Read Killing Honor for Free Online

he was home? He didn’t sound angry, just tired.
    He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I doubt Riley and Jackie agree.” His eyes followed the twins as they crawled along on the floor, for once in their lives playing quietly, until Jackie grabbed a truck from Riley’s hand and pulled it away from her. Riley stared at the truck, looked back at me, and then over at Brody. There was a beat, and then she burst into wailing tears.
    Drama queen.
    I sighed. “There goes the quiet.” 
    “Did she really just look for our reactions before she started crying?”
    I chuckled and stood up. “Guess I should feed these two. Come on, girls. Time for dinner.” I lifted them both into my arms, grunting at the weight and took my wriggling subjects into the kitchen where their highchair prisons awaited.
    Brody did seem happy to be home. But in my mind, I hadn’t expected how different he’d be. I’d thought he would be the same, I’d be the same, and we’d both be the same way we were before he’d left. But I was fast realizing what a pipe dream that was.
    ~*~*~
    I missed my husband so much that my heart ached. I tucked the girls into their cribs, giving each a kiss before laying them down. It was almost time to convert them into toddler beds, but I wasn’t ready to give up the cribs just yet.
    “Devyn?”
    I whirled around in the twin’s bedroom, my breath lost immediately. Brody was in the doorway to the twins’ bedroom, lazily leaning against the doorframe. I clenched my jaw, my eyes misting at the sight of my tough, strong Brody.
    “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He looked awkward in the doorway, as if he were unsure of what he was supposed to do there. He’d crossed his arms but it looked unnatural, uncomfortable.
    “You didn’t. I’m fine.” Misery and relief clawed their way through me at the same time. It felt like, at times, he hadn’t come back yet, that part of him still existed wherever he’d been. And then I saw him, as he was in the doorway, and I couldn’t quite come to terms that he’d ever left. It was confusing and scary.
    Brody had been quiet at dinner, mostly just watching me as I fed the girls.  He seemed lost when it came to them. It felt more than a little awkward. We used to joke around a lot, going back and forth like an episode of the Gilmore Girls.
    Maybe he didn’t know how to act with children. I’d had time to grow and learn with the twins, but he hadn’t. He’d had two years of fighting, and secret missions, and death and war. And here were representations of life, two identical ones, that came from him.
    “Mind if I watch?”
    “With the bedtime stuff?”
    He nodded.
    “Okay.”
    “They… they won’t mind?” He nodded to the girls, who were already in their cribs, but weren’t laying down yet. They were too busy watching their father. He was the novelty in the house today.
    “They won’t mind. You could say goodnight to them, too.” I turned to the girls. “Riley, Jackie. Say goodnight to Daddy.”
    Jackie was already on her feet, holding out her arms. I think that eased Brody’s hesitance. She’d been hesitant earlier, but it seemed now that Jackie knew he was staying, she was all about asking for love. Brody gently squeezed the kid, and kissed her forehead. “Nite, cutie.”
    “Nini.” Jackie singsonged.
    Brody turned to Riley, who was more cautious as usual. But she allowed a hug after only a slight hesitance.
    Riley whispered a short “nini” to him, and then Brody backed away from them and let me tuck them in. I couldn’t see Brody from where I was, but his presence filled every inch of my body. I flipped off the bedroom switch when I left, and found Brody waiting in the hallway. He had a smile on his face, a radiant, burning beam that warmed my insides just by proximity. God, how I’d missed that smile.
    Reintegrating Brody back into our lives wasn’t going to be easy. I’d talked to the base psychologist at length over what to