Guarding His Children

Chapter Six

The sound of the girl's scream still echoing in her mind, Brittany raced after Jason toward his girls bedroom. "Jason, let me go first." She withdrew her Glock.

He glanced over his shoulder as he slowed at the door. The color drained from his face when he saw her gun, but he moved out of the way.

Brittany put her hand on the knob and turned it. As she eased the door open, it was wrenched from her grasp. Kendyl flew into her embrace, clutching Brittany. Her small body trembled.Keeley jumped into Jason's arms

"What's wrong?" Brittany wound her arms around the child. Something inside her melted.

"I didn't know where I was," the girl mumbled against her, then leaned back, looking around. "I got up to go to the bathroom and ended up in a closet." Her eyes red from crying, she spied her dad and threw her arms around his legs

Brittany missed holding Kendyl.  If things had been different ten years ago, this could have been her child. She shook the thought from her mind, realizing it did no good to live in the past. She wasn't that eighteen-year-old teenager anymore. "Kendyl,  did anything wake you up?" Brittany asked.

The child shook her head.

"You okay, honey?" Jason smoothed her long hair away from her face.

She nodded. "I forgot we were staying somewhere else. Is this about what happened tonight at home?"

"Go to the bathroom, then we'll talk." Jason  led her to the doorway. While  Kendyl disappeared inside, he looked at Brittany. "I should have explained more to her, but she was so tired she wasn't listening earlier."

"I can sleep in there room on the floor."

"I can't have you do that. I will."

"You're paying me to be there bodyguard, Jason . Let me do my job. I've done this before." She met his look with all the determination she could muster.

"Is this a deal breaker?"

"No, because you know I'm right. I'll let you explain things to her while I do a walk-through of the house. I want to make sure everything is locked up tight and the alarm is set."

As she started to skirt him, his hand grasped her arm. "When I saw you with your gun, it hit home that you really do put your life on the line for others. What happened to the woman who wanted to be a doctor?"

"The truth is that my father wanted me to be a doctor. I didn't. I decided to prove to him he couldn't control my life anymore. When I graduated, I left Macon and didn't intend to come back."

"Did this have anything to do with the night we argued and broke up?"

"Partly. My father was never going to accept you. He'd made that plain to us. When you married Jessica, I couldn't stay here, and when I refused to go to Vanderbilt and follow in his footsteps to become a doctor, he told me to leave. That I had to make my own way. As head of the hospital, he's a man who likes to get his way. I call him every Christmas, but that's all." If it hadn't been for her boss, a strong Christian woman, she might never have even picked up the phone six years ago at Christmas. She wanted to forgive her dad, but he made it so hard. He didn't understand her being a bodyguard. She thought he never would.

"So you have no plans to see him?"

"This isn't a social visit, Jason. It's work."

The bathroom door opened, and Brittany used the distraction to walk away from Jason before she said something about still struggling with forgiving him for marrying Jessica. That had cut her to the core, much more than her nonexistent relationship with her father.

In the living room, she peered out the window at the well-lit yard. The pain in her heart shouted how much this had been a mistake. Lord, why have You brought Jason back into my life?

Tomorrow she would call Kyra and have someone replace her.