The Soldier's Surprise Family. Jolene Navarro

kids won’t be alone. We can all lend a hand.”

      Without even knowing what had happened, she stepped up and offered her service. He hated the thought of her reaction to the fact he had a son he didn’t know existed.

      Asking for help went against everything he’d ever taught himself. But if he and these poor kids were going to have a chance at surviving this ordeal, that was going to have to change.

      A dry throat was hard to talk around. He swallowed and managed a simple “Thank you.”

      Sharon smiled. “I have given you some shocking information, Officer Kincaid. In the folders you’ll find my number if you need to reach me. You’ll be appointed a new caseworker.” She smiled at Anjelica. “Thanks for helping.”

      “It’s the least I can do.” She looked at Garrett, her wide smile tighter than usual. The new coldness burned in her usually warm eyes.

      Gathering her bag, Sharon turned away from them. She stopped at the last step. “You’ll make a big difference in their lives. You’re doing the right thing, Officer Kincaid.”

      Then why did it feel like he was making the worst mistake in his life? He turned to Anjelica. “I have to go to the apartment and see what I can do to make it kid ready.”

      Nodding, she followed him off the porch. “You’re going to need stuff for a baby. Crib, changing table, bottles, car seat, probably clothes and shoes for both of them.”

      The lifeline that tethered him to Earth disappeared. It was as if he was floating away from everything he knew and had no way to get back. How was he going to make this work? Halfway up the steps, he realized Anjelica was still following him. He raised an eyebrow when he turned to look at her. “What are you doing?”

      “I’m going with you. We’ll need to make a list. I probably have most of what you need.”

      “I appreciate the offer, but you were heading into town. You don’t need to change your plans for me.”

      She tilted her chin and looked him straight in the eye. “I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for those two little ones...” Lips pulled tight, she closed her eyes for a moment. “If they came to find you on a Saturday, it’s an emergency situation. With me, kids always come first.” Her normally open expression had a bit of steel in it as she narrowed her gaze.

      Garrett sighed. “I have no doubt about that.”

      “I have a grandmother, a mother, sisters and cousins that will help.”

      He couldn’t imagine that kind of large family. Of course, this morning he couldn’t imagine being a father, either. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any other options. Innocents couldn’t be allowed to suffer because of his mistakes.

      “Besides, you forgot these.” She held up the two folders. Folders that he was sure told an ugly story.

      He had to make this right. As much as he wanted to keep his distance from Little Miss Sunshine, he had a feeling he needed her more than he’d ever wanted, or needed, another person. He glanced behind her, scanning the fanciful farm. Especially a delicate female who seemed to live in another world altogether.

      * * *

      Anjelica kept her gaze hard and firm as she looked back up at Garrett. He sighed and turned his back to her, his hand resting on the wood rail. The muscles in his neck coiled. What kind of man didn’t know he had a family?

      Her cousin Yolanda said good looks spoiled a man. She would have argued that Garrett Kincaid was a solid man, a bit standoffish and a loner, but good. Now she wasn’t so sure.

      His jaw flexed as he unlocked the door. She gritted her teeth. How could men be so...so careless?

      They entered the apartment in silence. He had a son and a baby daughter he didn’t know about. She pulled her gaze away from his jawline and studied her hands. How could she have mistaken him as a man of honor?

      Anjelica, judging Officer Kincaid won’t solve any of the problems. You don’t know the whole story. She knew when it came to children she had to be careful of filtering thoughts through a haze of resentment.

      Holding her daughter happened only in dreams. Esperanza would have been five next month. Tomorrow’s date was burned into her brain, the day she’d lost her precious baby girl. During this time, between Esperanza’s death and due date, her emotions were always closer to the surface. A twist of the silver charms on her wrist helped her calm the negative thoughts.

      Garrett moved to the kitchen counter that ran against the back wall. Redirecting her thoughts, she focused on him as he put the gun in a safe.

      At the counter, he turned and leaned, arms crossed. His uniform stretched over broad shoulders. “Okay, enough of the silent treatment. You’re bound to have questions.”

      “It’s really none of my business.” She scanned the bare room. Did he dismiss the dangers of his job the way Steve had waved off her worries of his joining the Marines? “Well, other than you’re moving two children into my very small garage apartment. There’s no real kitchen. And you have a very dangerous job.”

      The urge to scowl at him needed to be tempered. Her family lived by the rule of speaking your mind if it was helpful, kind and true. She wasn’t doing a good job of it. There was always something helpful and encouraging to say, and if she tried hard enough, the right words would find their way to her lips. “What you’re doing is a good thing. You stepping up and taking the kids, even if it is a little late.” She bit her lip. That did not count as kind, it wasn’t helpful and it might not be true. Her thoughts were going crazy.

      Garrett stood across the room and stared at her, a tight, closed look on his hard face. “Do you have any questions or just observations?”

      “Sorry.” Okay, she needed to come straight out and ask. “You have a young son and baby daughter that you didn’t know about? How does that happen?”

      Leaning back against the counter again, his masculine knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge. “I’m not sure. Right now I’m feeling a bit blindsided.” With his head down, he seemed to be studying his boots. “It seems the boy’s mine. The girl has another father.” He raised his head and looked her in the eye. “There’s no excuse for abandoning a child, but I...I left town hoping to leave all my ex-wife’s drama behind. I didn’t know I was leaving behind a son to deal with the mess.”

      She didn’t understand the blow to her emotions from hearing he had been married. Why would that even bother her?

      With a heavy sigh, he stalked to the table and sat in one of the two chairs. Playing with the empty saltshaker, he never looked up. Anjelica moved to the other chair and waited.

      “I met Viviana in the fifth grade. She was my best friend. By the time our freshman year came around, I was in love. I spent those four years rescuing her. When I left for Afghanistan, we stayed in touch. According to her letters, she’d made better choices and gotten out of her father’s house. He was not a nice man.” He looked up briefly, but with a sigh he lowered his head again.

      “She said she was waiting for me to return home. We met at the airport and I asked her to marry me right there.” His focus moved from the simple saltshaker to the balcony door. “Looking back, I realize I had made her into a woman of my dreams. I imagined us with a home and family that even included a dog. While reading her letters, I created a life in my head that wasn’t real.”

      Wrapping her hands over her upper arms, she tried to stave off the cold that crept into her veins. All of the letters Steve wrote her during his tour in the Middle East had been about home, too. He talked about the long hours of doing nothing. Telling her how he reread her letters over and over to get a piece of normal. He would draw pictures of the farm and the projects he planned to start when he got home. There were pages where he wrote of their daughter’s future and all the kids they would raise. Her heart twisted. Don’t go there, Anjelica.

      She packed thoughts of her husband