Chapter9
Quinn didn’t know anything about the Trainer family, except their father had been an asshole and they’d run wild. But she knew what shock looked like, and Luke was exhibiting all the signs. White face, shaking hands. At least he was now breathing slowly.
He’d said they had another brother. Where and how had they found this out?
Looking at the three other Trainers, she saw their reactions mirrored Luke’s. With them was the chief of the Ryker Falls Police Force. It must have been him who delivered the news.
“Daddy?” Benji said from behind his uncle Luke. The little voice wobbled. Clearly he’d picked up on the tension.
“Where’s my girl?” Quinn turned to see Dylan Howard wander into the cafe. Tall, loose-limbed, he had a smile on his face.
He stopped before Piper, who had come to stand next to Luke. “Pip?” Dylan touched her cheek, his smile moving to concern. “What’s going on, baby?”
“Ch-Chief Blake,” Pip whispered, stepping into her husband and wrapping her arms around his waist. He held her tight while he looked over her head to where the others were now standing.
“What’s going on?”
The chief moved to talk to Dylan.
“Well, hell.” He whistled. “Is there proof?”
The tension in the cafe was almost choking Quinn.
“Daddy?” Benji’s voice was high with worry.
“Hey, Benji, how’s that plane coming along?” she called to him.
The boy had been looking at his daddy but now found her.
“Any chance you can finish it and I can take it home? I’m thinking I want to take it back to the air force base with me.”
The boy looked pretty happy about that and relaxed. A waitress arrived with his fries, which helped to take his mind off his daddy’s obvious distress.
“I’ll take one of those drawings too, Benji,” Dylan said. He was still holding Piper under his arm.
“Okay, Uncle Dylan. It will be an F-15E Strike Eagle.” He turned back to his drawing.
“Nice,” Uncle Dylan replied. His tone turned all business as he said to Chief Blake, “I want a photo of this kid now.”
Chief Blake didn’t hesitate. He pulled out his phone and started to make a call.
“Luke.” Quinn touched the hand he had wrapped around hers.
His eyes had moved to Dylan, but they spun back to her. He then looked at their hands.
“Sorry.” He released her.
“It’s okay. Maybe drink this.” Quinn moved to grab the glass of water that had been in front of her on the counter, and handed it to him. “Just a few sips.”
His nod was a single jerk of his head. He took the glass and downed a few gulps.
“Thanks.”
She watched him move to where his brothers were now standing in a circle. Looking at Benji, Quinn decided to sit with him for a bit until his daddy could focus again.
“If he’s ours, we have to go to him.” The words came from Luke.
“Agreed,” Joe said. “I’m not having him suffer like we did.”