Before Sunrise Read online

  Vasquez crossed the den to stand next to his wife. She turned her back to him and clutched the phone tight. “They—um—he came in last night.”

  “Yeah, he’s right here.” Angelina looked at Liam and his heart dropped to the deck. She handed the phone to Anthony.

  “Kennedy?” Vasquez stepped away from Angelina, seemingly worried she’d grab the phone back from him. “Yeah, it’s good to be back. Everything okay?” Then he laughed, but a wave of sadness washed over his face. “Yeah, yeah it is. Can you hang on a sec?”

  Vasquez covered the mouthpiece and held the phone out to Liam. He held his hands up and shook his head. No way. When he and Kay had it out, it would be in person. Liam needed to see her eyes. Vasquez pressed his lips together and returned the phone to his ear.

  “I’m back.” Vasquez laughed nervously at something Kennedy said. “Umm…Mac thinks any blue-eyed soldier is her daddy.” He swung an accusatory glance over Liam’s way.

  “I’ll be ashore for awhile. How about you come over? I, um, there’s something I need to, so we can, um, catch up.” Vasquez nodded repeatedly. “Sure, I understand. Are you headed home? Will you be alone?” Vasquez asked. “Maybe I can bring the boys over now to play with Mac. Is that okay?”

  Liam held his breath until his chest burned.

  “They’re dying to see her, too. See you soon.”

  Listening to Vasquez end the call, Liam felt sick to his stomach. He forced a brave smile.

  “Guess my little one forgot what the definition of a secret was.”

  Vasquez shook his head. “Your wife is pretty sharp, man.”

  Liam nodded. “Yeah, but she’s not my wife anymore.”

  “Look, she’s saying she can’t come over now—something about work. But she said Phil has to work late, so we can just go over there. He won’t be home.”

  “I think Kennedy should come here.” Angelina spoke up. “Let me call her back.”

  “No. I can handle it. Seeing her, I mean. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

  “No.” Angelina shook her head. “Do it here. We’ll give you privacy. Trust me, you will want it. Anthony and I can take the kids for burgers or something.”

  “Thanks, but I’d rather see her there.”

  Angelina frowned. “You want to ambush her?”

  Liam couldn’t disguise his anger over her remarrying. No one made this easy for him. Why should he make it easy for her? “You heard Ant. Phil’s not there. And let’s face it, seeing me again is an ambush no matter where it goes down. I want to see her, now.”

  They both looked at him doubtfully.

  “Let’s go. I’m ready.” Liam said.

  Angelina grabbed his wrist, stopping him. “Listen to me. She will be shocked and confused, but I promise you she is in love with you. Please believe me when I say that. She loves you, Liam. Keep a cool head, okay?”

  Liam kissed her cheek. “I’ll be cool.”

  ***

  Phil walked in and stepped up behind Kennedy, who washed dishes at the sink. He planted a kiss on her cheek. She turned on him, startled.

  “You’re home early,” she gasped. “You said you couldn’t pick up Mac? That you had to work late.”

  “I missed you,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck. Slowly, he brought the bouquet of flowers he’d shielded behind his back.

  “They’re beautiful, Phil. But you should have called me if you were going to be home early.” She said, her voice tight with frustration. She’d been running around the house like crazy since she’d walked through the door. The only reason she started the breakfast dishes was because she needed to get dinner done early. She’d be up all night working.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She set the flowers on the counter. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s been a day.”

  “Well, I did call but you didn’t answer your phone. Did you get my message?”

  Kennedy shook her head. “Been in court all day. Haven’t checked my messages. I just…sometimes I feel so overwhelmed.”

  He lifted her chin and forced her to look in his eyes. “Work?”

  “Yeah, I screwed up. I’ll need your legal brain. Milton’s deposition went south and I think it’s my fault.”

  “Babe, you know I’ll help. Okay? Now smile for me. Been missing you, honey.”

  Kennedy forced the tightness around her mouth to relax and gave him a smile. Phil moved in on her, crowding her against the sink. His lips met hers in a soft, sweet kiss that relaxed her immediately. She pushed back on his chest when she felt their embrace growing too passionate. “Thanks. I feel better.”

