Page 88 of Son of a Preacher Man

“Protect me from what?”

“From me.” Ashamed, Kodiak lowered his gaze. “See, there was a lot of fucked-up shit going on in my head.”

“Seth, you’ve got to know it wasn’t your fault.” Reaching for him, Linnea palmed his cheek.

“We can’t blame it all on Daddy, little one.” He turned away from her touch, staring into the void of the night sky. “I was angry with myself for not claiming you as soon as I found you. I regretted that I didn’t demand they give me leave to be with you on your birthday, marry you in person, and fuck a baby into you right then. I was going to take you back to Alaska with me. Build us a house there. We would have never known then.”

I regretted the one night I had you, I didn’t take what I believed to be mine.

But I remember the way you taste.

And, fuck, I’m your brother. I shouldn’t know that.

“But we do know.”

“But my heart didn’t care, Linnea. I struggled with it for a very long time.” Shaking his head, Kodiak still couldn’t look at her. “After what I did, how could you want me to remain in your life as your brother?”

“Because I love you,” she simply said, turning his chin toward her.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“If the DNA test had gone the other way, what would you have done?” Not that it mattered, but he’d always wondered.

Linnea wet her lips, then softly cleared her throat. “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

The answer didn’t surprise him. It’s what she’d been taught, after all.

“I wouldn’t have wanted it that way.”

“I know.” She kissed his cheek. “I understand more than you think I do.”

Maybe she did.

“I’m okay now, little sister.” And he was. “It took a while, but eventually my heart caught up to my head.”

“I know that, too, big brother.” Twining her arms around his, she laid her head on his shoulder. “You found your person.”

Kodiak smiled. That he did.

Voices carried on the gentle August breeze, Jeremy’s rising above the rest.

“If there is found in our midst, a man or a woman, who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord, our God…”

“Have they always been this obnoxiously loud?”

With a snicker, Kodiak shrugged. “I think he means for us to hear.”

“…we must bring out that man or that woman who has transgressed, done this evil thing…”

“Well, I’m not interested in hearing it.” Grabbing his hand, Linnea stood. “Let’s go back in.”

“…we must cast stones upon them, purge the evil from our midst.”

He followed her to the door.

Crazy motherfucker.

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