Page 95 of Luck of the Draw

Up on the shore they work all day, Skye’s mind chimed in automatically,out in the sun they slave away.

I got you a movie, Isabel,his voice is saying to her.It’s about a mermaid with pretty red hair just like yours. Let’s go watch it.

The windows and kitchen table in front of her face suddenly morphed into a darkened rec room, and the scent of sweet and savory was replaced by musty, old air.

Skye is four years old. She fixes her gaze on the TV screen as she tries to distract herself. Ariel is sprawling on a rock in the ocean while seahorses and fish dance and sing all around her.

It’s okay, Isabel. I love you,his voice keeps saying, while his hands move to places she doesn’t want.Just relax. I love you. You can relax. Just relax.

Every muscle in her tiny body tenses. She squeezes her eyes shut as sharp pain shoots through her.

Just relax, Isabel.

I love you. Just relax.

Just relax.

“Oh no,” Caroline’s voice emerged from the noise of Skye’s mind. Her little hand cupped Skye’s chin and turned it toward her, and Caroline looked at her under a knitted brow. “Did I poke you?”

Skye blinked and shook her head.

“You’re crying,” Caroline observed with obvious worry. The expression on her little face suddenly looked wise beyond her years.

“I’m fine.” Skye wiped her eye and forced a smile. “Nobody’s ever brushed my hair for me before, and it makes me happy.”

“Liza did while you were, um…napping,” Connor cut in, obviously referring to the coma.

Skye turned her head to meet his gaze for a second before looking at Liza. “You did the braids?”

Liza smiled a misty smile. “Brennan was there every day, so we came almost every day, and I figured you’d feel better on some level if your hair was brushed and tidy.”

The information felt like a knife was being driven through Skye’s chest. These people didn’t even know her, and they’d come to the hospital almost every day for four weeks. It was just a simple, kind, totally heartwarming gesture, and she couldn’t even force a smile.

Her chin threatened to tremble, and she rolled her lips between her teeth. “Thank you.”

Brennan chose that moment to step into Skye’s line of sight wearing a tender expression. He slid his hands in the pockets of his slacks and leaned against the wall just behind Connor and Liza. His rich, mocha-hued eyes held hers, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. It was written all over his face.

I love you. I want you to stay. I want you to be a part of my life and part of things like this with me.

“I’ll be gentle,” Caroline said, ignoring the adults’ side conversation while gathering Skye’s hair into a ponytail.

The simple, innocent phrase nearly catapulted Skye back into the darkness and noise of her mind, and she snapped her eyelids shut in reflex. She focused on the steady, methodical tug on her hair to chase away the disturbing memories.

All of that was long gone. It was in the past. This house was a safe place, full of good people with good lives that Skye could only wish for.

And she wished, and wished, and wished.

“Isn’t her hair beautiful?” came Brennan’s voice.

“Itis,” Caroline gushed with the innocence of a young girl; innocence that Skye never,everhad. She swept her little hands over Skye’s hair and continued to comb it. “It looks like the sunset. It’s the most beautiful hair I’ve ever seen.”

“Me too,” Brennan agreed.

Skye didn’t have to open her eyes to know he was smiling. She didn’t have to look at his face to know he was looking at her with an expression of totally smitten adoration. She didn’t have to see any of it to know Brennan was falling in love with her. But behind her closed eyes, all she could see was the look of disgust, disdain, and crushing disappointment she knew would overtake his appearance when he finally found out the truth.

Something in her suddenly just wanted to get it over with. She was healed up enough to be out on her own again. She needed to nip this in the bud before it got any worse. She couldn’t do this to him. He was too good. He didn’t deserve this. She needed to come clean with him before his feelings had a chance to get any deeper. And she was going to do it as soon as they got back to his house.

After everything he’d done for her, Skye owed him the common decency of destroying his illusions before they had a chance to solidify into hopes and dreams of something he’d never want with her if he only knew what she really was.

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