Page 21 of Desert Wind

“Did you know the family?” asked Jenna quietly.

“No. No, ma’am,” he said, shaking his head. “As I mentioned, this land was cleared of homes that looked just like that, and then all of these were built. That one is definitely a mystery, but I guess we’re stuck with it a while longer.”

“Maybe,” nodded Nash. “Maybe not.”

The man spoke to them for a few more minutes and then waved as they left the neighborhood behind them. Jenna didn’tsay a word the entire drive back to the resort. Too late to go out to dinner, they used the hotel restaurant once again, eating in relative quiet.

“Jenna, are you okay?” asked Nash, reaching for her hand. This time, she linked her fingers with his and nodded. Nash couldn’t believe it.

“I’m getting there. Are my real parents still alive?” she asked.

“Your mother is. Her name is Claudia St. Martine,” said Antoine.

“Can I meet her? Can I see her?” she asked.

“Let us make sure that she’s not the one placing you in danger, okay?” said Nash. “If she checks out and everything is good, we’ll make sure that you two are able to meet up.”

“Good. Because I have a few things I’d like to get off my chest.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

With Jenna now fully aware of Luc and Antoine’s presence, the brothers took the spare bedroom while Nash slept on the sofa bed. Jenna went to bed early, exhausted from her day of discovery.

“This is just crazy,” said Nash, leaning his head against the back of the sofa, staring at the ceiling. “I knew her for four years and never once suspected anything was wrong. I never drove by that house, that shack. I never asked about her folks, her family. And yet I can recall every damn time she’d ask me how my parents were doing.”

“We’re all made different, Nash. You can’t beat yourself up over something you did or didn’t do as a kid. Did you meet her folks?” asked Antoine.

“No. Not really, anyway. I’d see them at school functions, but looking back, it always seemed as if they were in a hurry to leave. She was such a happy girl. Always smiling, as if she had no worries in the world. It’s what made me love her almost immediately. Yet when I see that house, that does not strike me as a home that was a happy place.

“I have no idea if the girls were treated well, fed well, or anything else. Jenna just always seemed normal to me.”

“Maybe they were decent people,” said Luc. “We can’t judge them for the situation. I suspect that the Ciprianis were the ones paying them to take very good care of her.”

“I know. I just wonder what other shit I missed in high school,” he frowned. Luc laughed, shaking his head.

“Brother, you were a kid yourself. You can’t beat yourself up over that. Hell, I missed shit with my own siblings in high school! Even afterwards, when we were all serving, I didn’t realize how bad Baptiste and Rafe had become. They burned out fast and were struggling.”

“I hate to hear that,” frowned Nash. “I knew of your family. Everyone did. The Robicheaux Rangers, famous brothers who couldn’t be stopped. Then, of course, I’d hear about what Nine, Ghost, and Ian had done, all of the men with you. As a Marine, Rory Baine was the god we all spoke of.”

The men chuckled, nodding at him.

“Listen, we might have been Robicheaux Rangers, but don’t think we didn’t hear about all the others as well. Nine, Wilson, hell…”

“Trak!” they all said in unison, laughing.

“I thought that dude was just smoke and mirrors until the first time I met him,” said Antoine. “He scared the living hell out of me.”

“I think that’s his mission in life. Scare everyone so they stay away from him,” said Nash.

“We heard about all of you, too,” said Luc softly. Nash looked up at him and swallowed. “You take fireside stories with a grain of salt, but we listened because we’d seen a few things. I personally was a witness to something Flip did once upon a time.”

“I guess we’ve all got our stories, don’t we?” said Nash.

“How did you all end up together?” asked Luc.

“I think once we figured out there were more of us out there, we just sort of gravitated to one another. It was probably our ability to connect with one another. You could feel whensomeone who was like you was around you. With me, Flip’s wife, Nat, was a fire starter. I could feel that she was out there. Not romantically, just that gut feeling that someone is there for you.

“When I met Hawke and David, I knew immediately that they were like me in some way. In the end, we were being chased, hunted, and tracked, and figured it was better if we stayed together.

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