Page 18 of His For The Keeping

“It’ll be approved.”

“Yeah.” Shane scrubbed his face with his hand. “I can’t hide from Uncle Sam. I’ll have to go back, eventually.”

“So, go back. Take her with you. You said you promised your ma, Frankie would be your wife. You know the SEALs protect their own. It’ll be harder for whoever the fuck did this to get to you on a military base.”

“True, but I don’t think Frankie will agree to become my wife. I haven’t even told her about her family yet.”

“Brother, don’t give the girl the option. In this situation, do either of you really have one?”

“I wasn’t planning on it. To keep her safe, I have to marry her.”

“Find a girl you hate…”

“And buy her a house.” Shane chucked. “I don’t hate her. Hell, I don’t even know her.”

“I think you are going to get to know her a hell of a lot better, real soon.”

“Speaking of, I’m going to go get her for dinner.”

“Great. I’ll put the BBQ out.”

“The Cattleman?” Shane’s mouth watered at the thought of his favorite barbecue establishments.

“Of course. Is there anything else?”

Smiling for the first time all day, Shane put his empty glass on the side table and headed inside to find Frankie.

Frankie

The hot water had helped relieve some of the tension in her body but had done nothing to ease the anxiety she was feeling. Something was going on, and in the pit of her stomach, she knew that something wasn’t good. Shane had said something about laying out clean clothes on the bed. Going to find them, her eyes turned to the TV.

She flipped it on, not caring what channel it was set to, just wanting the background noise. The silence was unnerving. Her thoughts screamed too loudly in her head, her imagination making things worse by the second, and she needed a distraction.

Slipping into the much too big shorts, she pulled the string as tight as she could before sliding the soft black t-shirt over her braless torso. She wanted underwear but would have to wait until hers were clean. Shane had taken it upon himself to throw them into the washing machine, in part to keep her stuck here for another few hours. The man was crafty about keeping her prisoner.

She worked out the knots in her hair with her fingers, wishing she had her brush. The weatherman on the television was interrupted by breaking news. “The Barn” caught her attention. Frankie lifted her head, freezing in place at what she saw. An image of the burned-down building, where she had brunch with her family just hours before, was on the screen, and Police Chief O’Malley was talking. She stood there, stunned, reading the words scrolling across the bottom.

“The names of the victims are pending notification of next of kin,” O’Malley was saying.

She jumped when the remote was snatched out of her hand by a flustered Shane, who turned off the TV.

“Sit down, Francesca.” She flinched at the coldness of his tone. Speaking softer, he tried again. “I’m sorry, Frankie. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself. This isn’t how I wanted you to find out. Please sit down.”

She turned toward him, catching her reflection in the mirror on the wall, and paused. Her expression was something she would never forget. The color had completely drained from her features, and she looked as though she was about to pass out.Seeing herself like that made her lightheaded. She held onto the wall, steadying herself.

“I told you to sit, baby girl.” Coming behind her, he pushed her down onto the bed.

“This can’t be true. It’s not true, right? They said there were no survivors.”

“Francesca—”

“No!” She jumped to her feet. “I have to go. Right now. I need to go back. I need to go find my papa. This isn’t true. None of this is true. My entire family can’t be gone, Shane.”

“I should have told you earlier. I’m sorry you found out like this. I didn’t know how to tell you… I was going to after dinner… I wanted to have a quiet, calm place—”

“How do you tell someone their entire fucking family is dead?” she interrupted, screaming at him. “How do you tell them, Shane? Just, like that. You say those fucking words. You’ve known all day? You’ve known and didn’t tell me! You fucking bastard!”

Shane flinched.