Page 108 of His Forgotten Colton Fiancee
“I’m sorry I had to investigate you, and put you under suspicionfor hiding information about your sister. I had a job to do,” he said.
“Then tell me what happened to your family. Everything, West.”
* * *
This was going to be tough. Even now, as they walked upstairs to Quinn’s apartment, he could feel his chest constrict. Memory was a funny thing. Sometimes it fled when you needed most to remember.
Other times, when you tried desperately toforget, it danced in your mind.
They went upstairs to her apartment. West sat on the sofa, legs splayed, hands braced on his knees. He stared at the opposite wall. Couldn’t look at Quinn. Hell, he hadn’t talked about this in years.
Maybe it was best to start at the beginning. He took a deep breath.
“My father was a cop, one of the best on the force in the small town where I grew upin New York. Upstate, near Syracuse. His father was a cop, as well. Dad loved his job, but he came into contact with some real slime. He was on a case involving a suspect in a bombing. Alan Beam blew up a bank in a robbery, killed a security guard. Dad was the detective who made the case, arrested Alan. But the judge let Alan go free on remand—bail—because the state attorney didn’t have enough evidence.
“I was dating Gina Fontanilli, the hottest girl in school. We were ready to take our relationship to the next level.” He couldn’t help a small smile at the memory—a good one. “My mother didn’t want me going out, because she was worried about Beam being on the loose, and Dad ordered me to stay home. I sneaked out.”
“Young love,” Quinn said softly. “Any teenager would have done the same.”
“I took Gina to the movies, and then to lovers’ point... You can guess the rest.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “Got a call on my cell phone, which I ignored because Gina... Well, I was preoccupied. And then I checked messages. My dad’s partner told me to get my ass home ASAP. Something bad happened to my family.”
“Oh, West,” Quinn murmured.
He didn’t answer her, couldn’t, becauseif he stopped talking, he might never tell the story. “I came home to fire engines, flashing lights, and the house was on fire. Half of it was gone, just gone.” West drew in a deep breath, struggling with the ache in his chest. “My parents and my two sisters were dead. I’m the only survivor.”
She slid over to grip his hand. Her hand was soft, warm and reassuring. “The burns on your hand?”
“I ran to the house. The fire had spread to the front. Grabbed the doorknob to go inside, try to save them. Screaming, I remember I kept screaming. After I thought the hoarse throat was smoke inhalation. Cops told me I wouldn’t stop screaming.”
Moisture brightened her eyes as he glanced at her. “How did you survive the fire?”
West lifted his shoulders. “Firefighter pulled me out. Thenthey loaded me into an ambulance, treated me for the burn. But I didn’t want plastic surgery. The scars fed my new purpose.”
And then she looked at West, really looked at him. “Your father sounds like a wonderful man. I wish I would have known him.”
“Dad gave me love and taught me duty, honor and to work hard. Every day I try to make my father proud. Every damn day I’m with Rex, trainingwith him, on a case trying to find the bad guys, I try to emulate my father. He gave it his all, and that’s what I try to do, as well.”
Suddenly he realized the familiar, stabbing grief he’d always felt had turned into a distant ache. No longer did he feel the compulsion to dedicate all his life to the job. Life was more than work.
He had Quinn. Moved on.
“You’re a good man, West Brand.Your father would be proud of you,” Quinn said softly. “All this time, you’ve held that inside, not wanting to get close to anyone because you didn’t want to lose them.”
West nodded. Damn perceptive of Quinn. He thought about a quote he’d read once in high school, one that stuck with him at his family’s funeral.
“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not. And often times,we call a man cold when he is only sad.” West recited the quote from Longfellow.
Once he’d thought himself that man. Viewed by other K-9 officers as distant and even cold, when all this time he held secrets in his heart—a past where a killer had destroyed his entire family.
No longer. He had reconciled his past and found a new beginning.
“West, would your father want you to be happy?”
He thought about his father, could almost see him giving the thumbs-up.Go for it.
“Yeah. Dad would want me to settle down, marry.” The tightness in his chest eased a little. There would always be an empty spot in his heart and he’d always miss his family, but he was ready to live again. “Have a family and take risks. Life is about risks.”
West got down on one knee, kissed her hand.“Quinn Colton, I ask you again, will you marry me?”
