A Matter of Trust: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 3) Read online

  “Well, I think her point about dating was that she’s chosen not to date, not that she is currently between boyfriends,” Tyler explained. “As far as I know, she’s never dated in the years we’ve been friends. I don’t think she wants to.”

  “You could always change her mind.” His mom was nothing if not persistent.

  “If something like that is meant to be between the two of us, she’ll have to change her own mind. I’m not going to try to talk her into something she’s not interested in. Her friendship is too important.” He didn’t really want his mom to pick up on his own reluctance to pursue a relationship. Better to let her think it was all on Melanie’s side.

  “Well, if you’re not opposed to the idea, I think I shall make Melanie a focus of prayer,” his mom said.

  His mom’s words did cause Tyler to think, wondering what Melanie might make of a comment like that. He really wasn’t sure where Melanie stood in her faith. From comments she’d made, he was fairly certain that she attended church. But he knew from experience that attending church didn’t make someone a Christian.

  “Momma, I would never tell you to not pray for something if you feel you should.” Tyler pressed the remote to open the garage as he turned into his driveway. “But just remember that God might have an entirely different plan in mind.”

  “But, of course, darling. I am the poster child for how a person’s plan for their life can be very different from what God has planned.”

  Tyler drove into the garage and stopped the car. “Well, I think both Hank and I would agree that we are very happy for that, regardless of the circumstances that brought us into your life.”

  Hank got out of the back seat and opened the door for his mom as Tyler turned off the car and pressed the button to close the garage door. He followed them from the garage into the house, punching in the alarm code to deactivate it.

  “Do you want anything to eat or drink?” Tyler asked as they walked into the kitchen.

  “Nothing for me,” his mom said. “I’m actually pretty tired. Still a bit on London time, I guess.”

  “I’m fine too,” Hank said, slipping an arm around his wife’s waist. “I’m going to do a quick look over my email and then call it a night as well.”

  “Momma, you’re still okay with me being gone for a few hours tomorrow night?” Tyler asked. Since Simon had agreed to go to the basketball game, he wanted to make sure he could follow through on his invitation.

  “That’s perfectly fine, sweetheart. I think Hank and I can entertain ourselves for the evening.” She came and gave Tyler a kiss on the cheek. “Sleep well. See you in the morning.”

  Tyler watched them walked through the living room to the hallway that led to the three bedrooms. He had the master bedroom, but the guest room they occupied was also fairly large and comfortable. The third bedroom he used as an office though he usually worked on his laptop in his bedroom.

  He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, set the alarm and shut off the lights in the rest of the house. Though he thought about going to the basement he shared with Ryan to see if his friend was hanging out there, he really wasn’t in the mood to work out or chat, so he retreated to his room instead.

  After putting the water bottle and phone on his nightstand, he went to the bathroom to prepare for bed. His routine was fairly simple but necessary so that he didn’t have to get back up out of bed for anything. After he was finished in the bathroom, he sat on the bed and carefully slid his pants down over the prosthetics, then went through the process of removing each of them, setting them beside the wheelchair next to the bed.

  Though being without them restricted his ability to get around, it was a relief to be free of them now that his day was nearly over. Using his arms, he pushed himself to the headboard and reached for the portable laptop desk that sat on the unused side of the bed.

  He logged into his work email to read over the email from Marcus. Once he had done that, he realized he needed to access his work programs. After a couple of extra steps, he was able to remotely log into his computer at BlackThorpe.

  As Tyler inputted the information Marcus had sent him, he knew that he was going to have to take some time to compile all this data for Marcus. The man wasn’t putting undue amounts of pressure on him, but Tyler knew him well enough to read the underlying current of impatience. By Monday morning, he needed to have something to give the man.

  As he quickly skimmed over the results that the computer had come up with from the previous information, Tyler was confident he’d be able to give Marcus a full report. He still wasn’t sure what he was looking at—even with the additional information Marcus had given him earlier that night—but there were a few connections between the phone numbers that might interest Marcus.

  Once he’d restarted the program running with the new information, Tyler logged out of his remote connection. He clicked to his Facebook page and spent a few minutes thanking people for the birthday wishes and commenting on a few posts from his friends. He wasn’t a big one for social media, but he did enjoy being able to keep in easy contact with friends who lived far away.

  On a whim, he typed Melanie’s name into the search bar but wasn’t surprised when none of the possible profiles that popped up were hers. Alex and Adrianne both had Facebook profiles and were fairly active on them, but for some reason, Melanie was absent from social media. He’d asked her about it once, but she’d just brushed aside his questions, muttering something about it being a waste of time.

  It was just one more way she was different from her two older siblings. Not that that was a bad thing. In fact, it made her that much more interesting to Tyler.

  Okay, so that might not necessarily be a good thing…

  Tyler was feeling pretty good when he drove through the security gates into the BlackThorpe complex on Monday morning. Simon had come to the game and even though he hadn’t physically participated in it, he had shouted encouragement from the sidelines. He’d been the most animated Tyler had seen him to date. From Simon’s reaction, Tyler was fairly certain it wouldn’t be too long before he got more involved.

