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Mom sighed and held up one hand to hold off more protests.
“We only stayed away because you didn’t seem to need us. You did so well on your own. You would invite us occasionally, but it never sounded like your heart was in it. It sounded like you were inviting us because that was what was expected, and you’d rather be working or living your life. So we stayed back and waited. We waited for you to come to us, for you to need something.”
“I needed you, Mom.”
“And you’ve had me. I’ve never been more than a phone call away. You knew that. We talk all the time. And I knew that when you went so long without letting us see you, something was wrong. Something serious.” Mom’s look turned stern. “And don’t tell me this wasn’t serious.” She motioned to Lauren’s face.
Lauren lowered her face and looked at the floor while she found the right words.
“I never doubted that you were there. And it wasn’t that I didn’t want help. But I didn’t want to worry you. It’s felt like you never have time to visit me. That you had no interest in coming down here, so I did my best to not need you. To not need anyone really.” She gave Mom a wry smile as she looked up and met her gaze. “I failed at that one, but I think I did manage to find a pretty great family here. It doesn’t replace my first one but it’s great, for me at least, in different ways.”
“It looks like you have, baby. Now show me this house,” Mom said pushing herself to her feet.
Chapter Forty-One
“You want to drive down to the clubhouse or walk?” Cypher asked Lauren’s father once they’d stepped off the porch.
“The clubhouse was the big building inside the gate?”
“That’s it.”
“Let’s walk. It’s not that far and I need to stretch my legs after the trip down.”
“How long did it take?” Cypher asked as he turned up the road, Thomas beside him.
“Six hours. We had a layover in Charlotte for almost two hours.”
“That’s a pain, but at least it’s long enough you could get from one gate to another, even if they moved it halfway through.”
“True.” Thomas took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “How much danger is the stuff your club is mixed up in going to bring my daughter?”
Cypher stared up the road for a moment before answering.
“I wish I could say. I wish I could say that what happened to her this time wasn’t because of us. I can tell you it wasn’t because she and I are seeing each other. It’s because she was the best councilor I could find for a traumatized teenager. It could have been any teenager, any patient of hers that brought this to her door.”
“Are you saying it wasn’t your club?” Thomas asked.
Cypher shook his head.
“No. I know it was. I’m just saying it didn’t come the way you might think. It came in her professional capacity. I’m just glad we were seeing each other. That I missed her before she’d been missing an hour and that I’d insisted on putting cameras outside her office, for her safety.” He met her father’s gaze. “Those, and that I’ve got a damn good crew here, are the only reasons we got her back when we did, before they hurt her worse.”
“Worse? What were they after?”
Cypher sighed. He knew he shouldn’t, but he knew this man, at least by reputation. He knew the man had the security clearance and there were some things it might be nice to have someone with official status know about.
“Come on. Let’s go into my office and I’ll show you what I’ve got.”
“Your president won’t have a problem with that?”
“Only if you’re a threat to the safety of anyone here.” Cypher met Thomas’s gaze for several seconds. “But I know you aren’t. Anything threatened anyone here puts your daughter in the line of fire, and you don’t want that.”
“No,” Thomas sounded resigned. “I don’t.” He shook his head. “You know, I thought as the only girl with three brothers she’d be the princess, pampered and taken care of. But damned if she didn’t turn out just as tough and independent as any of the boys if not more so.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t have any children, at least not yet. But from what I’ve seen of my nieces and nephews, you don’t have a lot of influence on basic personalities. Some are laid back, some are driven. And even the ones that look laid back often have specific things they’re passionate, and can be more driven than anyone else, about.” Cypher shrugged. He’d know more about kids soon, but he wouldn’t tell Mr. Callahan that yet. Not until Lauren was ready to share.
“Are children something you want? Something you’d at least consider? Colleen is eager for grandbabies.”
Something in Lauren’s father’s voice told Cypher that his wife wasn’t the only one eager for babies, though Cypher thought that at least one of her brothers already had kids. Then again, maybe what they really wanted was to see Lauren happy, and they thought children was what was missing in her life.
