“Never better.”

His response was classic Elijah. Jo had never met anyone more resilient. Most of his years as a Special Forces soldier were clouded in mystery and the subject of much speculation in Black Falls. Even with her high-level security clearances, Jo doubted she could find out the specifics of the April firefight. She’d heard that a bullet had nicked his femoral artery, a highly dangerous injury. He could have easily bled to death.

According to her sister, he was evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in southern Germany, and only when he was out of danger had his family informed him of his father’s death. Beth had heard the story straight from Rose Cameron, Elijah’s younger sister, who had flown to Germany to be with her brother.

“But he already knew,” Beth had said. “No one had to tell him.”

Jo suspected that one look at Rose’s face probably had been enough for Elijah to figure out the bad news for himself.

“I’m sorry about your father.” She ran a finger along the delicate edge of a dark maroon lily. “I had no idea he planned to leave me this place. I never asked him for anything, Elijah. Ever. He didn’t owe me.”

His expression was unreadable. “That doesn’t seem to be how he saw it, does it?”

She resisted comment. To get into a discussion about Drew Cameron now, after her long day and lousy week, in the very cabin in which he had discovered her and Elijah as teenagers and changed the course of their lives, made no sense.

“Thanks for delivering the flowers,” she said.

“Anytime. And relax. Give yourself time to heal.” He grinned suddenly. “I hear those airsoft pellets sting like hell.”

“Funny, Elijah.”

“You haven’t seen the video, have you?”

“No, and I don’t intend to.” A colleague had brought his personal laptop to her desk to show her two-minute video, but his battery had run out. Her one stroke of luck all week, as far as she was concerned. “You have?”