  His mom and Hank had gone to church with him and then they’d gone out to eat before spending the rest of the day back at the house visiting. He’d said goodbye to them when a car had arrived earlier that morning to take them to the airport for their flight back to London. Though it was never fun to say goodbye, Tyler had enjoyed having them come to his home for a change so he had plenty of good memories of their short visit.

  After parking his car, he went into the main building and pressed the button to call the elevator.

  “Morning, Tyler.”

  He glanced over to see Than Miller standing next to him. Though the man looked impeccably dressed as usual, his countenance lacked the lopsided grin that Tyler had come to expect from him.

  “Hey, Than. You don’t look your usual sunshiny self,” Tyler said. He motioned for the man to precede him into the elevator when the doors slid open.

  “Don’t ever get married, Tyler, my friend,” Than muttered as he punched the button for Tyler’s floor and then his own.

  “Actually, I’ve been there, done that.” Tyler watched as Than digested that information, his dark brows drawing together.

  “You’re married?”

  “Not anymore. She couldn’t deal with the changes in my lifestyle after I lost my legs.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, man. That’s just wrong.”

  Tyler just shrugged. If it had been his choice, he would have stayed married, but now that they’d gone their separate ways, he didn’t dwell too much on how their life would be now if they hadn’t gotten divorced. “So what’s soured your views on the institution?”

  Than ran a hand through his hair. “It isn’t actually the marriage, it’s the wedding. If we didn’t think our mothers would kill us, Linds and I would just elope. Things are getting way out of hand with the wedding plans. Weddings are a huge thing in Filipino culture, so my mom is making
sure ours is a big one. It doesn’t help any that money doesn’t appear to be an object. And since Linds is an only daughter, her mom is right in there too. My mom and her mom…look out wedding world.”

  Tyler couldn’t keep from laughing. “So not a bridezilla thing?”

  Than shook his head. “No way. Lindsay is perfect.” The smile that accompanied the statement lit the man’s eyes. “She’s trying to take it all in stride, but there just comes a point where it’s too much—even for me! Twelve bridesmaids? That’s crazy.”

  “You have my sympathies, man,” Tyler said with a grin as he stepped off the elevator when it stopped on his floor.

  The grin stayed on his face until he settled behind his desk and put the final touches on the report he’d compiled for Marcus. He’d already told Marcus he had something for him, so now it was just a matter of waiting for the summons.

  ~*~*~

  Melanie got on the elevator after the Tuesday meeting. She meant to press the button to go to the garage, but instead, she pushed the one for Tyler’s floor. She wasn’t entirely sure why, and when the doors slid open, she hesitated briefly before stepping out.

  When she reached Tyler’s door, a quick glance inside revealed it was empty. Telling herself that feeling disappointed was ridiculous, Melanie turned to retrace her steps.

  “Hey, Melanie!”

  She stopped and looked over to see Ryan heading toward her. “Hi, Ryan. How are you?”

  He jogged the last few steps to her side and gave her a smile. “I’m good. How about you?”

  “I’m good.”

  Ryan put his hands on his hips. “Were you looking for Ty?”

  Though she wanted to deny it, his question was no doubt a rhetorical one and lying might fall under the “protest too much” category. “Yeah. Is he around?”

  “Just left him in the lunchroom.” Ryan gave a jerk of his head in the direction he’d just come from. “He’ll be back in a minute or two. In the meantime, I can keep you company.”

  Melanie laughed. “Well, then how was your weekend?”

  “It started off with a fun birthday party dinner. Which, by the way, if I had known it was your birthday along with Ty’s, I totally would have gotten you a gift.”

  “I really don’t do birthdays, Ryan, so you’re safe.”

  “Did you have a good dinner with your family?”

  Melanie wrinkled her nose. It had been everything she’d been expecting, so no, she wouldn’t exactly call it good. The dinner on Friday night had been a lot more enjoyable. “Let’s just say I’m so glad I only have a birthday once a year.”

  “My mom likes to make a big deal out of birthdays, so with ten kids, that’s a lot of parties.”

  “I can’t even imagine having nine siblings. The two I’ve got are more than enough most days.”

  Ryan laughed. “Well, let’s just say that growing up there was always someone around to do something with. A lot of built-in playmates. Two of my stepbrothers are twins and were just a year older than me so my mom said it was like having triplets. We got into a lot of trouble together.”

  “Hey, you two.”

  Tyler’s voice kept Melanie from responding as she turned to see him headed their way, coffee mug in hand.

  He smiled as he came to a stop next to her. “What brings you to our floor?”

  “I just wanted to stop in and thank you again for Friday night.”

  Before Tyler could reply, Ryan gave a small bow and said, “On that note, I’ll return to my office. See you later.”

  “C’mon in,” Tyler said as he motioned to his office.

  Melanie walked through his doorway and sank into a chair while he rounded his desk. She waited until he had settled before she said, “I really did appreciate the dinner Friday night. I had a lot of fun. And it was so great to meet your mom and her husband.”

