Page 38 of Defiant Hearts

Whitley shifted her focus to the woman standing near the table, and the fog of fear lifted from her mind. She offered a smile she was sure didn’t quite ring true, but Rhae smiled back and slid into the seat across from her.

Right behind her was a woman Whitley hadn’t met. The stunning brunette offered Whitley a smile and set her tray next to Rhae’s.

“This is Bella. She’s the resident psychiatrist for the program,” Rhae said.

She blinked as understanding settled in. Great. They were tag-teaming her now. She must look like a real head case, white-knuckling her cup and watching every guy like they were about to put a bullet in her.

“Nice to meet you,” she said instead of anything circulating through her head. Even though her nerves were screaming, she still needed to be polite. To not give in to what was in her head.

A third woman approached before Bella had even fully sat down. She carried herself with confidence, and her tray was loaded with more vegetables than seemed possible for one person to consume.

She dropped into the empty chair beside Bella. “Hi. I’m Sinead.” She gave Whitley a wide smile that was almost tinged with sympathy. What she said next explained why. “Before you, I was the newest addition to the ranch.”

Whitley latched on to the lifeline. Growing up on military bases, every Army brat knew what it was like to be the nervous new kid. Judging from the expression on Sinead’s face, she understood how overwhelming this whole ranch could be.

“Hello.” Whitley returned her smile with one of her own though it felt thin and brittle. To cover it, she took a sip of her coffee. “How long have you been here?”

“Only about a month. I’m working on getting some new programs off the ground for the vets. Group sessions, skills training. That kind of thing.” She stabbed her fork into her salad without slowing her speech. “Ayla over at the security office has been a huge help with the logistics side of it. According to Heath, she’s such an asset to the Black Heart Security office, and her knowledge of the systems has cut our paperwork time in half. I don’t know what I’d do without her at this point.”

Whitley’s head spun slightly as she tried to keep track of names and roles and the connections between everyone. But underneath the questions came an unexpected sensation of warmth. Of being included.

These people simply pulled up chairs and started talking to her like they’d always been friends. They weren’t including her out of obligation or pity. A glance around showed several empty tables. They could have sat anywhere in the dining hall and kept to themselves.

But they’d chosen to sit with her.

As the conversation continued, the names that had started as a blur began to untangle in her mind. The longer they talked, the more at ease she became.

Soon she was answering Bella’s questions about her health when a tall, handsome man with a baby propped over his shoulder approached.

“Momma!” Little Navy rushed around him, and Rhae twisted in her seat in time to catch her young daughter.

The man leaned down to kiss her, a sweet exchange that left Whitley yearning for things she thought she’d given up on back when she realized her boyfriend wasn’t the man she thought he was.

The baby—Maren, Whitley guessed—kicked her feet and flapped her arms when she saw her mother, and Rhae took the child and snuggled her into her lap.

“I’ve gotta get to the office,” the man told her.

He started to turn, and Rhae called out. “Denver!”

He twisted.

“Bonfire tonight?”

He gave Rhae a crooked smile that brought to mind the memory of Wyatt shooting her smiles just like that from his doorway that made Whitley’s stomach heat.

Soon every seat but one at the table was full, and Willow arrived last wearing jeans that hung low on her hips beneath her baby bump and an oversized flannel shirt that looked like it belonged to her husband.

Willow touched her arm. “I see you’re feeling better, Whitley.”

Biting down on her lip, she nodded. Noticing the others watching her, she looked around the table. “This is new for me. I was an Army brat growing up. We moved every year or two. It was hard to make real friends when you’re always the new kid. I travel for work, and then my parents retired in Thailand—which made staying close to anyone even harder.”

She shrugged, a little embarrassed. “I’m not used to such a big group of new friends.”

“Get used to it. Around here, that’s just a Tuesday.” Rhae pinched a small bit of bread off her sandwich and stuffed it into Maren’s mouth. The baby’s round eyes fixed on Whitley’s face as she chewed with what appeared to be four small teeth.

She looked around at all of them. “Thank you all for being so welcoming. Now I have so many friends around me.” She held up her hands. “And the prettiest nails on the ranch.”

A few of the women grinned, and Navy beamed with pride.