“It was kind of sudden, Dad.”
“Art, don’t you dare scare this one off,” her mother had warned.
“Are you still harping on her prom date? All I did was ask him to hold my rifle while I found the bullets. I was kidding,” her father had said. “But don’t worry, had I known how few men would come around, I would have been nicer to even that wimp. I’ll tone it down for this one.”
Oh, God. Even as she started to worry about what her parents would say in front of Andrew, she told herself to be realistic. She and Andrew weren’t in a relationship. They’d shared a batshit crazy day, had sex, and he’d said he wasn’t ready for it to be over yet. It might have referred to simply sleeping with her. He was honest enough to say he didn’t know if it would last a week or even another day. Although the idea of never seeing him again made her feel a little sick, she couldn’t hate him for it. He’d stayed to protect her when a member of her own family had deserted her. He hadn’t taken advantage of her. She’d wanted every single moment of being with him. If it wasn’t meant to last, she’d find the strength to let him go. He had enough pain tearing him apart. She wouldn’t add to it. In fact, no matter how things ended between them, she wanted to leave him better than how she’d found him in some way. Sometimes that’s all a person could strive for. “You won’t have to, Dad, he’s a Marine.”
“Nice,” her father had said. “Enlisted or retired?”
“Where did you meet him?” her mother had asked.
Only because Helene didn’t know if Andrew was between deployments or out for good, she chose to answer her mother’s question. “At the clinic. He came in one day.”
“Is he—?” her father started to ask.
“Does your uncle—?” her mother asked at the same time.
Helene hadn’t been ready to answer their questions yet. “Can’t talk now, but I wanted you to know that we’ll be there in a couple of hours. See you in a few. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” they’d both answered.
To reduce the number of questions she and Andrew would face, they made a quick stop at the mall to buy a couple of outfits along with some luggage. They rented a hotel room for the night but stayed just long enough to shower and change. Everything that had happened with her uncle still felt unreal so she put it out of her mind even though inside her heart she ached. Despite how little time she might have with Andrew, or perhaps because of it, she chose denial over the craziness of reality. When she did, the time with Andrew was amazing. It was super charged with both sexual tension and the glow of a new friendship. Out of nowhere, he would say something that had her laughing until her sides hurt. At other times, he’d look at her in a way that had her melting at his feet and wondering how many times a day a person could have sex.
Unlike the men she’d known in the past, his attention to her was unwavering. She was quickly becoming addicted to the feel of his gaze on her or the touch of his hand caressing her.
Still, looking at her parents’ faces reminded her that nothing was as good as she was pretending it was. Not Aruba, not her relationship with the man beside her. She and her parents had always had an open and honest relationship.
“You look nervous,” Andrew said.
She made a face and shook her head. “This was a bad idea.” Before she had time to explain, her parents were standing beside her car door, waving at both of them, with embarrassingly huge smiles on their faces. Helene forced a smile and waved back as she said, “I’ve never been able to lie to them.”
Andrew gave her hand a squeeze. “Take a page from my book then and simply say less.”
Helene nodded. Her parents were dancing like puppies beside the car. “Before we go out there, I need to prepare you.”
Andrew seemed to size her father up. They were about the same height, but her father had a good thirty years on Andrew. He looked back at her in confusion. “For what?”
“They will hug you.”
She stepped out of the car. “Mom. Dad. This is my friend, Andrew.”
Andrew thought Helene had been joking about her parents until her mother gave him a longer and tighter hug than he’d ever received from his own mother. He was still recovering from it when her father thanked him for his service and pulled him in for a back-slapping embrace that caught him off guard. They were both remarkably strong for their age.
Helene intervened. “Okay, Dad.”
Her father smiled at Andrew and punched him in the arm. “Solid. You did good this time, Lenny.” He lowered his voice as if by doing so the women couldn’t hear him. “You could floss your teeth with the last man she dated.”