  “They enjoyed getting to know you too. Hank couldn’t stop talking about the Center and the good work you’re doing there. He was very impressed with the tour you gave them.”

  “You know, your stepfather has been a donor for several years. One of our bigger ones, in fact. I just never made the connection between him and you.”

  Tyler tilted his head. “It doesn’t make a difference, does it?”

  “No. Not at all. I just think it’s great how our helping you has in turn allowed us to help so many others because of donations like those from your parents.”

  “I learned a few new things about Hank on this visit,” Tyler said, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Because I was already out on my own when he married my mom, I’ve never really thought much about the relationship between him and me. I mean, he was good to my mom and made her happy and that’s all I really cared about, to be honest. She had a rough life, and I was thrilled to finally see her find love and happiness.”

  “She was young when she got pregnant with you,” Melanie remarked, recalling their earlier conversation about his mom. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy being a teenage mom.”

  Tyler nodded. “It wasn’t. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was horrible for her.”

  “Did her parents help her out?” As soon as she said the words, Melanie realized that maybe this wasn’t a subject Tyler was interested in discussing. “Uh, you know what…no need to answer. That’s really none of my business.”

  Leaning back in his chair, Tyler stared at her for a moment. “No, it’s fine. Her parents tried, but when she realized that they would never view me as a person in my own right, she moved out and did her best to raise me on her own.”

  Melanie frowned. “View you as a person in your own right? What does that mean?”

  Again Tyler paused. “My mom got pregnant with me as a result of rape. Unfortunately, her parents were convinced I’d turn out just like him.”

  Of all the things she’d expected him to say, that hadn’t been anywhere on the list. Her stomach churned at the new revelation. “Did they catch the guy?”

  Tyler shook his head. “Not until a few years later when they were able to use DNA to nab him. It didn’t result in a conviction though because he was killed in a standoff with police because of another assault.”

  “I’m so sorry, Tyler, I didn’t mean to pry into something so personal.”

  Tyler shrugged. “It’s not something we’ve ever hidden. In fact, I’m so proud of my mom and the difficult decisions she made at such a young age. Obviously, there was lots of pressure to abort given the circumstances, but she always told me that in her mind, there was no choice. That while I may have the DNA of the rapist, I also had part of her.”

  Even though she’d already thought Shauna was a wonderful person, Melanie’s respect for the woman sky-rocketed. She wasn’t sure she would have had the strength to make the choice Shauna had at that age. And as she sat there staring at Tyler, she realized just how glad she was that Shauna had chosen life for the baby she’d carried.

  “Your mom is amazing,” Melanie said with a smile.

  “Yes, she definitely is.” Tyler’s answering smile sent warmth spiraling through her. “I thank God every day that He gave me to her.”

  “I really didn’t mean to delve into your life that way.” Melanie clasped her hands in her lap. “But thank you for sharing.”

  “Well, if we’re sharing,” Tyler said with a mischievous grin on his face. “Are you gonna tell me any secrets about yourself?”

  Melanie hoped her smile didn’t change or that the color wasn’t leeched from her face at his comment. Any secrets she had were going to stay in the past where they belonged. “Sorry. A woman’s gotta keep her secrets. Preserving the mystery and all that.”

  Tyler tilted his head back as he laughed. “Ah. So men have to be open books while women get to preserve the mystery?”

  “Something like that,” Melanie said, glad he hadn’t seemed to notice her reaction to his question. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and slipped it out to see a text from Adrianne. “Oops, I’d better scoot. Adrianne is looking
for me. I promised I’d go for lunch with her today.”

  Tyler got to his feet as she did. “It was nice having you stop by for a chat. I thought maybe you were coming to back out on the basketball game.”

  “No. I said I’d go and I will.”

  “Good.” Tyler shoved his hands into his pockets. “Ryan’s brother is coming into town, and Ryan suggested that we go for dinner beforehand since we won’t be sitting together during the game. You up for that?”

  “Sure. Sounds like fun.” Melanie thought about declining, but if it was all about being friends, going to dinner with the three guys shouldn’t be an issue.

  After saying goodbye, she headed for the elevator, tapping out a message to Adrianne as she went.

  ~*~*~

  This is not a date.

  Tyler had been repeating that to himself for the past hour as he got ready for the dinner and basketball game. He was still surprised that Melanie hadn’t backed out, and he was going to make sure that she didn’t regret this decision. He just wanted the evening to go smoothly and be fun for her.

  Remembering that he’d planned to call her, Tyler grabbed his cell phone from the top of his dresser and tapped the screen to bring up her contact information. Once the phone was ringing, he put it on speakerphone and laid it back down on the dresser. As he waited for her to answer, he threaded his belt through the loops on the black jeans he wore.

  “Don’t tell me you’re calling to cancel,” Melanie said when she answered.

  “Nope. You wouldn’t get that lucky. I have a different reason for calling.”

  “What’s up?”

  “I, uh, just wanted to make sure you knew you can’t get into the Target Center if you’re carrying.”

  “Carrying?” Melanie asked.

  “You know. A concealed weapon.”

  She didn’t answer right away but then said, “How do you know I carry?”