Page 40 of Snowbound Threat

She set aside the book she hadn’t really been reading. He’d been worried about leaving her alone to go out and check the livestock. “Quiet. Did you see Gus outside?”

Pops nodded. “He’ll be right behind me.”

The dog could come and go from the mudroom door, through the laundry room, into the house via his dog door—the heavy duty, weatherproof kind he had to push open, but which didn’t let the cold in, or the heat of summer.

“Did you try to call your dad?”

Tessa followed him to the kitchen. “He’s supposed to call me when he’s being discharged so I can go get him.”

Pops glanced over before he pulled two mugs from the cupboard. She took a seat at the little kitchen table. He set a mug of coffee in front of her and sat across the table.

“He isn’t even sorry.” She touched the handle of the mug but didn’t lift it. “He’d probably say he did the right thing, and considering what he had in his safe maybe it is. But he lied to me.”

“It’s always hard when trust is broken, or you realize someone isn’t who you thought they were.”

She nodded. “This is big stakes, national security stuff. I’m not supposed to be privy to things like that. I’m a regular person in a small town. I don’t live on that…scale.”

“We’re all important.”

“But I like my life. I like that it’s small and local. It isn’t a bad thing.” She sniffed. “Caleb is an amazing person who has withstood a whole lot the past few weeks. He’s determined to do the right thing.”

They’d talked a little last night, before he went to sleep on the couch. She admired him more now than she even had before, which was a lot.

“The fact my dad is involved?” Tessa shook her head. “He isn’t who I thought. It’s like he wants to be part of this, so he can be important. Play a role in it. Maybe relive some of the glory days of being a Marine—if that’s even a thing.”

“And if he needs that?” Pops shrugged. “Might not be a bad thing to have another good person in the world fighting for what’s right.”

Tessa shook her head, but she agreed. “It’s more like…” She wasn’t sure she knew how to explain it.

“He misrepresented himself.”

She nodded. “That’s it. He told me he was one thing or lived like he was one thing. Now I find out that isn’t the truth?”

“Forgiveness is a command we’re asked to follow whether the other person is repentant or not. He’s your father, and a pastor. It’s going to have to be something you contend with the Lord about.”

She lived in his house, and under his leadership, but as an adult and not a child, it wasn’t like her father told her what to do. As long as there was love and respect between them she figured integrity looked like following the Lord, doing what He asked her to do, and giving her father the space to do the same.

She would rather be falling head over heels for Caleb, enjoying the first blush of romance without the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Or without God apparently needing to grow her character through this thing with her father, where she needed to tackle their relationship going forward before she committed to Caleb.

Tessa wanted to be swept off her feet.

The kind of romance where she could enjoy herself and forget about her cares for a while. Kind of like the joy of Christmas morning. It always followed a Christmas Eve service at church that was the result of weeks, or sometimes months, of work. Knowing that was all done meant she could enjoy Christmas day at home with her family—Pops and her dad. When all the tears, the drama, the conflict, of the past year faded and she could rest and celebrate.

She’d thought that what was happening between her and Caleb might be different. As if she could finally let go and enjoy her life, knowing God had given her the desires of her heart. The things she’d been praying for over the past…she didn’t even know how many years. Since she’d first realized what romance was, and that God had ordained it.

Thank You for bringing him back here.It felt a bit self-serving to pray for what she wanted when he had a job to do, anda case to finish.Protect us all from harm. Your will be done—not mine.She had to be content, no matter what happened.

Whether Caleb chose her or not.

Outside, Gus started barking but the sound abruptly cut off. She glanced toward the window while Pops stood, striding fast to the mudroom door. It creaked on its hinges and the door snapped shut.

Tessa heard movement in the front hall and twisted back that way.

What she saw had her scrambling out of the chair and backing up on unsteady legs before her mind even realized what she was looking at.

“You.” Her voice sounded thin and shaky inside her head, over the rushing sound in her ears.

The FBI agent, Bruce Edwards, stepped into the kitchen from the hall, a gun in his hand. Looking rumpled. Blood on his thigh, running down the outside of his pant leg. He’d tied something over it and the material looked like a T-shirt. It was soaked with blood.