“Lenny?” Andrew mouthed silently to Helene and fought back a grin.
Her mother said quickly, “Who she dated in the past doesn’t matter. They’re gone and forgotten. We’re just glad she met someone.”
Andrew glanced at Helene again. She looked embarrassed, and he wished there was a way to reassure her. He liked her parents. It was obvious they loved their daughter and wanted her to be happy. His family was all about keeping things perfect so they didn’t share how they felt about most things. They had no clue when it came to their children’s private lives, relationships or dating habits. In general, they preferred to not know. At least, that had always been the case before Kenzi had rocked the family with the revelation that she’d been raped. According to Kenzi, the family was now gathering often for game nights and opening up to each other. He couldn’t imagine it.
He put his arm around a blushing Helene and pulled her to his side. “I stole her away from a man like that in Aruba. Should I worry that I’m not her taste?”
Helene dug her elbow into his side. “He’s so funny.”
“How long are you two here for?” her father asked.
Helene tensed. “I’m back for good if that’s okay. Aruba was a nice vacation, but I belong here.”
Her mother looked instantly concerned. “Oh, honey, you know you’re always welcome here. I’m surprised my brother didn’t call me. Did something happen?”
There was a delay before Helene shook her head. “He was probably too busy. No need for him to call. I just missed you.”
Her father brought a hand to his chin and rubbed it. He was more reserved as he addressed his next question to Andrew. “What about you, Andrew? What are your plans?”
It touched Andrew that they wanted their daughter to settle down and were ready to accept him if he said that was what he wanted, too. They didn’t know a thing about him, though. He thought about how far he’d let himself sink when he first left the Marines and wondered if they’d welcome him if they knew who he’d been then. Helene didn’t lie to her parents and he decided he wouldn’t, either. “I recently finished a tour in Iraq and decided not to reenlist. I’m from Boston, not Aruba, but I’m not anxious to go back there, either. I don’t actually have a plan for what to do next.”
Her father nodded. “How long were you in?”
“Twelve years.”
Her father relaxed. “It’s normal to not know what to do when you get out. You’ll find your footing.” He shared a look with his wife, then said, “Until then, you’re welcome to stay with us as long you don’t mind that we all pull our weight here. If you can’t stomach the idea of cleaning out an animal pen, there’s a hotel a few miles away.”
Her mother added, “Not everyone likes animals, Art. There’s also work to be done that doesn’t require getting quite so up-close and personal with them. We have fences to mend. Equipment that always needs a tune-up. We’re hoping to start tours in the fall so we’re slowly building a welcome facility as well. You could help with that if you’re handy with a nail gun.”
Andrew looked to Helene for some sign of what she wanted from him, but her expression was carefully neutral. “If Helene is comfortable with me being here, I’ll help out wherever I’m needed.”
Helene’s eyes shone with emotion that she blinked away as she searched his face. “If you want to stay here, I’m
okay with it.”
Okay with it. She sure knew how to keep a man humble.
Her mother clapped her hands together. “That’s settled then. You could both stay in the first-floor guest room instead of Lenny’s. The guest room has a full-size bed.”
Andrew’s eyes flew to her father’s. “I’m fine with the guest room by myself. Or if you have a bunkhouse or something I could stay there.”
Her father nodded in approval. “You’re going to work out just fine here.”
Her mother wagged a hand at them. “Art, they’re not children. Do you really want them sneaking around trying to copulate between the animal pens? There’s no reason to make a big deal out of something that is perfectly natural.”
Art grunted. “You’re right. We don’t have separate housing for employees because until recently, this has been a strictly family run rescue. Lenny’s room is upstairs with us. I guess we don’t want her falling down the stairs because she feels she has to creep around in the dark to see you.”
Helene covered her face with her hand. “Please stop. You’re embarrassing me.”
