Page 10 of The Truth

“We do, too. Genny insists on it. And she makes us take turns cooking. She says it’s good for Calvin to have dinner with his family every night.”

“I have no doubt it is. I think it’s cool you all live together like that. I bet you had a lot of adventures as kids, didn’t you?” She used to dream about a life like that. When she was in the assisted livinghome,and all alone. “It must have been nice.”

“We did. My brothers and I did, mostly. And some with Gia. She’s only three and and half years younger than Grady and me. And she had adventures with the girls and Chantal.”

“There are not quite seven years between me and Aubrey. We didn’t really get to have very many adventures. We weren’talways kept together, you know. Especially… after I was eleven. They put me in a nursing home for a while. After… ”

“Honey, what happened to you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

She usually didn’t tell people. But maybe it was the dark, and what had happened tonight, and his sweatshirt covering her and making her feelsafefor once. “A foster father got angry at me. I was stopping him from getting what he wanted. I bit him. And he grabbed me and threw me down the basement stairs and locked me in. I broke my back. It’s not the fall, you know. It’s the landing that gets you.”

“I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”

“He went to jail. Aubrey got me help. She broke the basement door to get to me. She… was what hewantedin the first place, you know. I wasn’t going to let him hurt my sister like that. I just wasn’t. So I attacked him. After he hurt me… he ran away. I stopped him from hurting my sister. He didn’t get to hurt my sister that day. I was in a wheelchair for several months, in the nursing home where the state put me. Then, when I could walk again when I was twelve, I went to a special needs foster home. There were a few other places after that, then back into the nursing home when no one else wanted me. Aubrey sprung me from that joint the instant she was old enough to have guardianship. We got lucky—the judge was nice that day. We got to be together after that. And now… here we are.” She was quiet for just a moment. She was okay with her story. She’d had years to come to terms with what had happened. And Aubrey had made certain she had therapy to help her deal with the trauma.

The state had paid for it—they were liable for what had happened in the first place. Aubrey hadbeggedtheir social worker not to send them to that foster home three days before. Begged.

And had been laughed at in the face by the evil social worker who just hadn’t cared. Aubrey had threatened to call the newspapers and report everything that had happened. Make a big old stink no one would have wanted. There was nothing Aubrey wouldn’t do to protect the people she loved. No denying that.

“My sister is my hero, you know. And… I think your brother has a thing for her.”

“Yes, I can understand why. I think he’s in love with her, actually. She put herself right in front of Genny tonight. I’ll never forget seeing that. She didn’t have to do that.”

“It doesn’t surprise me at all. She felt really guilty for what happened to me. They didn’t know I’d come home from school yet that day, and she was telling him to get his hands off of her. Fighting him. He was going to hurt her, force her. I’m sure you know what I mean. She was seventeen. I went a bit… feral at him. She has always taken care of me, even before. Now, she goes a bit bonkers overprotective of the people she loves. But she hasmeto take care of her now. Me, and Genny, and Chan, and Greer and Hala and Gia, too.”

“I’m gladtheyhave you, too, honey. I think the world might just be a darker place if you weren’t in it.”

“I think, Reverend Hiller, that if I ever fall for a guy someday—I hope he’s a lot like you. I think I like the wayyousee the world, too.”

7

She lethim carry her across the drive toward the house, when he asked. It was dark, she was tired, and they needed to fix the walkway lights. She was still crying, shaking, in his arms.

He’d make that a priority.

If she was going to be out there with his sisters, he was going to make sure it was safe for her, even at night. And the porch steps were wide enough, they’d had a ramp on it before. When Greer was hurt as a kid. He’d get a new one built as soon as he could.

Grady… Grady was the best builder he’d ever seen. He’d talk to his brother about making it happen, as fast as they possibly could.

His brothers were inside playing cards at the table when he pushed open the door, Ayla in his arms. They were snacking and talking, probably about what had happened tonight.

He checked the clock quickly. It was already half past midnight. He looked at his twin. “Her crutches are still in my truck. Grab them, will you?”

“What’s going on? Where is Guth?” Gene pulled out a kitchen chair. Gunn lowered her, still wrapped in his sweatshirt, into it. She looked like a little lost kitten right there.

“Someone vandalized their house tonight. Guthrie is a few minutes behind me. He and Aubrey are finishing up with Charlie at their place. She and Ayla are going to stay here for a few days.”

She just looked up at him, those big blue eyes staring right into his soul and just… taking it for herself forever.

He was hers.

Just like that. With just onelookhe was hers, and he knew it.

Her words in the truck had nearly destroyed him. Had him thinking… about what he really wanted now.

He was going to see to it that she fellfor him,and no other man out there. Regardless of how long it took. They would go slow, see what developed, but… in his gut, he had the feeling… he knew…

He knew it was right.

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