Page 64 of Finding Her Strength

“Damn, woman. I’m going to need to marry you so you can’t get away from me.”

Hope tenses in my arms then huffs out a laugh. “You’re funny. I’m not going anywhere.”

Odd. I’m a little surprised by her reaction to me bringing up marriage. Maybe she’s not ready to talk about getting married yet. It’s understandable, given her history with men hasn’t been great.

I decide to let it go for now since we’re supposed to talk tonight about why she’s been struggling the last few days. I’d prefer to have one serious conversation at a time. “How was your day?”

“Great. Our new kid, Sam, is fantastic. He’s picked up on things quickly, even has a decent eye for arrangements.”

“Good, maybe you can take some time for yourself now. You haven’t read much in the last few weeks.”

“I know. I’d like to get back to a normal schedule again.”

“Maybe we can plan a trip back to the beach when you’re feeling caught up.”

Hope beams at me. “Yes! That would be perfect!”

We finish making dinner together, keeping up a constant stream of chatter the whole time. It feels as if things are finally getting back to normal again. We still need to talk, but for now, it’s nice not to have the lingering tension.

As we set the breakfast bar to eat, my phone rings, showingCooperon the caller ID.

“Hey, man, what’s up?”

“Are you at home?” Cooper’s terse tone has the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.

“Yeah, why?”

“If Hope’s in the room, can you go somewhere else, please?”

I leave the dining room, moving out of earshot. “I’m in the library. Cooper, what’s going on?”

“Look... I’m sorry, but I had a buddy of mine do some digging on Hope. I couldn’t let it go, man. It was just too weird.”

My blood drains as Cooper continues to tell me the sordid story.

It’s so much worse than I could have even imagined.

Every word he says makes my stomach drop further until he’s finally done. I hang up the phone, taking slow, deep breaths to keep from losing my mind.

When I feel like I have some semblance of control, I walk back to the kitchen where Hope is sitting at the counter, scrolling on her phone. She looks up, her eyebrows furrowed. “Everything okay?”

I shake my head. “Hope isn’t your real name, is it?”

36

HOPE

Ifreeze.

He knows.

He knows everything.

I don’t know how he knows or who told him, but by the look on his face, he knows my whole story.

“Answer the question, please,” he says, his voice harder than I’ve ever heard him speak to me.

“My legal name is Hope Langley, but it used to be Rosemary Hope Malatelli.”

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