“But?” Mike put in.

Brynne laid down her knife and fork. “But he’s a cop.”

“And that means he’s like Clay Nicholls? It means he’ll cheat?” Alice wanted to know.

“It means that he could be killed in the course of an ordinary day,” Brynne replied. “It means that some madwoman might be lying in wait to bash his head in with a snow shovel!”

“Sweetheart,” Mike said, gruff in his gentleness. “Anyone can be ‘killed in the course of an ordinary day.’ Or at any other time.”

“Yes,” Brynne agreed tersely, “but let’s face it, cops are in a lot more danger than the rest of us, 24/7, 365 days a year!”

Alice blew out a breath, and it struck Brynne that her mother was still ravishingly beautiful, despite her advancing age.

Which was beside the point.

“Are you saying that you’re afraid to build a life with a man you admittedly love because he might be killed in the line of duty?” Mike asked.

Brynne’s parents exchanged an eloquent glance.

“I didn’t realize we’d raised a coward,” Alice told her husband.

“You’re just saying that because you want to plan a wedding!” Brynne accused, stabbing at another hunk of waffle and pushing it into her mouth.

“I won’t dignify that remark with an answer,” Alice sniffed.

“Good,” Brynne shot back.

“Seems to me,” Mike said, used to being caught in the cross fire and therefore unfazed, “that you have some thinking to do, daughter-of-mine. Maybe it’s time you decided whether you want to hide out and play it safe, or join the game and give it the best you’ve got. I can tell you from experience that, win, lose or draw, grabbing life and running with it is your best option.”

Brynne was quiet. “It’s risky,” she reminded her mom and dad, in a small voice.

“You bet it is,” Alice replied. “You’ll get some bumps and bruises—you already know that, from being with Clay—but look what you would have missed, if you hadn’t loved him. Yes, you’d have skipped getting your heart broken, but what about Davey and Maddie? If you could go back to the beginning and make a different choice, knowing what you do now, would you do it?”

Brynne shook her head.

“Now you’re in that place with another, better man. You can save yourself—avoid the risks of loving a man who enforces the law—but what else will you be avoiding, Brynne? What else?”

There were a thousand answers to that question, starting with children.

But there were other joys, things meant to be shared with another person, that one very special person.

Sure, the worst could happen. It almost had, that very day.

She would have grieved terribly if she’d lost Eli, there was no denying that.