Page 10 of Shelter for Shay (Broken Heroes Mended Souls #2)

MOOSE – LAKE GEORGE, NEW YORK

T he house had gone still in that eerie, reverent way that only happened when someone was close to crossing a line you couldn’t walk back from.

The nurse had said it gently, but it still hit like a hammer: “It won’t be long now.”

That was a couple of hours ago, and it felt like years.

Now, the woman who once filled every room with her voice and will was lying small and quiet in the upstairs bedroom, her breaths shallow and slow, her skin as pale as the sheets she rested on. And Shay… Shay was unraveling by the hour.

Moose stood before the living room fireplace. The flames inside popped quietly, casting shifting shadows across the hardwood floor. He was used to silence. He’d lived inside it more than he hadn’t. But this silence felt different.

This was the sound of goodbye.

Part of him felt like he didn’t belong in this house. As if he were an interloper in a world he’d been watching from the sidelines for his entire life. But his heart told him something different and that made him dig his heels into the wood floor, grounding himself—to something.

For years, all he had was the Navy, his team, and his chickens. It was all he’d thought he’d needed. All he’d believed he wanted.

He wasn’t so sure anymore.

Behind him, Shay moved through the kitchen with restless energy. She was trying to keep her hands busy—he could see it in how she’d pulled open drawers, rearranged things that didn’t need rearranging. She’d done that for a good twenty minutes before joining him in the family room.

She poured two glasses of whiskey with a trembling hand, not because of the drink—but because her entire foundation was cracking beneath her.

He knew what that looked like and he wanted to hold her up with all his might. To be the glue that held it all together. But he wasn’t sure how to do that. Or how to be the kind of person she needed.

She crossed the room and handed him the glass without a word, then lowered herself onto the couch, curling one leg under the other like she needed to hold herself together somehow.

He sat beside her, close but not touching. A million thoughts and memories filled his mind. His childhood. His parents. His own suffering. And it all brought him right to this one spot. This one place in time.

“She’s slipping away right in front of me,” Shay said after a moment, staring into the fire like she was trying to see the future in its flickering light.

“The nurse unplugged all the machines. All my mom has now are pain meds to keep her comfortable. The nurse said we should prepare for tonight. I asked her what that means, and she said, ‘just be here.’” Her voice cracked at the end, and Moose tightened his grip around the glass.

“You are,” he said. “You’ve been here every step.” The words felt hollow as they left his lips.

She nodded, swallowing hard. “It doesn’t feel like enough.

When I left her earlier, I kissed her forehead, like I do every time I leave her room, and she didn’t even flinch.

Not a flicker of her eyes. Nothing. It’s like she’s already gone and we’re just waiting for her lungs to stop taking in oxygen and her heart to beat for the last time. ”

“I wish I had words that could ease your pain.”

She took his hand and squeezed. “Being here with me helps. I honestly can’t imagine doing this with just the nurse.”

They sat in silence for a long moment. The firelight danced across her face, painting gold along the arch of her cheekbone, the slope of her nose.

Her eyes were wet, but she didn’t let the tears fall.

She was strong, like her mother. He’d sensed that the moment they’d met, and he admired her love and dedication.

That didn’t come from obligation. That came from the heart. From the soul.

“She always told me I was her best work,” Shay whispered, voice tight. “I think I became her life project after my dad abandoned us.”

“Her letters were always about you and some of the kids at school, though never mentioning names,” he said. “She never talked much about your dad, but I once asked.”

Shay caught his gaze. “You asked her about my father?”

He nodded. “It was about the time she started writing to me about you. She’d told me about how you’d gone to college and were dating this guy she didn’t like.”

Shay rolled her eyes. “That would’ve been Tim. She hated him and my mom doesn’t hate anyone.”

“She didn’t quite put it that way, but she mentioned that he reminded her of your dad. So when I wrote her back, because it was during a long deployment and I was feeling… chatty… I asked about him. Asked what happened. Why she never remarried.”

“What did she say?” Shay shifted, tilting her head and tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Because my mom won’t even discuss my father with me.

