Come to think of it, Eli and J.P. might balk at the suggestion, too. They might not be all that eager to find out they were somebody’s dear old dad—or that they weren’t. And maybe that was the real point. In any case, he knew he was willing to do it, and eventually they all needed to. But that was tomorrow’s worry.

As if on cue, his phone rang. He pulled it from his shirt pocket, squinted at the screen and saw J.P.’s mug grinning back at him.

Cord almost let the call go to voice mail, but in the end, he couldn’t. This was his friend and J.P. might need help of some kind; independent as he was, J.P. still had the occasional bad night, when the flashbacks kicked in and he was back in Afghanistan, or he just plain panicked for no apparent reason. But fortunately that was rare these days.

PTSD was tricky, though. And it had a way of sneaking up on J.P. out of nowhere.

So Cord took the call.

“What?” he barked, because that was always his response when J.P. phoned him; any hint of concern or, God forbid, sympathy would sting the man to the quick.

Cord collapsed into his chair and reached for his coffee, which had gone cold.

“You know what,” J.P. replied, sounding peevish. “Is the girl there?”

Relieved, Cord released the sigh he’d been holding back. “No,” he answered, rising and crossing to the sink to empty his coffee mug. “She went home with Tina, as planned. They just left.”

J.P. hesitated, then asked, “So, do you believe the kid?”

“I believe she’s Reba’s daughter—you can’t fake that kind of resemblance—but beyond that, I’m not sure.” Self-defense tactic kicking in again…

“If she’s not telling the truth, she’s a damn good liar.”

“It’s not as if they’re uncommon. I’ve known plenty of them, and so have you. Reba, for instance.”

A brief silence fell.

“Cord, she’s seventeen. Do the math.”

“She says she’s seventeen. She could be older than she claims—or younger—and that would make all the difference.” Cord closed his eyes for a moment, recalling his earlier and growing certainty about her. He braced himself. “Don’t forget Reba lied about her age. And she put one over on all of us. Who’s to say there wasn’t another fool involved, somebody we don’t know about.”

“But the girl says she has a birth certificate and that she’s willing to show it to Eli. He should be able to find out if it’s real or a fraud. And if it’s real, that’ll answer the question about her age.”

“True.”

“Also,” J.P. went on, “I don’t think there was anybody else. Not then, anyhow.”