chair and it squeaked under his weight.
Cole fought the urge to roll his eyes. He’d had the information for almost two weeks and they’d talked about it. “He did. He spoke to me again yesterday. Are you sure now is the time to do this? It’s only been a month and a half since we last encountered Viceroy’s men. They haven’t come around since his lackeys were arrested trying to take Scarlet back, but that doesn’t mean they’re gone. We’re down a man with Connor in the hospital. We’re down another man until Junior gets home from his honeymoon.”
“Junior will be returning tonight. Gabby didn’t want to be away from her patients for too long, since she’s only just moved her practice to Piper’s Ridge and neither of them wanted Scarlet to be on her own, without a wrangler, for too long.” Edwyn cocked an eyebrow, challenging him to come up with a better excuse.
If he wanted one, he’d get one. “You said I don’t have to come back here right away when I go to see Erica, but I do. We can’t assume Trace will stay in one place for a long time. It’s not safe. Victims who aren’t somewhere that feels safe move frequently. If I go get him first, then I can’t stay near Erica and hope to get her forgiveness or at the very least tell her my side, we’ll have Trace there.”
Edwyn gave a slight shake of his head. “I don’t want you to rush this. You shouldn’t have to. We all decided that each man will get a month to work on his regret because you can’t explain away years in a few minutes. You just can’t. Even the best of reasons are just excuses at first. When you hurt someone, they will be defensive.”
Cole snorted because he couldn’t hold it in. He tried to be respectful, but sometimes disdain was a defense mechanism. “Hurt her?Ididn’t hurt her. My country did. They told her the man she loved died a horrible death. They didn’t tell me until months later, when all the letters from home had long since stopped.” He swiped his hand over his forehead to avoid showing off his shaking anger. “They told me they would gather all my letters and give them to me once the mission was over.” But they hadn’t. Those letters had belonged to a dead man and the government was nothing if not bureaucratic.
He'd finally fessed up to both Brendon and Edwyn what he’d told Connor from the beginning, he wasn’t really Cole Bradley. Nor was he really Taylor Creed, because Taylor was dead according to the government, though he hadn’t gone so far as to give Brendon or Edwyn his former name. He now had a partially fabricated history that didn’t amount to much beyond a social security number that he wasn’t even certain would work, and a name. He’d served in the marines, but his records listed no parents, no birth hospital, no school attendance of any kind. No parking tickets or even social media.
Edwyn gave him a look that said he wasn’t willing to discuss what he couldn’t change. “I can’t do a thing about what they did to you. We can try to contact people to get it fixed if you’d like.”
He wasn’t ready to drop the issue. It had become like his battle cry. “My parents both died thinking I went before them. I never got the chance to prove to my dad I was the son he wanted. The only person still alive who might care about Taylor is Erica. Judging by the fact that she had to have gotten pregnant right after I left for the military, I’m not so sure she would care either.” From the time he’d learned about the boy, he’d felt even more alone.
He'd always been able to convince himself that at least Erica was out there and had cared about him. Even if no one else knew he was alive, Erica had loved him. Then he’d found out about Pete and his belief was shattered. She hadn’t cared. There hadn’t been a single letter telling him she was pregnant with his child. So, she had to have had an affair either before he left or right after.
Edwyn allowed the chair to spring forward. “I hate to say this, but this mission isn’t just about her, it’s about you. Even if she doesn’t accept what you have to say, you’ll have tried. You may still regret your past, but you tried to make it right. That will help you be a better wrangler here because your past won’t haunt you.”
He knew the reasons for the challenge. Connor knew every single man on the ranch needed a second chance with a woman from their past. Junior had managed to not only get forgiveness, but was now married, he doubted talking to Erica would even lead to friendship.
Who would want to listen to a ghost?
“You didn’t tell her I was coming, did you?”
He slowly shook his head. “I didn’t. I didn’t call her myself, though Brendon spoke to her. He found out that her son was supposed to go to a horse camp this summer so that should make her a little more available. Great timing, actually, since you know the policy about children at Wayside.”
He had no intention to bring Erica’s son along for the ride if he didn’t have to. “Yeah, I know the rules. That’s just great.” Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to see the son that proved this was a fool’s mission and the fool was him. Not only had his country cheated him out of a life, the woman he loved had cheated on him. He tried not to be bitter because he knew bitterness could take over if he let it. He was pretty good at letting it.
“We haven’t seen any indication of any problem, so feel free to bring Erica back here. If you tell her it’s to work, like Gabby worked as a counselor, we’ll find something for her to do that interacts little with the guests. This ranch always needs help.”
That was true, but driving all the way to Colorado to ask a woman to come work for the summer seemed ludicrous. Who would do that? Then again, he likely wouldn’t get that far. She’d take one look at him and lock him outside. He could hear the screams already.
He would have to come up with a good reason for never calling her. He’d assumed she’d moved on, and she must have, so maybe an excuse wouldn’t really matter. She was a year into the knowledge that he was dead before he was told he didn’t have a name or a home to return to. Explaining all that seemed cruel. So he hadn’t.
“I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to this. I was supportive of Junior doing all he did, but I don’t want to be the one to do it.”
Edwyn made himself busy putting away files, a good indicator he was ready for Cole to admit Edwyn was right and leave. “I know. Junior didn’t want to either, but it turned out to be a good thing.”
That wouldn’t be the case for him though. He would drive a long way just to force a woman to deal with loss all over again, then he’d have to explain to her why he didn’t make her go through that very situation right away when he returned home. Then, if she didn’t kick him out of her house, he wanted to find out how he’d managed to lose her so quickly.
A six-year-old son . . .
He hadn’t even been dead in his made up grave yet before the child was conceived. His heart clenched knowing how passionate Erica had been, how they’d both been. Maybe she hadn’t been able to wait . . .
He wasn’t like that now, becoming a Christian had changed him, though he hadn’t allowed it to heal him. He still clung to some of that anger like a shield. It protected him from having to deal with all he’d lost. If she wasn’t a Christian, that would make gaining forgiveness even more difficult and he prayed she would listen to him and give him a chance.
There would be no romance since her heart had moved on right away, and part of him mourned that he wouldn’t have the same outcome as Junior. He couldn’t. Unlike Gabby who had waited for Junior, Erica had moved on body and soul.
* * *