Let It Burn

by Ruth Cardello

  Grant said, “Before you make that call, why don’t we hear everything Andrew knows?”

  With that, they all turned toward Andrew and Helene. Andrew told most of the story but Helene added what she could. Her parents gently contributed even though they didn’t reveal anything new.

  At the end, Helene said, “I can’t express how sorry I am that a member of my family—”

  Rose touched her daughter’s arm. “Our family.”

  Andrew said firmly, “My family now, as well. The weight of what he did isn’t yours to carry, but if you do, you won’t carry it alone.”

  Rose pulled on Andrew’s arm so he bent and then she kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

  Andrew looked around at his siblings. “They say that you don’t know who you are until the bullets start flying for real. Well, they’re fucking flying now. So what are you going to do?”

  Asher held up his phone. “I’m making a call. I don’t believe that Kent is alive, but if Mom does, I agree that we need to do everything we can to find out what happened to him.”

  “We’ll need a plan,” Ian said.

  Asher waved his phone. “The plan is to find out what happened.”

  “If we open this door and it leaks out it’ll be a feeding frenzy for the news,” Ian warned. He turned to Andrew and Helene. “You say you don’t know who Stiles was afraid of but that we could all be in danger from them. I’d say that requires a more thoughtful approach.”

  Finally breaking his silence, Dax said, “I have some people in Aruba who are looking into this already.”

  Asher nodded. “Good. Andrew, do you think you could find Stiles?”

  Andrew glanced down at Helene. The answer was right there in her eyes. “I know we can.” He raised her hand and kissed it.

  Helene sniffed and nodded. “Together.”

  Grant stepped forward and said, “No, I’ll find him. A money trail never gets cold. Nobody does something for nothing.” He took the card from Asher and said, “If Kent is out there, I’ll find him. If that search starts with Clarence Stiles, that’s where I’ll begin.” He looked across at Ian. “I’ll do it discretely, but I’ll keep you all in the loop.”

  Asher took his wife’s hand in his, then walked over and placed his other on Andrew’s shoulder. “I’m here and every resource I have is yours to use. No one stands alone in this family. No one ever will again.”

  One by one the rest of them nodded.

  In the silence that followed, Asher looked across at Helene and her parents and said, “You are part of this family now, Helene. You, and your parents. You stood by Andrew and by us and nothing we discover will change that.”

  Helene hugged Andrew’s side. His love for her exceeded what he would ever be able to express in words. Whatever the future held for them, no matter what truth was revealed, they would survive if they held to each other as tightly as they did in that moment.

  Helene’s relationship boot camp rivaled the one that had earned Andrew the title of Marine, and it had changed him just as deeply. He knew now that when he visited Lofton’s grave next year, he would report that he was keeping up his end of the bargain. He would be the son, brother, husband who would honor his friend’s memory.

  Epilogue

  Three weeks later, Helene and Andrew were standing outside the physiological sciences building at the University of Florida after concluding a guided tour of the entire campus. Although Andrew had encouraged Helene to follow her dream of going into veterinary medicine, it still all felt so unreal. She looked down at the ring on her finger then over to the man at her side. He was dressed in a casual pair of slacks and a white collared shirt, which should have made him blend in, but a man of his impressive physical build and his television-worthy features would always stand out in a crowd. Young women literally stopped, smacked their friends, and drooled over him before moving on. If Helene were the type to be threatened by competition she would have worried, but Andrew didn’t spare any of them a single look. “I love you,” Helene said spontaneously.

  “I know,” he said cheekily, then grinned. “We’re here to decide on a college. Focus.”

  She gave him a light hip check. “Oh, I’ll focus later . . . if you’re lucky.”

  He laughed and kissed her briefly. “Seriously, what did you think?”

  Helene let out a slow breath. “It’s perfect. I can do my undergrad courses online and at satellite campuses. We could make this work, but . . .”

  “But?” He turned, running his hands up and down her arms lightly. “You tell me what’s standing in your way, and I’ll remove that obstacle.”

  He meant it, but she still worried. “It’s just with everything that is going on with your family, I hate to tie you to Florida. If they uncover anything, they’ll need you in Boston.”

  “Us. They’ll need us. And we can be there in a few hours by plane. What else is worrying you?”

  She wanted to say nothing, but the strength of her bond to Andrew was their honesty with each other. “I know you enjoying working at the rescue—”

  “I do. After the Marines, I didn’t think I’d have a purpose again, but the rescue gave that to me.” His smile turned nostalgic. “Thank you for pushing me to invite Gabriella and Giniya. They enjoyed the visit, and I needed to see them.” He cocked his head to one side and said, “How do you always know what I need before I do?”