She told me he snuck out in the middle of the night.

Not even a goodbye. That he disappeared, never to be heard from again, except when the divorce papers showed up.

Whenever I push, she always tells me we’re better off without him.

That they got married because she was pregnant and sadly, he never wanted to be a father. ”

“I’m sorry.” He reached out and traced her jawline with his finger.

“All she told me was that he’d left. That he didn’t want to be a husband or a father and that she never looked back.

That she went on with her life because she had you and she had no regrets.

” He dropped his hand to his lap, shook his head, and laughed.

“That’s when she started telling me that someday we should meet. ”

“My mother, the matchmaker.”

“I should show you the letters someday,” Moose said. “In every single one, she left me a subtle hint that she thought we’d be perfect together.”

“Oh, good Lord,” Shay mumbled. “She always told me about this guy but she never put a name to him, until that letter came.”

He frowned. “I’m not sure what to do with that.”

“Don’t take it personally.” She waved her hand.

“That’s my mom trying to separate her work life from me.

Maybe she felt like she could cross it with you because you were out there, somewhere, doing whatever a SEAL does.

But knowing, if she ever caught wind you were in town, she’d be all over introducing us. ”

“And here we are,” he said softly. “Have you ever tried to find your dad?”

“Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“I love my mom, and I feel like there was so much hurt and pain there that I didn’t want to push too hard.

She was always enough for me. My childhood was filled with love and joy.

I never felt like not knowing my dad was a bad thing.

But I have questions. It’s always there, sitting in the back of my mind.

So, at one point, I asked this local private investigator if she could find out anything. ”

“And?” Moose asked.

“It wasn’t a total dead end.” Shay sighed. “I have a name. Katie Donovan, the PI I hired, she found him, but he has a family and I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything with the information.”

“I can do some digging if you’d like.”

“I appreciate that, but right now, I can’t think about that,” she said. “My mom, she put everything into raising me. And now—what am I supposed to do when she’s gone?”

“What she’d want you to do,” Moose said. “You live. You remember. You carry her with you. And one day, when it’s not quite so heavy, you help someone else the way she helped us.”

Shay looked at him, gaze searching his face as if he had all the answers. “I wish I could’ve given her the one thing she wanted most from me.”

“What’s that?” Moose asked.

“To see me fall in love,” she said, blinking fast. “Get married. Have kids. All of it. While she wanted me to follow my dreams, which included travel, she also wanted to see me settle.”

“Is that something that you want?”

“I do.” She nodded. “Someday. I’d been talking about different career paths before she got real sick. My degree, oddly, is in school psychology.”

“Sounds like you started off following in your mother’s footsteps.”

“I did.” Shay sighed. “But I wanted to see the world first. My mom never got that chance. Not that she’d ever get on a plane.

She wanted so much more for me. Sometimes it bothered her that I had to come back and take care of her, but it was my choice and truthfully, I was looking at applying for regular jobs. ”

Moose’s heart tightened. He had no blood relatives that he cared this much for, but he did have a family that he chose.

Brothers who meant everything to him. Thor’s little girl was like his niece, and he loved that little cutie.

Moose was lucky. He had people. He had love.

“Your mom, she saw everything that mattered,” he said.

“She saw who you are. And that… is everything.”

Shay looked down at her glass. “You always talk like you’ve figured out all of life’s secrets. Like you’ve unlocked some door that the rest of us haven’t found yet.”

Moose let out a soft, dry laugh. “Not even close. I’m just good at sounding like I have.

The truth is, I’ve seen too much fall apart to believe in neat endings and nothing in my life has ever been…

neat. My job is filled with chaos and the kind of noise you can’t think over.

I’ve learned to carve out the quiet moments with just enough static that I don’t go crazy. ”

“You ever have anyone?” she asked softly. “A family? A serious relationship?”

He shook his head. “While many SEALs manage to have wives and kids, it’s not an easy road. The divorce rate is through the roof and to be honest, my chickens scare off most women.”

“I heard about the chickens. Strange animal to have as pets.”