  He slipped his other arm around her waist and pressed into her. Phil gave her another quick kiss, then released her. He left the kitchen, headed for the stairs to change. Kennedy touched her mouth. She sighed. When she turned she noticed the flowers again. Phil had been extra romantic lately. Did he pick up on the strain she felt between them since this baby thing had become an issue? They were technically newlyweds and her anxiety hadn’t lessened. If anything, it seemed to increase with the passing months. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. She wouldn’t go back on anti-depressants. She had moved on to a better place. Phil was a good husband. Wasn’t he? Mackenzie couldn’t be happier. She had a job she loved on most days. She just needed to be grateful for that much.

  Last night she’d dreamed of Liam. The dream swept her sweetly through memories of their first meeting, her first time making love with him, and the many times after where passion ruled her life. She’d never known love like she had with Liam. Maybe the cliché was true. That type of love happened only once in a lifetime.

  “I finished, Mommy!”

  Kennedy turned and Mackenzie bounced in front of her, having changed from her school clothes to a pair of green shorts and a top.

  “Are the twins coming?”

  “Yes, sweetie.” She’d forgotten she told Vasquez to bring the boys over. She really wasn’t in the mood for a visit but she hadn’t seen him in months. Maybe Phil could entertain Vasquez while she excused herself. Kennedy went to the refrigerator and retrieved a package of frozen steaks.

  Suddenly, Mackenzie who’d taken up coloring in her book of bears in the living room, straightened up. She got to her feet and went to the picture window at the front of the house. Kennedy registered Mac’s odd expression as she headed for the pantry to find some pasta. Standing there, staring at boxes of cereal and canned goods, a shiver went through her.

  “Mommy! Daddy’s here! Daddy’s here!” Mackenzie screamed, her voice almost buoyant with the sounds of her jumping up and down.

  Kennedy’s heart raced. Her head turned. She looked back into the kitchen, confused by the excitement. Phil’s hurried steps could be heard as he came down from their room. Kennedy was sure he had already greeted Mackenzie when he arrived, as he did every day he came home from work.

  “Mac, wait!” She heard Phil yell.

  “What’s going on?”

  ***

  Mackenzie gave her stepfather a wide grin. She disobeyed him for the first time in her young life, turning the lock she could now reach and with both of her tiny hands she pulled the door open. It was then Phil’s world shattered. Alexa had told him he had a few more days. He wasn’t ready. He knew time was running out, but he wasn’t ready.

  Liam Flanagan hobbled up the flagstone steps and came through the open doorway. Mac jumped at him and he caught her awkwardly, pulling her up. Phil stepped back. The desire for murder on Liam’s face stilled his breathing. He could see it clearly in his eyes.

  “Phil, what is it?” Kennedy marched out of the kitchen.

  Initially, Phil blocked her view of the door. But she stepped to the side and locked eyes with her long-dead husband.

  Liam stared at his wife, and what Phil thought to be a forced smile crossed his lips.

  Kennedy sucked in a deep, pained breath, then exhaled, gasping loudly. She clutched her chest and stumbled back against the dining
room chair. She couldn’t speak. Her mouth gaped open. Kennedy shook her head no over and over. Liam lowered his daughter to the carpet. When he moved toward Kennedy, she gasped again. It appeared she was having one of her attacks. Phil remembered those panic attacks, when she couldn’t breathe or speak. It used to scare the shit out of him and her family the first year after Liam’s death. The doctors had insisted on anti-anxiety drugs, which only made her depression deepen. It took him another year to bring her back. Now his wife looked as if she were on the verge of another mental collapse and he was powerless to do anything.

  “Surprised to see me, babe?”

  Kennedy looked over to Vasquez, who’d stepped into the foyer just behind Liam. She blinked twice at him, as though Liam and Phil were not even in the room with them. Then her eyes rolled into her head and she fainted. She dropped away so suddenly, every man made a move to catch her. Phil rushed to reach his wife. Before he could bring her into his arms, he felt strong hands yank him away. It turned out to be Vasquez, of all people. Liam got to Kennedy first. To his horror, Phil found himself forced back from his wife, in his own home.

