The Soldier's Homecoming

His eyes pierced her and she wondered if he was trying to see her thoughts.

“You’ve changed, too. You’re cautious. Reserved. And for what it’s worth, you don’t smile much, either.”

“Maybe we just don’t smile at each other.” It was out before she could think about what she was saying, and she bit her lip.

“Perhaps we should try.” He sat down again at the table. “I’m trying to look past my resentment of you for lying to me. For Emma’s sake. What did she say when you told her?”

Another gust of cold air hit them, and Shannyn brushed a piece of her hair away from her face, lowering her eyes. The thunder that had been creeping up the river rumbled closer, and the first lightning pierced the gray sky.

“I didn’t tell her.”

“You what?”

His earlier geniality evaporated. The hard edge of his voice was matched only by the thunder that boomed. The first cold droplets hit her skin, and Shannyn looked at the path of the storm. She could only see perhaps half a kilometer away; farther than that was a gray curtain of rain.

“We’ve got to get inside,” she exclaimed, thankful for the temporary diversion.

“Are you kidding?” Everyone who’d been outdoors was suddenly scrambling for shelter. The lighthouse, really a museum, was already filling up with tourists. “My truck’s parked on the street. We can make it if we run.”

Heavy drops of rain marked the path as they jogged toward his pickup. Jonas reached the vehicle first and unlocked her door before running around the hood to the driver’s side and clambering in just as the skies opened up.

For a few seconds the only sound was the drumming of rain on the roof of the truck and their heavy breathing.

Jonas rested his hands on the wheel, picking up the conversation where it had left off, much to her dismay.

“You didn’t tell her. We agreed.”

“No, you demanded. You said I could do this my way and then you ordered me about like one of your privates. Which I am not.”

His only response was the use of a very indelicate word.

Shannyn straightened her back and half turned on the seat. “I’m the mother of your child and perhaps you should remember that.”

“You’re right. How could I possibly forget something that has happened so recently.”

Embarrassment bloomed in her cheeks at the acid in his tone. He was never going to forgive her. “Look. I tried, I really did. But I just didn’t know how to tell her. How to answer the questions she’s sure to have. Can’t you understand that?”

“You had no trouble with the decision not to tell me. What have you told her about her father, anyway?”

Shannyn looked at the windshield, but saw nothing but water streaming down the glass. “I told her you didn’t know that she was born and that I didn’t know where you were.”

She felt his eyes on her, condemning.

“Now that was a bit of a lie, wasn’t it. Because you could have found me quite easily if you’d tried.”