Her mother stepped closer. “Honey, there’s no need to be embarrassed. You’re an adult, and we’re happy for you. We just want you to know that you don’t have to sneak around. Now that we have employees, we’ve been putting up surveillance cameras and neither of us wants to accidentally see that.”
Her mother’s calm explanation coupled with Helene’s mortification made it impossible for Andrew to keep a straight face. “I’ll leave that decision to Lenny.”
Helene looked up at him then across to her parents. “Separate rooms are fine.”
There was a brief, awkward pause then her father said, “How about I help you bring the luggage in, Andrew? Then I’ll give you a tour if you’re interested.”
“I’d like that.” Andrew gave Helene a quick squeeze then left her to open the trunk of the car. After handing the smaller bag to her father, he turned in time to see Helene talking to her mother. He couldn’t hear them but read her lips easily.
Her mother said, “Of course we’re okay with him being here. You have a good head on your shoulders. If you like him, that’s a good enough endorsement for us.”
“Twelve years. That’s a long time,” her father said, drawing Andrew’s attention back to the task at hand.
Andrew turned to follow her father to the house. “Yes, sir.”
“Call me Art. Everyone does. It’s short for Arthur, but anyone who calls me that doesn’t know me well enough to know I hate it.”
“I’ll remember that, Art.”
Art led the way into the house and to the downstairs bedroom. “The sheets are clean and there are more pillows in the chest in the corner if you want them.”
“Thank you,” Andrew said, placing his bag down next to the bed.
“I’ll run Helene’s bag upstairs then meet you in the kitchen.”
“Sounds good.”
“One more thing,” her father said.
Andrew turned to fully face him. “Yes?”
“That’s my baby girl out there. If you hurt her, all your military training won’t save your ass when I come for it. I’m happy to have you here, but I’m not afraid of prison if you give me a reason to kill you. We clear?”
“Yes, sir—Art. We’re clear.” There were men who would make a threat they had no intention or ability to follow through on. Art was not one of those men. His gaze was steady and there was no question he meant every word. Only a fool would dismiss him as an unworthy adversary. Art didn’t rely on money or status to protect his family. He had strength of character and that realization completely won Andrew over.
“Good.” With that, her father walked out of the room.
While waiting for him to return, Andrew checked out the rooms he came across while looking for the kitchen. It wasn’t a fancy home, but it was of decent size, furnished in a comfortable, practical style. The walls were covered with photos of Helene from all stages of her life. He smiled at some he was certain she wished weren’t on display, but he loved what they said about what her family valued. His family displayed professional photos that were staged and flawless. These photos were snapshots taken under very different circumstances. They were real.
In all the photos she was either in jeans or shorts and a dirty T-shirt. Her hair was wild in some, in others pulled back in a ponytail that looked about to come undone. She always had an animal with her. Large, small, hurt, healthy—she stood proudly with them. He stopped when he came across a photo of her in front of the elephant she’d described. She was placing hay for him and seeming to encourage him to take it. It had Andrew scanning the wall for a photo of her with the monkey. When he found it, he was deeply moved by the love evident in her face while interacting with the animal.
Art spoke from behind him. “That photo makes Lenny a little sad. We keep it to remind her that although things don’t always turn out the way we want, it doesn’t make what we do less important. We partnered up with a hospital in Willomore, South Africa to return him to the wild. Not every animal can transition back. The ones who clearly can’t stay here get placed in other sanctuaries that try to keep them safe and comfortable for the rest of their lives. Ideally, though, wild animals deserve the chance to return to their natural habitat. We work to give them that opportunity. Sometimes we fail, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“Helene shared his story with me.” He looked briefly at the other wall. “The one about the elephant, too.”
Art came to stand beside him. “That one really hurt her. She wanted so badly to be part of the transition over, but we couldn’t afford to send her. I keep that photo up to remind myself that sometimes things are important enough to find the money. I should have sent her. She needed to be there, regardless of the outcome.”
