Page 1 of Dante


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Chapter One

If Dante Williams needed help, he could always count on his military brothers to have his six, a fact proven again and again during their Delta days and beyond.

Two years ago, he left the service to take care of his infant son after his wife had been struck by a car when the driver suffered a major heart attack and the vehicle jumped the curb. Sheri, along with another pedestrian and the driver, had all died at the scene.

The senseless, tragic accident had changed Dante’s life forever, but his buddies were there to help him transition.

At the time, some of the guys were still on active duty with him, several others had already returned to civilian life, and a few weren’t even Delta, they were former SEALs that he’d worked with on joint missions, but all had shown up at his door.

Dante never took his friends for granted. He appreciated their support and the ease with which they’d helped him tackle processing out of the Army. Several of them had even stayed a few days after the funeral while he’d found his footing and faced the reality of being a widower and single father of a four-month-old.

At least he’d had live-in help with the baby in the form of Sheri’s grandmother. He thanked God for Ida.

Five months before Sheri’s death, she’d left North Carolina to temporarily stay with her grandmother when her grandfather had passed away.

A few weeks later, his wife had gone into labor nearly a full month early.

Luckily, Dante hadn’t been on a mission and caught a flight and arrived on time for Noah’s birth. Not only had the healthy baby boy brought him and Sheri happiness, Noah had also sparked a joy in Ida that had been hard to miss. Because of this, he and his wife had agreed she and Noah should remain there a few more weeks. Dante needed to return to base, so the best he could do was Facetime daily and visit whenever possible.

Those weeks turned into four months, and never had Dante imagined needing Ida’s help becauseSheriwouldn’t be around.

Gigi—short for great-grandmother—had been the only family he and his wife had, so when his buddy, Mac, had offered him a job at his Texas company, Eagle Security and Investigations, Dante reluctantly declined even though he’d wanted to go.

Uprooting Ida hadn’t felt right, so he’d stayed in Phoenix, joined the police department, and for the past two years devoted his life to taking care of Gigi and his son.

Sadly, Ida had passed away in her sleep a few months back.

Once again, a bunch of his military brothers had shown up on his doorstep for the funeral, and this time when Mac brought up the job offer, Dante accepted. There was nothing left to keep him in Phoenix anymore.

“Where do you want the sectional?” Holden asked, snapping Dante’s mind back to the present as they carried a large piece of the couch into his new home in south Texas.

Two days ago, three of his Delta brothers, Mac, Holden, and Sinjin had arrived in Phoenix with a moving van to help him pack up what little he was taking.

With his name already on the deed—at Ida’s insistence last year—Dante sold the house without wading through legalities, and while it was in escrow, he’d searched online for a home in Harland County. When he saw the listing for a three-bedroom, two-story with a front porch, two-car garage, and large, fenced-in backyard surrounded by other nice houses, he bought it through his realtor in Phoenix—but only after his friends had done a walkthrough to make sure it was a solid purchase and a safe place to raise Noah.

Dante’s sole concern was minimizing the changes for his young son, so moving straight into their permanent home was a must. Temporary digs were out of the question.

Noah deserved a smooth transition.

“Up against that corner,” he finally replied, nodding toward the far wall in his new family room. “That should leave space for Noah’s toys and toybox in the corner on the other side of the sliding doors.”

Dante had deliberately kept the sectional and all his son’s belongings, including toys, clothes, and bedroom furniture. He wanted Noah to have a little familiarity in their new home.

Of course, he hadn’t realized how much stuff his son had accumulated in two and a half years. Given the fact Noah’s things had taken up a good portion of the small moving van Mac and Sinjin drove back to Texas while Holden rode shotgun with him and Noah in Dante’s SUV, it was possible Dante may have overcompensated for the losses in his son’s young life with a few too many toys.

“You sure about that?” Mac chuckled from behind him, carrying the last piece of the sectional in with Sinjin.

Straightening, Dante frowned and eyed Noah’s designated corner. “What do you mean?”

Had he misjudged the size of the room? After all, he’d only given the place a quick walkthrough when they’d arrived a half hour ago. Between reuniting with a bunch of his buddies and quick introductions to their families, he’d been a little concerned that the large gathering of strangers may have been too overwhelming for Noah, so he hadn’t given the place a proper inspection.

He needn’t have worried about the little dude, though. His son was too social and curious and had immediately raced out into the backyard when beckoned by his two new young friends.

Holden cupped Dante’s shoulder. “Think Mac means Noah has a lot of stuff.” He grinned, releasing him.

Dante laughed. “Yeah, but at least I’m not guilty of that monster swing set.”

Facing the sliding glass doors that he’d opened to take advantage of the unseasonably warm Saturday in March, he pointed at the large wooden swing set/fort that hadn’t come with the house but currently took up a corner of the backyard.