He seemed to be calm as he slowed to the speed limit and took the road toward the Hatten place.

As far as Cait could see, he wasn’t going to mention what just happened. “You know her,” she whispered. “Know her. As in the Bible. You and Vera Exton.”

Miguel frowned. “It was a high school thing. Not important.”

“You didn’t return to Kansas until after you graduated from college. Everyone knows Vera was going to marry Adam Hatten, but he ran off with cute little Kelly. People said Vera was so heartbroken that she fled to the Middle East with that man who was killed.”

“Joe Harding.”

“But what was going on with you and Vera?”

His silence showed that he had no intention of answering.

Caitlyn was wide-eyed. “What about you and Mom...? If you and Vera were an item, how did I get made? Did you...?” She drew in her breath. “Did you cheat on Vera? While she cheated on Adam? Did Kelly—?”

“Caitlyn,” he said sternly, “I’d like for you to stop this.”

“Mom said—”

“We both know what your mother told us!”

That made her stop talking.

They had reached the Hatten land and Miguel turned off the engine. They sat there in silence, looking out the windshield.

Caitlyn spoke first. “Have you seen her since she arrived?”

“Just for a couple of minutes. We didn’t talk.”

She put her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry for whatever happened. You and Mom and Vera Exton. It must have been awful.”

He turned to her and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It worked out well. Vera got to leave Mason and help save the world, your mom got a family and I got you. Everyone is happy.” He stepped out of the truck.

Caitlyn watched him walk away. His words were good but the pain in his eyes was something she’d never seen before. It hit her that she’d never really thought about tragedies in her father’s life. It had never occurred to her that there was a lost love in his life. Or that her father knew all about broken hearts.

Maybe this is what it means to be grown up, she thought. For a long time, all she’d thought about was her own anger and hurt about her and Jared. But today she was seeing her father as someone who possibly knew a great deal about pain and maybe about sacrifice.

Was she the reason he’d given up a woman he loved who he obviously still loved? The irony of it all weighed on her. If he and Vera had only known the truth.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

When they got home, Cait realized that seeing her dad’s face when he looked at Vera Exton was bringing her back to reality. His look and his little death-defying stunt in the truck. He was living proof that love could hurt for a lifetime.