Page 80 of Chasing Shelter

He barked out a laugh. “Arden told me I was being overbearing.”

“Have I told you lately that Iloveyour fiancée?” I asked.

Linc grinned. “She’s pregnant.”

I stilled, my hands wrapping around the porch railing and holding on tight. “What?” I whispered.

“Twins. We wanted to tell everyone tonight.”

My hands released the beam, and I flew at my brother.

He laughed as he caught me and swung me around. “Happy news?”

“The happiest,” I croaked, tears filling my eyes.

“Hey,” Linc said as he set me down. “No tears.”

“They’re happy tears.” I sniffed. “I just—you guys deserve this. Every ounce of this happiness.”

“They’re gonna be so damn lucky to have you as an aunt,” Linc whispered.

“Gonna be even luckier to have you as a dad.”

Linc gripped my shoulders and held on. “Gonna give them everything we never had. Love they never question. Fun and chaos. Color. The knowledge that they’re accepted for whoever they are.”

Each statement was a beautiful blow—a knife slicing to the core with joy as its blade. I didn’t know how I could hold the two extremes, but somehow, I did. “I know you will.”

And I did. I just hoped I could find the same for myself.

23

TRACE

I staredup at the station for a long moment. It wasn’t the first time I hadn’t wanted to go inside. There’d been more than once where I’d faced a case that cut. Important ones, but they hurt like hell to work.

This wasn’t that.Thiswas me not wanting to face what going inside would bring up. The ugly stew of memories. No, more than memories. Demons.

Ellie’s face flashed in my mind. Her voice rang in my ears. Her offer to come with me wrapped around me.

It was such a simple thing—almostchildlikein its simplicity—extending a hand so I wouldn’t be alone.

But I was used to being alone. I was basically alone until I was twelve. When I went to the Colsons’, I’d been anything but with all the people filling the space. Yet I’d kept to myself. Dealt with my traumas and fears alone. Even after I married Leah, we hadn’t truly let each other in. So, when that ended, it had almost been a relief to be alone again, caring for my daughter on my own.

But there was something about Ellie. Shemade me wonder what it would feel like to have someone—not someone to complete me, but someone to lean on, someone who would be there when I needed it, not to fix things but to be in them with me.

I switched off the engine and stared at the building for a moment longer. I kept the image of Ellie in my mind and clung to the memory of bergamot and rose as I opened the door and slid out of my SUV. I hadn’t bothered with my uniform, badge, or gun. They weren’t needed for what lay ahead.

Opening the door, I stepped inside. A deputy who’d only been with us a handful of months greeted me, an uneasy smile on his face. “Sheriff.”

He knew. He knew the man in one of those cells was my father. No…my DNA donor.

“Martin,” I greeted, not giving any sign that the situation had gotten to me. I was good at that.

Without another word, I headed for the bullpen. It wasn’t as full as it usually was on weekdays. Sunday evenings were usually slow all around. Not typically party nights but rather a day for tourist turnover. We got the occasional accident or drunk-driving arrest, but that was about it.

The handful of voices quieted as I entered the room. Damn, that felt like a gut punch. I didn’t give any sign of how it affected me. Instead, I moved straight to Gabriel’s office. He saw me through the open door and motioned me in, even though he had a phone pressed to his ear.

Stepping inside, I shut the door and lowered myself to one of the chairs opposite his desk. It gave the bullpen my back, and that was a good thing. I wouldn’t have to watch every microexpression my face made.

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