Baby, It's You (Uncharted SEALs Book 5) Read Online Free

surprisingly, there wasn’t one featuring him. As he approached the bed, he hardened his jaw.
    His father’s long frame dominated the king-sized four-poster. His eyes were closed, tubing stretched one ear to the other, stubs disappearing into his nose. God, he must hate that. Being seen like this. An invalid. Carter cleared his throat.
    His father’s eyes slowly blinked open. “Didn’t think you’d come.”
    The man spoke in a voice that wasn’t his. Too raspy, too frail. Carter didn’t want to feel pain, but he couldn’t help it. He lowered into the chair beside the bed. “Hi, Dad.”
    His father’s gaze roamed his body, dipping down to his legs. “Heard you tussled with a roadside bomb.”
    Carter let one side of his mouth slide upward in a wry grin. “Left a crater. Only tore up my knee. I think I won.”
    His father’s grunt was familiar, if weak. “Can you still sit a horse?”
    Carter narrowed his eyes. “Why? Will I be useless if I can’t?”
    A frown deepened the wrinkles stretched across his forehead. “You liked riding. Would hate it if you lost that, too.”
    The look he gave Carter said he understood what loss of mobility was like. Carter swallowed, not wanting to feel any sympathy for the old man, but his dad had always been a force of nature. He was thinner. Shockingly so. Now, he looked as though a breeze would blow him away. “You make it sound like I plan to stick around,” he said, his voice thicker than before.
    Carter, Sr.’s blue gaze was as icy as ever. “Aren’t you?”
    Before he answered, Carter glanced toward the window. “I’m considering job offers. Maybe one with an outfit in Dallas. I might still finish my last tour. If the docs will clear me.”
    His dad’s gaze went to his knee again. “You end up in Dallas, you gonna be a weekend cowboy?”
    Carter shook his head. “Won’t be weekends. But I would spend my downtime here. If I’m welcome.”
    His father’s face turned away.
    Carter thought he might have gone to sleep, and he shifted in his chair, preparing to rise.
    “Man has a lot of time to think…when he’s stuck in a bed.”
    Something Carter knew to be all too true. Sensing where the conversation might be heading, Carter tensed, his fingers digging into the faded flower upholstery covering the chair.
    “I’m not sayin’ it wasn’t your fault,” his father said. “I’m sayin’…I forgive you.”
    Carter squeezed his eyes shut. How long had he waited to hear those words? Spoken in a voice as raspy as fine sandpaper, his father’s statement didn’t give him the rush of relief he’d always dreamed about. Instead, anger flooded his veins. Remembering his dad was sick—he wasn’t about to upset him and have yet another death on his hands—Carter stood.
    “Got someplace to be?” his father asked, turning his head slowly to lock his gaze with Carter’s.
    “Anywhere but here,” Carter whispered, then turned on his heel a little too sharply and bit down hard to keep from groaning. With his dignity drawn tightly around him, he limped away. Stomping down the hallway, he nearly missed the sight of the slim body charging up the last steps.
    Emmy glanced upward and gave him a smile. “Gampa wants a story.”
    “You read?” he asked, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. What was she? Four?
    “Nah. But he likes my stories. ’Specially ones about me and the dragon.”
    “You know a dragon?”
    Her eyebrows lowered into a fiercely funny frown. “Don’t you know anything? Dragons aren’t real.” She jammed both hands on her hips.
    He would have chuckled, but he sensed she’d be affronted, and he didn’t want her angry at him. A pang hit him square in the chest. He’d missed so much of her growing-up years. Done it purposely, but he hadn’t considered how he’d feel about the child. He’d also thought she was likely better off never knowing him. It wasn’t like he’d ever planned to leave the SEALs. Not until he was on the verge