  Her lapse of consciousness was brief, no more than a blink. She gazed up at Liam in dazed wonder. Tears erupted from her in gut-wrenching spasms. Phil couldn’t gauge whether she was happy or suffering acute trauma.

  “Let me go,” he demanded of Vasquez.

  “I suggest you chill. I’m only going to say it once.”

  “Li-Liam?” she choked out between her sobs.

  “Yes, Kay. It’s me.”

  Kennedy threw her arms around his neck. She held on to him for dear life. Liam, on his knees, held her to him, and the wave of relief they shared consumed them both physically. Phil could swear they both shook through it. She cried, rejoicing so loudly that Phil felt the sounds shred his heart. Frightened and confused by the drama, Mackenzie began to cry. Phil couldn’t get to his wife, but he went for his daughter. He lifted her up into his arms and turned her away from the scene. However, he could see them clearly.

  Liam and Kennedy kissed.

  Their exchange was deeper and more intense than any kiss he’d ever shared with Kennedy. She held on to both sides of his face to prolong their union.

  “Kennedy,” said Phil. “Kennedy!”

  She stopped kissing Flanagan. Phil doubted it was because he’d called her name.

  “I can’t believe it. They told me you were dead.” Kennedy said this to Liam, looking deeply into his eyes.

  “I’m not, Kay. I would never leave you.”

  She ran her hand up and down the side of his face.

  “KENNEDY,” Phil shouted.

  Suddenly, Kennedy came to. For a long moment, it seemed she couldn’t focus. In utter shock, Kennedy looked at Phil, whose face had twisted into a mask of hurt and anger, and then at her frightened child, held in his arms. The pain in her heart became pure torment, pure horror.

  “Nooo. Oh God, what have I done? Oh no.”

  Kennedy got to her feet. Liam struggled with his bad leg, trying to pull her down so he could hold her. She stepped away from him. From both men. She shook her head. “Sweet Jesus, what have I done?” she moaned.

  “I want you to explain it to me,” Liam said, able to stand. “You married him?” He jabbed his cane toward Phil. “Why? How? After everything you promised me, what we meant to each other, you married him?”

  Kennedy bit her bottom lip. She put her hands to both temples, and pressed there. She tried to stop the noise, stop the hurt. Just make it stop. She felt the room spinning around her. “Liam, I’m so sorry.”

  “Sorry? Help me understand, Kay. Was I that easy to replace?”

  The words broke Kennedy. She did the only thing she could. She backed away.

  “I think you should go,” Phil said to him, reaching out for Kennedy as she hurried up the stairs.

  Liam flipped his cane so he held it overhand and jabbed it between him and Phil.

  “You make one fucking move toward my wife and I will put you down.”

  Chapter Eight

  Phil’s eyes remained trained on the end of Liam’s cane.

  Does he think it shoots bullets? Liam didn’t mind the nervousness he saw on Phil’s face. That was to be expected. What Liam found confusing had been the vibe of guilt in his eyes. Phil didn’t look too surprised to see him. He looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Or had Liam projected his suspicions again, seeing what he wanted to see?

  Mackenzie stared at him from her perch in the crook of Phil’s arm. Almost all the color had drained from her face. Not a sound escaped her lips, but Liam could see the way her white-knuckled fist dug into Phil’s shoulder. He saw his own hand trembling as it gripped the cane, and realized he was threatening a man with his child between them. Immediately, he drew the weapon back. The action changed nothing. He still wanted to swing it like a bat and crush Phil’s skull. Liam felt that desire specific and certain, travel up his arm, moving ever closer to his heart. He clenched his teeth. He had to get those urges under control.

  “Mac, why don’t you show me this fish I keep hearing about? Is it upstairs?” Vasquez approached Mackenzie, who’d begun to shiver. As though outside his body, above the action, Liam’s tactical brain registered the movements. He’d seen Vasquez do this hundreds of times, extract a civilian while he or Eric or Alebretti or Gomez trained a SIG Sauer straight at the combatant’s chest. This time, unlike all the other times, the notion made his heart pound in his chest.