Andrew pocketed his hands in his jeans. It was one thing to believe Helene and her family were good people, but quite another to witness it up close. He’d already contacted two of his old Marine buddies who were in the area and hired them to unobtrusively watch over the Franklins. In a similar fashion to how he’d felt when he’d first met Helene, he wanted to protect her parents.
Art gave Andrew a pat on the shoulder. “Ready to go see what we do here?”
Andrew nodded and followed him back out of the house.
Chapter Twelve
Scrubbing out water buckets was second nature to Helene. She found comfort in the familiar chore. Nothing in her life here had prepared her for the depth of disappointment she felt each time she thought about her uncle.
Each time she circled back to what her uncle might have done, she wondered how Andrew could look at her and not hate her. If he had informed his family about what he’d learned in Aruba, he hadn’t said anything to her. Like her, was he taking after an ostrich and hiding his head in the sand for as long as he could? Eventually they’d have to face the ugly reality of what had brought them together, but Helene was okay with delaying that day if he was.
She turned to reach for another bucket and saw Andrew leaning against a tree, watching her. She sprayed an arc of water over his head. “That’s what you get for sneaking up on me.”
He wiped his face, straightened, and started toward her. “Not sneaking, just appreciating the view. You sure you want to start a water fight with me?”
Playfully, she sprayed the grass a foot or so in front of his feet. “Since I’m the one with the water hose, yeah, maybe I do.”
He was beside her with a speed that would have scared her if she’d seen it from any other creature on the rescue. One of his hands closed over hers on the nozzle of the hose. His other hand swept behind her and pulled her forward and flush against him. “What do you say now?”
Heat seared through her, and she dropped the hose to the ground. “I surrender?” she joked.
He kissed her as if every moment they’d been apart had been as hard on him as it had been on her. She threw her arms around his neck and gave herself o
ver to the way he made her feel. The kiss went on and on but stayed controlled. Not even the wild hunger he lit in her was enough to rip off her clothing or his if there was a chance they were on camera.
He eventually raised his head and tucked her beneath his chin. “I needed that.”
“Me, too,” she confessed against his chest. They stood there, simply breathing each other in for a few minutes. Eventually Helene cringed and said, “About my parents earlier . . .”
He looked down at her. “Don’t apologize for them. They’re wonderful. Your father gave me a tour of the property. It’s quite impressive. I was expecting to see small enclosures, but the southern area is more like an African savanna.”
“That’s how the rescue got its name. My parents believe that every wild animal craves to be free again, so they give each of them as much as it can handle.”
“Your father showed me the welcome center they’re building. He said his dream is to run educational programs and open the entire rescue to the public.”
“That’s been his dream for a long time, but all of that takes money. He’s been dabbling in social media to bring awareness to the rescue, though, and it has been working. My mother said they’ve even brought in some interns from the University of South Florida who believe in the rescue’s mission. They’ve implemented some of their ideas and are making money from videos they’ve put on the Internet. Not sure how it all works, but they say they’re gaining a huge following.” She sighed. “You were right about voids filling in. They’re happy I’m back, but they don’t need me.” He stepped back and pocketed his hands. Clearly he was thinking something and keeping it to himself. She met his eyes. “Say it.”
He looked back at her wordlessly.
She threw a hand up in the air. “You probably agree with my mother. I shouldn’t see this as a bad thing. It’s an opportunity. I don’t have to stay here. I can go anywhere. Do anything. I’m free.”
He held his silence.
Helene began to pace in front of him. “It should be exciting, shouldn’t it? Well, it’s not. It’s terrifying. I tried leaving, and look how that turned out. Life makes sense to me here. What we do makes sense. I’m trying, but I can’t begin to understand what we learned in Aruba. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about any of it. Angry? Guilty? Sad for everyone involved?” She swallowed hard, stopped, and met his eyes again. “I keep flipping back and forth between being grateful to have this time with you and guilty that my family had anything to do with hurting yours.”