“I remember,” Elissa said as she glanced at her mother.
Her mother shrugged. “You don’t have to come stay if you don’t want to. I just thought while you were adjusting…”
“It would be great, Mom,” Elissa assured her. “Really. Thank you. I didn’t know how I was going to cope with one arm in a cast and the pain and everything.”
“Good.”
Zoe shifted so she could lean against her mother’s unbroken arm. “Are you better, Mommy?”
“I will be. What about you? That man…” Elissa wasn’t sure what to say about Neil. “He won’t be back to bother us again.”
Zoe looked up at her. “It’s okay, Mommy. I know he’s not my daddy.”
Elissa held in a groan. How was she supposed to explain the complexities of her and Zoe’s relationship to Neil?
“Actually, honey,” she started, then stopped. There weren’t any words, she thought.
Zoe smiled at her. “That bad man isn’t my daddy because he doesn’t love me. Loving a little girl is what makes a daddy. Walker’s my daddy now.”
Elissa glanced at her mother, who raised her eyebrows. All yours, she mouthed.
If the pain hadn’t been so bad, Elissa might have found the situation funny. Instead she felt herself wanting to cry.
“Zoe, Walker is a really good man,” Elissa said. “He’s—”
“My daddy,” her daughter said firmly. “I know he is. He told me and daddies don’t lie.”
THE APARTMENT BUILDING was in the University district, typical for the area. The fall quarter would be starting in a few days and already students’ cars lined the street.
Walker parked behind a beat-up truck and set his alarm before walking to the third floor of the building and knocking on the door marked 16.
The second the woman opened the door, he knew she was the one. He’d nearly forgotten that night in Kabul when Ben had gotten drunk and talked about Ashley’s hair being the color of a sunset. But now, staring at the auburn-colored strands, he remembered.
“Ashley?” he asked, wanting to hope, but not there yet.
“Yes,” she said, drawing out the word. “Do I know you?”
“I’m a friend of Ben’s.” He held out the picture he always carried. “Did you know him?”
“Ben?” She smiled and took the picture. “Sure. Wow, I haven’t talked to him in a while. Almost, what, a year? Sorry, I’m a little brain-dead. I was in the library all night. I’m working on a final draft of my dissertation, which is a mess. But yeah, I know him.”
Walker felt his pulse increase. “You went out, right?”
Ashley’s smile widened. “A few times. He was great. A lot of fun. He went into the Marines. We wrote a few times, but then we kind of stopped.”
They’d stopped? Because…“You weren’t in love with him?”
“What?” She took a step back. “No. I mean I liked him, but nothing really happened between us. I don’t even remember if we kissed. Why are you asking me this? Has Ben been saying stuff about me?”
Walker felt the heaviness of defeat rest on his shoulders. He’d tried so damn hard, only to fail right at the end.
“Ben thought you were great,” he said quietly. “He told me you were one in a million.”
“Yeah. Where is he now?”
“He didn’t make it back. He died a few months ago.”
“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely, but without any pain. “You were a friend of his?”
Walker nodded. “I was looking for his family.”
“Oh, right. I don’t know anything about them. He never said anything. I’m sorry. I wish I could help.”
“You have helped,” he told her. “Thanks for your time.”
He turned and walked down the stairs. He was done. He’d found Ben’s Ashley and he’d still come away with nothing.
ELISSA HAD TO WAIT UNTIL almost nine to see Walker. He finally walked into her hospital room shortly before the end of visiting hours.
She’d just been given another shot for the pain, so the edges of her day were starting to blur. She’d talked to Zoe before her daughter had gone to bed, then had chatted with her mother. Leslie had promised several days of rest punctuated only by large amounts of her favorite foods.
Despite the broken arm and the bruises, Elissa felt cared for and safe for the first time in a long time. The only tiny cloud on the horizon had been Walker’s absence, and now he was here. He looked tired and mussed, but she could live with that.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said as he approached her and took her uninjured hand. “I had some things to do. How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
What to say to this man? How could she thank him for all he’d done for her?
“You saved our lives,” she told him. “Thank you doesn’t come close.”
“It’s enough.”
She thought about what he’d said to Zoe. Had her daughter misunderstood?
He released her, pulled a worn envelope from his pocket and turned it over in his hands. “I found her.”
With her brain fuzzy, it took her a second to figure out what he meant. “Ashley? You found Ben’s Ashley.”
He nodded.
The fact that he still had the letter made her chest tighten. “What happened?”