  A few whispered words and Vasquez eventually coaxed Mackenzie to lift her head from her stepfather’s shoulder. He smiled. She smiled back, at him only. She then reached for her Uncle Tony. Phil released his daughter into Vasquez’s arms. Liam nodded, his face twitching. Phil had chosen wisely.

  Vasquez stepped over to Liam. “Look at her, man. Look at her.”

  Liam tore his gaze from Phil to stare again at a daughter who had her mother’s nose and dimples. Mackenzie locked eyes with him, but had started to suck her thumb.

  “She’s yours, man. That’s undisputed.”

  Liam nodded.

  “This is your homecoming, man. Remember.”

  He nodded again, this time with understanding. Vasquez was telling him not to fuck it up. Liam touched Mackenzie’s face and tried to apologize with his smile.

  Vasquez shot Phil a warning look. “I’ll take her to her room while you three work this out.” He turned for the stairs to which Kennedy had fled.

  Phil had enough backbone to wink at Mackenzie. The little girl blinked and sucked harder on her thumb. Her visible fear shook Liam to his core. Christ, I lost my cool. Shouldn’t have. Liam decided in that moment to follow his friend’s advice. He would find his lady and talk to her rationally.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Phil stammered, side-stepping to block Liam’s approach. Liam, disbelieving, lifted his gaze to meet that of his challenger. Phil swallowed. “She’s upset, Flanagan. I think we should both give her a minute.”

  “Fuck you,” Liam snapped.

  “Seriously? You come in here and yell at her and make your daughter cry?” Phil glared at him as much as he dared. “Kennedy deserves much more respect than that. Like I said, let her catch her breath. The reunion can wait until my wife is prepared to deal with it.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? For me to back off, so you can slip in? And she’s not your fucking wife.”

  “I only meant—”

  “Got to give it to you. Don’t know how you pulled her in, but you did. You’ve been sniffing at her heels from the moment you laid eyes on her.” Liam’s jaw tensed, though he wasn’t going to lose it again in front of this man. Wavering on the edge of control, he let his chest rise and fall. The idea that Phil Freeman had not only seduced his wife, but played the role of husband, father, and lover while he’d only dreamed of those things for the past five years incensed him. Worse still was the unrepentant smugness in Phil’s eyes. No matter how bad it would be between
him and Kennedy, he’d see Freeman dead before he let this slug of a man have her. Dead.

  “She and I fell in love.” Phil crossed his arms and tossed his chin upward in triumph.

  “So they tell me.” Liam gave a soft snort. His fingers curled around the handle of his cane and tightened until every joint began to burn with tension. He wondered how far the stick would reach if he shoved it up Phil’s ass. “Don’t bullshit me. You preyed on her vulnerabilities and moved into my life to replace me.”

  “Actually, I was here when you weren’t. Look, I’m sorry man. Not sure where you been for the past five years and I’m sure it’s been hard on you. But our love has nothing to do with me stealing your life. And if you were to take a long look, a hard look at the home we’ve built, you’d find that this is my life you walked in on, not yours.”

  Liam smirked. He made a show of taking that look around. He felt Kennedy everywhere. He could see how she tried to begin again. He knew Phil the rat bastard had made it all so convenient and easy. Most of all, he understood how he’d failed her, failed them both.

  “Not for long.” Liam returned his gaze to Phil. “You saw her.” Liam arched his brow and smirked. “You saw the look on her face when I walked in. You don’t fool me. You’ve had a good ol’ time at let’s pretend. I’m the reality. You hear that? You think I’ll just step? You know me better than that. If my daughter wasn’t upstairs this would be a non-issue.”

  “I won’t discuss this with you. I want you out of my house. I—”

  Liam aimed the point of his cane dead center at Phil’s chest. He poked him once and Phil stumbled a step back. When he got no more reaction than that, he poked again and Phil fell back further. “Step the fuck aside before I break your fucking neck.”

  “No!”

  “Then you are a stupid motherfucker, you—”

  “Liam!” Vasquez reappeared.

  Liam kept his eyes trained on Freeman’s smug face. Without moving his feet, he leaned forward, closing the distance between them to less than an inch.