Page 7 of Hush Money

She reaches for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and running her hands through his hair, studying him as though she can’t believe her eyes. “I needed you,” she says, a sob caught in her voice. “I needed you.”

With that, she pulls him in for several frantic kisses on his cheeks and then finally—deeply—his mouth.

Daniel and I backed up a few steps in the melee, but now we turn away from this reunion scene. It’s far too intimate for any bystanders, and the two of them certainly don’t need anything other than each other at this moment. I take a few more steps away from the sofa and out of the circle of light, too stricken by the sight of Lucien embracing his naked wife to do much more than run a hand over my aching gut.

In that miserable moment, I almost wish someone would swoop in and knock me out with a head injury. It would hurt less than this excruciating glimpse of what will surely be an epic reunion once Ravenna is healthy enough to hop back into bed with her husband.

Will he think of me as he fucks her? Will I even be a tiny footnote in his memory?

No. Of course I won’t.

As I hear Lucien murmuring to Ravenna behind me, I give myself a swift mental kick in the ass, choke back my rising emotion and remind myself of the good things happening here. Ravenna is injured and confused, true, but she’s alive and showing several positive signs of recovery. She’s home. She’s reunited with her beloved husband at their family home, safe now from whatever terrible forces kept her away for so long. This is a happy ending.

Even if my eyes and throat burn with what feels like a lifetime’s worth of tears.

But I’m not going to cry. I refuse. “Keep your head up, Tams,” Dad would say if he were here. So that’s what I’m going to do. I won’t be here long, anyway, so that’s a huge relief. By tomorrow, the storm will have passed and I can head back to Brooklyn, where I belong. There’s plenty of time then for me to be sad about the end of my relationship with Lucien.

Now is not the time.

“Sorry about that,” comes Daniel’s quiet voice beside me, startling me out of my thoughts.

“What?” I say, desperate to focus on anything other than the sound of Lucien’s tender voice as he talks to his wife behind us.

“You just got here, and now this.” Unfortunately, the room isn’t dark enough for me to escape the steadiness of Daniel’s pitying gaze. “I’m sorry. This has got to be tough for you.”

While I appreciate the compassion, I hate pity.

“This is a happy moment,” I say firmly. “And I’m a tough cookie. I’ll be fine.”

A gleam of admiration from Daniel.

“I want you to lie back down,” Lucien says in normal tones behind us. “Get some rest. We’ll check with Tamsyn to see if you can have something to eat.”

Daniel and I turn back around to discover that Lucien’s gotten her dressed by now. She’s wearing a hoodie and a pair of shorts. Lucien’s, judging by the way they drown her fit body.

“Don’t leave me,” she hastily says, sitting back against the cushions again and accepting the blankets over her lap, but reaching for his hand to keep him there. “I’m not tired.”

“Sure you are,” Lucien says.

“I just want to be with you, Lucien.”

I turn away again, undone by the absolute worship in her shining gaze as she looks at him. I recognize it because it’s the exact same look I’m sure I’ve given him every time we’ve ever been together. He certainly brings it out of the ladies, doesn’t he?

Stop it, Tamsyn, I tell myself, disgusted by my sickening jealousy.

Lucien hesitates. “I’m not going anywhere. But if you’re not tired, why don’t you tell us where you’ve been?”

“Been?” Ravenna says. “I’ve been right here.”

I gasp and turn back, exchanging an uncomprehending sidelong glance with Daniel.

Lucien looks as stunned as we are.

“You’ve been gone for two years, Ravenna,” he says quietly. “We thought you drowned in a boating accident out on the bay. Are you telling me you don’t remember that?”

A weak laugh from Ravenna. “Stop it, Lucien. Now isn’t the time for jokes.”

“I’m serious,” Lucien says.

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