Page 76 of Savior

As a mother, how was I supposed to tell my daughter that I knew the truth without her saying a word? Even with all that I’d done to keep them safe, someone had hurt my baby.

Nate rapped at the window, and Kate jumped in fright. When she saw who it was, her shoulders visibly relaxed, and relief flooded her face.

Someone had taken my little girl and left her a skittish, frightened mess. But, without a shadow of a doubt, I knew that someone wasn’t her husband.

Chapter Sixteen

Kate

Nate knocked on the window again, the smile on his face wavering slightly when I held up a finger. “Just give me a minute.”

I inhaled deeply, and the panic began to subside, taking with it the weight on my chest and the feeling that everything was lost.

He nodded and stepped back, tucking his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. The movement left my heart racing, and I realized that instead of spending the entire ride trying to work out what to say, I should’ve worked on curbing my body’s reaction to the sight of him.

When I shamelessly continued to stare, his dark eyebrows drew together, and he licked along his lower lip as if trying to figure me out.

My cheeks heated and his eyes, the same color as the tequila my mother and I had spent half the night drinking, suddenly widened with cautious hope.

My mother.

I reluctantly tore my gaze away from the man I loved and focused on the broken woman across from me. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her cry.

It had to have been after she helped me bail Dakota out of jail, or when she found out I got married in Vegas. Either way, it was a rare enough occurrence to have caught my attention.

Maybe she’d learned to keep a tight rein over her emotions after years of living with a biker.

Notoriously stoic even with the world burning around her.

She pasted a smile onto her face when I reached for her hand. “I’m f-f-fine.” With that, she hiccuped loudly and promptly dissolved into tears again.

“Mama, you’ve been so brave,” I said, adopting my counselor’s tone. “And today has been exceptionally heavy. You lost your father—”

My voice wavered when it dawned on me that I’d never hear Pops call me Katydid again, or watch as he made goofy faces from over the top of his newspaper when Nan’s back was turned because he thought she was being unreasonable.

My grief was overshadowed with knowing that he’d never have to answer for taking us away from our mother or the stolen money meant for mine and Dakota’s futures.

I cleared my throat. “You also confronted Bear—”

“Mary Katherine, I am well aware of what today has been,” she stated while dabbing at her eyes. “Now, if you’re finished with your counseling session, I’d like to give you some advice.”

I nodded and slumped back in my seat, waiting for the inevitable lecture. “If this is about Nate…” I turned to see if he was still watching, but he was deep in conversation with Zane. “I’m going to—”

“It is… and it isn’t.” She blew out a breath. “Do you remember last night when I told you that if I’d only told your father the truth how everything could’ve been so different?”

“Yeah… and I just said that I’m going—”

“You don’t want to talk about it with me, and I get that,” my mother interjected. “But please, for the love of all the saints, tell him what happened to you. Just… just don’t shut him out is all I’m trying to say.”

“What happened to me?” I parroted, even though I knew exactly what she was talking about. My face grew warm, and I reached for my seatbelt. “I just—excuse me.”

“Kate—”

I took a deep breath and opened the door, deciding how to best approach my husband. Despite my mother’s advice, there was no way I was ever talking about what happened that night. I was going to bury it and pretend like it never happened.

We had more important things to worry about.

“Hey.” I stroked Nate’s arm. “You’re really here.”

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