Discomfort balled in Vaughn’s stomach. “What did you tell him?”
Duke’s extended silence said it all, but he explained anyway. “I told him you were in Hook for the duration. You deserve the damn honor they want to give you, man.” He had to speak over Vaughn’s grated expletives. “Why do you insist on pretending that night never happened? The army has the right to acknowledge—”
“I don’t want to be acknowledged,” Vaughn shouted. “I don’t want some medal and a pat on the back for doing what I signed up for.” Pain ticked in his temple, an ache he remembered from that first year back on U.S. soil. “Look—”
Vaughn’s cell phone rang on the bedside table, and he bypassed a stone-faced Duke to go answer it. River. Her name came up now, since he’d programmed in her number. Just seeing those five strung-together letters eased his headache. “Hiya, doll,” he answered.
“Hey.” She sounded distracted, or maybe worried, putting Vaughn on alert. “There’s a man at the house here to see you. A Colonel Moriarty? I told him you were staying nearby, so he’s having coffee on the back porch…waiting.” Silence. “Do you have any idea what he wants?”
“I’ll be over in five minutes,” Vaughn managed, before hanging up and turning to Duke, anger bubbling in his veins. “You gave him River’s address?”
“No, I did not.” Duke headed for the door. “But if he asked anyone in Hook where to find you, they all would have directed him there, if for no other reason than to fuck with you.”
Vaughn snatched up his car keys. “I hate this town.”
“No, you don’t.” Duke preceded him to the parking lot, sauntering toward his own pickup truck, obviously without a care in the world. “I’ll send my sisters over later. Good talk.”
Chapter Thirteen
River frowned down at the phone in her hand, replaying the brief exchange with Vaughn. Whoever this Colonel Moriarty was, Vaughn didn’t seem to be thrilled about having to meet with him. Why?
She leaned into the living room to check on Marcy, finding her wrapped up in a blanket, singing the lyrics from a Disney movie song into a static-ridden karaoke machine. Curiosity eating away at her, River decided not to waste another minute in figuring out what the man on her porch needed. Once Vaughn showed up, she might not get the chance. Even at their closest, secrets had swirled around Vaughn, and somehow River suspected it would be impossible to gain insight if she waited for him to open up. At least about his time with the military. Time she knew nothing about because Vaughn had left Hook the same day he returned.
River slipped out onto the porch, leaving the door ajar so she could hear if Marcy called. Colonel Moriarty watched her through intelligent eyes over the rim of his coffee mug. “Did you get in touch with De Matteo?”
“I did. He’s on the way.” River cupped her elbows. “Listen, it’s probably none of my business, but did Vaughn do something…wrong?”
“Wrong? No.” The colonel stood, setting his steaming mug down on the porch railing, the movement very precise. “I’ve been sitting here wondering why I didn’t check for De Matteo at your residence more than once, after my initial search. You were listed as his only next of kin in his file, after all. He would have made his way back eventually.”
Pressure shoved against River’s sternum, the colonel’s words thunking against the inside of her skull. “He listed me as his only next of kin? But he has an uncle…”
When she didn’t continue—because there was no one else to list—the man nodded once. “Just you.” Whatever he saw on River’s face must have interested the colonel, because he tilted his head, squinting eyes that reminded her of old western movies. “Our intention is to bestow the Medal of Honor on Mr. De Matteo, if he would deign to grace us with his presence. I’ve been seeking Vaughn out since he was discharged.”
“Oh my gosh.” River sat down out of necessity, pulse going wild in her wrists and neck. A thousand questions occurred at once, so she asked the most insistent. “H-how did he earn the medal?”
He sighed, staring out into the backyard. “We teach them everything but how to communicate to the people back home, don’t we?” The colonel considered her for a beat. “I suppose you’ll have to hear it from him. But suffice to say, he gave a lot of families closure. Including mine. Which is why tracking him down and ramming the honor down his throat is something of a personal mission to me.”