Page 52 of Atone in Darkness
Chase drew a deep breath. “I didn’t have a father at all. Gwen and I didn’t learn until I was almost eighteen that he had died without knowing Mom was pregnant with me. By all reports he was a good man, but knowing that doesn’t erase all those years of growing up without him. Mom never got over loving him, and she died before we learnedthe truth about Dad. She never knew that it wasn’t that he didn’t want to come back to her, but that he couldn’t.”
Marisol put the pieces together. “I take it he was like you.”
“Yeah, and his time ran out, just like mine is doing.”
She thought about what he was saying and what it meant. “Let me ask you one thing, Chase, and I want an honest answer.”
“Anything.”
“Say your mom had known thetruth about your father and that she loved him as much as you say she did. Don’t you think she would’ve wanted to spend all the time with him she could, no matter how long that turned out to be? That she would have relished every minute they shared? That those moments would be all the more precious because they knew going in that it wouldn’t last forever?”
Before he could answer, the sound ofsomeone clapping rang out across the hillside. Then Edgar called out, “This is all so touching. It’s like listening to our very own soap opera. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to see how it all turns out. Right now, I need you both to come out from behind those rocks with your hands up.”
Chase responded by shoving Marisol to the ground and then following her down. She landed hard, but she wasgladhe had when a bullet hit the boulder just in front of where they’d been standing. Chips flew through the air, one of which hit Chase’s cheek and drew blood.
He ignored the small wound as he leaned in close to talk to her. He pointed back in the direction the two of them had come from the night before. “Edgar and his friends are lined up along the hillside in that direction. I’ll lay downcovering fire while you take the other rifle and make your way down to the creek and away from here.”
No way she was leaving him behind. “How do you know I won’t be walking right into a trap?”
“I can hear them. If I hadn’t been stupid enough to get caught up in telling you my life story, I would’ve noticed them before they had a chance to corner us here.”
She accepted the rifle when he shovedit at her but made no effort to leave. “The fault is just as much mine. I won’t leave you here to face them alone.”
“Our ammunition is limited. There’s no telling how long we can hold them off. We both know I stand a better chance of surviving if they manage to overrun our position.”
She leaned in for a quick kiss. “Then we die together, Chase.”
He glared at her. “God save me from stubbornwomen.”
“You know you love me just the way I am.”
Then he surprised her by kissing her again, this time hard and fast. “Yeah, I do, so don’t get yourself killed. I’ve got plans for us.”
Then he went into that amazing warrior mode of his and turned to face their enemy.
