The Problem with Peace (Greenstone Security 3)

He knew this.

He knew Polly didn’t know this.

Only reason he knew was because he’d looked into everything about Polly when he got back. Because he was half fucking insane with not having her. Not being able to control the situation.

So he’d treated it as a mission.

Gain intel.

And what he’d gained had hit him.

Hard.

Her mom getting brought into the ER by an eight-year-old Lucy carrying a two-year-old Polly. Her mom beaten to hell.

By the father that was never seen again.

Pete was the attending nurse.

They were married a handful of months later.

Polly wasn’t old enough to remember the violence, thank fuck. Lucy was. But no one told Polly. Because that family, every one around her, made it their mission to protect Polly from the little ugly truths of the world.

But they couldn’t protect her from everything.

“You love her?” Pete asked, clenching his fists.

“More than anything in this world,” he said.

Pete nodded.

“The man that hurt her?”

“Dead,” Heath said.

Again, he should’ve lied.

Pete didn’t seem shocked. Or disgusted. His shoulders sagged in relief.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

“Didn’t do it for you.”

“And that’s why I’m thanking you,” Pete said.

Silence lasted a little longer.

“Gonna marry her,” Heath said, breaking it for once. “Whenever she’s ready. So it could be tomorrow or two years from now. Doesn’t matter to me when. Just matters it’s happening.” He glanced to Pete. “But it matters to me that I’ll have your blessing. Because I know that shit matters to Polly. And Polly is everything to me.”

Pete smiled. “Son, she’s everything to me too. Been hoping to pass her onto a man that says what you just said. Did it against my better judgment the first time around, and that’s somethin’ I’ll carry with me. But I’m thinking you’ll make sure I don’t have to carry anything else.”

“No fucking way,” Heath promised.

“Then you’ve got my blessing.”

Polly

Heath and Dad arrived home once Mom and I had finished crying and then broken into a bottle of wine.

My dad’s face was weary the second he met my eyes like he was expecting something. A hurricane.

He and Mom had obviously planned this.

And he was scared.

Terrified.

I saw that in the man I loved and respected above all others, the younger, bearded man beside him coming in at a close second.

My wine glass hit the coffee table with enough force to spill liquid everywhere. I ignored this, Mom was already getting up to clean up after me.

I was in my dad’s arms in the next moment. He went back on his heels, but he caught me. Of course he did. He always caught me.

We were silent for a long time before he let me go.

There was a fear in his eyes, even if he didn’t say anything.

So I knew I had to.

“You’re my dad,” I said firmly. “That’s not changing. That’s never changing. You are the man who taught me how to fish. Who wiped my tears away. Who walked me down the aisle. Who didn’t judge me when I signed that paper dissolving that marriage.” I paused. “You never judged me. You never told me I was making mistakes, even though it was glaringly obvious.”

He smiled and squeezed my hands. “Honey, mistakes are different for everyone. One person’s mistake is another’s miracle. It was a mistake in the DNA of the man who fathered you that brought you to me. My biggest miracle.”

His eyes moved to where my mom was standing, most likely crying.

Then he went back to me. “My biggest accomplishment is being a father to two beautiful, and wildly different girls. And the biggest mistake I could make as a father would be to try and steer your life for you. To tell you not to do something just because it’s not how I would do it. How I would want you to do it. I want you to be happy. And to be happy, unfortunately, you’ve gotta make mistakes. Ones that hurt you, ones that kill me watching your pain. But we cannot have happiness without pain. Without mistakes.”

He paused, bringing my hands up so he could kiss them and then let them go. “So, no, sweetie. I’ll never judge you. Never doubt your spirit, your mind. You make decisions that you think serve you best at the time. That protect your peace. Even if they end up ruining it. No one person can ever tell another they’re making a mistake. Because that would mean there is one way to live life. A script. And even if there was, one of the proudest moments in my life is watching my daughters go off script. Scary as hell.”

His eyes went dark and I knew exactly what he was seeing. The future we’d almost had.

“Scarier still when it looked like I was gonna lose Lucy’s light because of her spirit,” he choked out. “But that’s a burden we all carry. And I’ll protect you as much as I can.” He glanced to Heath. “You’ve got a man that’ll do the same. Though I wish it could be as easy as finding someone who loves you the way you deserve to be loved in order to protect you from the world. That just ain’t the case. Person who’s gonna protect you the most is always you. And I’ve always known you’d do that, even if it didn’t look like it to the people on the outside. Especially because it didn’t look like that to the people on the outside. You’re one of the rarest things in this world, my little bug. And don’t you forget it.”