  Because I see the beauty of you, inside and out. That’s why I need to make sure this is right for you, too. “I’m brilliant like that, I guess.” She took a moment to simply bask in how good it felt to be with him then returned to a topic she knew needed to be addressed. “Are you sure you’re okay with living at my parents’ house?”

  He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Although I love your parents, staying with them long-term won’t be ideal.” A slow, self-satisfied grin spread across his face. “Which is why I purchased two hundred acres of land abutting the rescue. It’ll give the rescue room to expand, and we can build our own place.”

  Slack-jawed in wondrous awe, Helene asked, “How did you manage that? I wasn’t aware it was even for sale.”

  Andrew shrugged. “I told Asher what I wanted, and he made it happen. He said everyone has a price. I let him negotiate it, and Grant practically came in his pants while listing the tax benefits of investing in the rescue. If you go to school here, ask Grant to pull money from my trust fund to set up a donation to the college. He’ll follow you around like a happy puppy for days.”

  “He’s not that bad and you know it,” Helene chastised softly, went on her tiptoes, and between light kisses said, “He likes numbers because they make sense to him, and when he talks money it’s his way of showing you that he cares. Be nice to him.”

  Andrew laughed. “I’ll try.”

  After a short pause, Helene asked, “Has he said anything? About—my uncle?”

  Pulling Helene to his chest, Andrew sighed. “Not yet, but he won’t until he has something solid.”

  “Nothing new from that woman, Alethea?”

  Andrew shook his head. “She said this is a complicated one because so much of it happened long ago and off the grid. People didn’t email or text back then so the trails are harder to trace. She’s working with Grant, though. She thinks we should exhume Kent’s body and do a DNA test, but we haven’t brought that option to my parents yet. So far my mother is handling this better than anyone would have expected. We don’t want to upset her more.”

  Sophie was stronger than her sons gave her credit for, but Helene didn’t push. She merely nodded and hugged Andrew.

  “Excuse me,” a deep male voice said from beside them. “Mr. Barrington?”

  “Yes?” Andrew turned toward the voice. It didn’t bother Helene in the least that so far every faculty member they’d met had been more interested in meeting Andrew than her. The Barrington name carried weight, and Andrew took their adoration in stride. Seeing him remain humble where other men would have become egomaniacs made her love him e
ven more.

  “My name is Seth Kidnigh. I’m an adjunct professor, specializing in toxicology.”

  Andrew shook his hand then introduced Helene. “Nice to meet you.”

  “When I heard you were visiting the university I mentioned it to a friend of mine in New Mexico. He and I go way back. We went to grade school together. Traveled around the world together before finally losing touch when we both married. That happens. Children and work keep a person busy. You look up and twenty years have gone by.”

  “I’m sure it does.” Andrew nodded and glanced at Helene as if seeking assistance.

  Helene held back a chuckle. “What did your friend say?”

  The man ran his hands through what was left of his thinning blond hair. “We spoke briefly about your new affiliation with Free Again Rescue and Sanctuary and their history of reintegrating exotic animals back into the wild. He is a large animal veterinarian who specializes in equine medicine but does pro bono work for animal protection groups.”

  “And?” Helene prompted.

  “A private owner was recently caught trying to sell a four-year-old female African elephant for a million dollars. The mother reportedly died in the owner’s care and the baby stopped eating. The owner decided to sell her off before she became too sick and lost all value. Local rescues have stepped forward, as well as several zoos, to offer permanent placement for the baby, but my friend has convinced the agency that currently has her to give him a chance to arrange for her to return to Africa. It’s an expensive endeavor, but the Free Again Rescue and Sanctuary has done it before and has the contacts.”

  Not too much shook Helene’s confidence, but a memory of the elephant she’d loved and failed to save rattled her. She blinked several times, telling herself she couldn’t let her own fears stand in the way of that elephant having a chance to live the life she’d been born to.

  She looked up and realized that her reaction had not been lost on Andrew. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “I know what you’re thinking, Lenny, and I swear to you we will do everything we can to make sure she is protected. This time you’ll be able to go with her to make sure she settles in. Love is always worth it. Isn’t that what you say? That little baby needs you.”

  Helene’s eyes filled with tears, but they were happy ones. She threw her arms around his neck. “She needs you, too. Just like I do.” Then she kissed him with all the love bursting within her.

  The professor cleared his throat. “I’ll go into the café and give you time to discuss it.”

  Although Helene heard him, she gave herself over to the passion of Andrew’s kiss. In a few minutes, she and Andrew would hunt down that professor. They’d likely conference call her parents.

  In a few minutes.

  But right now, Mr. Muscles is setting me on fire.

  And I say, “Let it burn . . .”

  THE END

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