Page 31 of Save Me

He shuddered. “Like it was yesterday. I’d never been so scared.”

“That was the day I knew for sure I was still pregnant. I went upstairs to call you, and couldn’t find my phone. Then Mother came storming into my room with my phone, screaming at me for being pregnant and ruining all her plans. Dad was worse. They vowed they were going to take me to an abortion clinic the next day. I was screaming at them, telling them if anything happened to me or the baby, I would tell the world what they’d done, and that I would destroy them, and it would ruin their precious social standing.” Then she took a deep, shuddering breath. “That’s when...that’s when...”

Hunt heard the pain in her voice and knew there was something more—something ugly that she couldn’t get said.

“What happened, Lainie?”

“Dad flew into a rage. He told me he’d rather the baby and I were dead than have Chuck’s child in his family. And then he knocked me out. I woke up in the car. They took me to Baton Rouge to my grandmother’s old house and locked me in an upstairs room. I’d been kidnapped, and I was there for two months before I got a chance to escape.”

Hunt felt the breath leave his body. There was a roar in his head and a pain in his heart too sharp to bear, and then the sound of his own voice pulled him back.

“Three days ago, I punched Greg Mayes in the face the moment I saw him. I told him if I found you dead, I would kill him. I thought I hated him before, but there are no words for what I’m feeling now. I know he chased you. Did he also cause the wreck?”

Lainie was sobbing now. “Yes. He ran me down and rammed the back of my car trying to make me stop. I lost control. The car went airborne, then rolled and rolled. Our son died, but I didn’t. He’s a monster and my mother abetted every decision he ever made.”

And once again, Hunt was sideswiped. “Son? It was a boy?”

“Yes. I always thought it was a boy, but I didn’t know, because they never took me for prenatal care. I asked the doctor after the wreck. He said it was.” She paused. Even though she felt the weight of Hunt’s body, it was as if he’d turned to stone. He was tense, silent and motionless, and she didn’t know how to help him. She’d had all these years to come to terms with what happened, but for Hunt, it was happening now. The only thing she could think to do was make the baby as real for him as he’d been for her. “You know I was alone in my room all the time, except the last month I was there, when they brought Millie down to cook and clean. My mother was such an ass...all pretense of hiding me and my shame, but she still couldn’t bring herself to do menial labor. So, I talked to the baby all the time. I called him Little Bear, because every time I got hungry, my stomach would grumble and growl, and I’d chide him for making such noise.”

Hunt buried his face at the back of her neck. All the walls he’d put up were crumbling. Four years in Iraq and watching the life leave Preacher’s eyes. The suicide bombers. Scrambling to get choppers in the air with sirens blaring. Flying into a hail of ground fire to provide backup for soldiers barricaded in bombed-out villages. Raining Hellfire and Stinger missiles on insurgents while Preacher quoted the Bible from the pilot seat, and people died on the ground. To now, and the shock of learning he’d been a father, and fearing he’d never find Lainie alive. Knowing there’d been a baby, and then hearing her talking about the real baby, the one living within her. The one he’d never known. They’d made a baby, and their fathers’ hate for each other had brought his brief little life to an end. He didn’t know how to handle all this hate, and at the same time love her this deeply.

His voice was ragged. He had been shattered by what she’d suffered on her own. “I should have been there. I should have found a way. I should have known.”

“No, Hunt. He would have killed you. I’m never going to be sorry our baby was here...even if it was just for a little while. I’m sorry you didn’t know it then. I’m sorry our parents broke us. But we didn’t do anything but love each other. I loved you then. I love you still. Nothing is ever going to change that for me. I’m here now if you still want me.”

Hunt groaned. “Want you? Like I want my next breath. I need you to be whole again. I will never make peace with how you’ve suffered. But I will find peace with you again, and that is enough. Sleep now, darlin’. Tomorrow we get you off this mountain, and we go from there.”

Lainie felt lighter. Eleven years of guilt had been a heavy load to carry, and it was gone. “I love you, Hunt.”

His voice was a rumble against her ear. “Not a damn ounce more than I love you.”

GREG AND TINA MAYES were watching TV in their hotel room when Greg’s cell phone rang. When Denver Park Rangers popped up on caller ID, he grabbed it. “Tina, it’s the park service!”

“Put it on speaker,” she said, and then started weeping. “I’m afraid of what they’re going to say.”

Greg glared because she was crying again, and then answered.

“This is Greg.”

“Mr. Mayes, this is Ranger Christopher from the search site. Hunter Gray just called in. He found Lainie. She’s alive, suffering from exposure and some injuries, none of which are life-threatening. He is tending to her immediate needs, and we’ll be bringing her down in the morning.”

“Thank God,” Greg said. “And thanks for letting us know.”

“You can thank Warrant Officer Gray and his tracking skills.”

Greg frowned. “Warrant officer? What’s that?”

“Basically, that’s the rank given to Army helicopter pilots who didn’t go through OTS. That’s Officer Training School, you know. He spent ten years with the Army before he was mustered out. I know because I checked up on him a little. He flew Apache Longbows in Iraq and Syria in the fight against ISIS.”

Greg was so stunned he forgot to respond.

“Mr. Mayes, are you still there?”

“Yes, yes, just taking in what you’d said. Thank you for calling,” Greg said, and disconnected.

Tina glared. “So much for your prison theory. Are you going to call Chuck?”

“So he can gloat about his fucking hero son? Hell, no.”

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