Page 19 of Security Breach
She nodded and relaxed against him.
“Did you sleep in that morning?” he prompted to get her started.
A short laugh escaped. “Fat chance of that. Dad wouldn’t allow any of us to sleep later than six and insisted that we eat breakfast promptly at 6:30. I didn’t miss that when I moved into my apartment.”
David kissed the side of her neck, offering silent comfort at the difficult memories. James Tucker had been a hard taskmaster. Even when Emma moved out on her own after she graduated from college, her father still treated her as though she lived under his roof, expecting her to toe the line any time he demanded. She would have blown him off if it hadn’t been for her younger sister. Born twelve years after Emma, her sister had graduated from high school weeks before she died. Anne had begged Emma to go on the family vacation to the beach, probably as a buffer between her and James. Anne and her father hadn’t gotten along. And Marian Tucker, Emma’s mother, hadn’t been strong enough to stand against her husband’s wishes or his fists. “I’m sorry. Doesn’t sound like much fun. Vacations are supposed to be a change of pace from the norm.”
“Not in my father’s eyes. I would have been awake early that morning anyway. Seagull Island was hosting a festival that day, and Anne wanted an early start to see all the offerings from the vendors. The booths were up and running by 9:00 a.m. She and I had planned to purchase breakfast from the vendors, but Dad vetoed that plan.”
“Let me guess. He said it was a waste of money.”
Emma sighed. “Everything was a waste of his money except for what he wanted. Anne and I decided to eat enough to satisfy him, then I would purchase our food from the street vendors while we were at the festival.”
“Smart. You got him off your backs and still let Anne sample food.” He kissed the side of her neck, smiling when she shivered in his arms. “Any problems before you left for the festival?” When she stiffened, David waited her out in silence.
“How did you know?”
“I knew your dad.” He tightened his hold. “Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head.
Even though she described events that took place more than a year earlier, David breathed easier. “You can tell me the truth, Em.” Her father was out of his reach.
“I am. Dad was afraid to lay a hand on me after your confrontation with him before your last deployment.”
Excellent news. When he’d been home on leave, David had gotten into James’s face after he’d discovered the bruise on Emma’s side. She’d stretched to reach a bowl on a high shelf, causing her shirt to ride up and revealing the injury. After much persuasion, she had admitted to stepping between her father and Anne when he’d gone after the younger girl. Since James hadn’t touched Emma the last morning of his life, that left either her mother, Marian, or Anne. “Who did he hit?”
A soft sigh. “Mom. The coffee wasn’t to his liking.”
“How did you stop him?” Once James started beating on his wife or daughters, he couldn’t stop.
“Threatened to call the police and leak his arrest to the Maple Valley gossips.”
“How did he take it?”
“About like you’d expect. He threatened to throw me out of the beach house if I interfered with him disciplining his family again. The threat was without teeth, though. He knew I would follow through on my threat.”
That didn’t sound like enough of a deterrent to force James to back off. “What else did you threaten him with?”
She gave a short laugh. “The only person he was afraid of. You. I told him if he didn’t stop, you would have another conversation with him and this time, he’d be the one with bruises and cracked ribs.”
Satisfaction flooded him. “I would have done more than that, and your father knew it.”
“What did you tell Dad when you talked to him? He wouldn’t even tell Mom what you said.”
He hesitated, concerned about how she’d react. But if their relationship was going to last for the long haul, she needed to understand and accept the lengths he would go to in protecting her. “I told him that if he ever laid a hand on you in anger again, I would kill him and bury the body where no one would ever find it.”
She was silent for a long moment, motionless. “Did you mean what you said?”
“Given how I feel about you, do you need me to answer that question?”
Emma tilted her head to lean against his. “He must have believed you because he didn’t touch me after you talked to him.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you more, Emma. I should have been here for you.” He’d spent years protecting his country, yet he’d failed to safeguard one of the most important people in his life.
“Don’t, David. None of that was on you. I should have found the courage to speak up before and stop him.”
“You moved out to protect yourself and did your best to protect Anne, offering her shelter whenever James was on a rampage. Your sister wouldn’t let you call the police, would she?”