Page 57 of Beehives and Broken Heroes

“For the love,” came Jo’s voice from the living room.

Allie hiccupped over a laugh, cried a little more, then laughed again. Then she stopped crying altogether.

“It’s okay, my love.” Clara wiped Allie’s tears and breathed deep to calm herself. “Millie’s just a mean, ol’ hag. Your father was a wonderful man.”

Allie nodded. Millie was a mean, old hag.

“Now, I don’t know what happened with Brandon—” Clara wiped at her own tears. “—and I don’t know why he’d lie, but I’d bet apples to oranges that man would never cheat on you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. It’s the same way Cash looks at Jo. The same way your father looked at me.”

A lump formed in her throat—she’d wanted that, desperately, but . . . “He lied to me.”

“And when you confronted him, what did he say?”

Allie wanted to say that he’d refused to tell her the truth, which was true, but it wasn’t all of it. She breathed out. “He said he couldn’t tell me because of his work.”

“In the military?” Clara guessed.

Allie cringed. “He’s retired!”

“Aside from this, has he ever given you reason to doubt him before?” Clara asked. “Because from what I’ve seen, he’s been reliable, and kind, and trustworthy.”

Argh! That was all true. This had been his one offense. A nasty offense—he knew she had trust issues about lying and cheating.

Clara rubbed Allie’s arms. “If he really can’t tell you because of something to do with the military, wouldn’t you rather give him the benefit of the doubt than lose him altogether now?”

Allie thought of the last three days without him. Of the anger, the sadness, and the overwhelming sense of loss. In all truthfulness, she’d been hanging on to her anger because she’d thought her dad was a liar—and he’d always been her hero. The pain she felt over Millie’s story had almost been worse than his actual death, because it’d been the death of the reputation of someone she’d believed to be the best of men.

It was so easy to get mad at Brandon when she found out he’d lied to her, because she thought she should’ve known better, and because she considered him so like her dad, but with the qualities in him she’d loved—not the ones that Millie had made up and Allie had believed.

None of this, however, changed the fact that Brandon had lied to her . . . but suddenly, weighing his character and kind nature against what she’d thought he’d done—that he’d cheated on her—made her reaction seem wildly out of proportion. After all her time trying to control her emotions and be stronger, she’d slipped right back into her old self—like she always did. She just felt things so deeply, it made it hard to think outside the swimming pool of emotions she was often drowning in.

And on top of all that, she knew that military men played by different rules when it came to secrets. She didn’t think Brandon would have kept this from her if he could tell her. When he’d said he was trying to protect her, that had to have been what he was talking about. Nothing else made sense.

Now, all that mattered was whether or not she believed him. And heaven and Brandon forgive her, she did. She believed him from the very foundation of her soul. Not that she’d be okay with him continuing to lie to her about things, but there had to be some give in there somewhere.

He’d said he was trying to protect her. But from what?

There was only one way to find out. She marched to her door and flung it open. “Jo, I need some backup. Are you free for the next couple of hours?” She wouldn’t drag her into the conversation with Brandon, but having Jo with her would help her remember to keep her cool. She was trying to be more like her, after all.

Jo shrugged a shoulder. “Sure.”

“Excellent. Let’s go.” Allie marched for the door.

Jo jumped up. “Allie, you’re in your pajamas.”

Allie glanced down. Oh, right. She should change.

Clara stepped into the living room. “Also, you’re a little mangy. I hope you’re not thinking of going to win my future son-in-law back looking like you were on the wrong end of a catfight.”

“Mama!” Jo snapped.

Mangy. Ouch. Allie sniffed herself. Yuck. “It’s okay; Mama’s right. I smell something awful. Give me a half hour to get ready, and then we can go.”

“Make it an hour,” Clara said.

Jo threw her hands up in indignation.

Allie didn’t care. She had bigger fish to fry. Like getting her man back.

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