Page 46 of Crossroads of Betrayal
A bark of laughter shook Grace’s shoulders, and she covered her mouth in a bad attempt to hide her humor. “Wait, so Smokey was inside Penelope’s house?”
“Yeah, Moose’s barn burned down a while back and Smokey has stayed indoors with Pen ever since. And you know Moose. He couldn’t say no to Penelope before they got married. Now there’s no way he’d tell her Smokey has to go back outside. Even if that miniature donkey is constantly vying to be the only baby in the house. He’s had a hard time adjusting to the human baby.”
All traces of humor fell from Grace’s face. “Pen and Moose got married? They’re parents now?”
A stab of guilt pierced his side. He hated the way her face crumbled at the news—hell, he hated she hadn’t been a part of the celebration of Moose and Pen finally getting together and starting a family—but nothing would change the fact that Grace had missed out on a lifetime of memories. “Yeah. Not too long ago.”
Her eyes misted over, but she sniffed back her emotions before any tears fell. “I’m glad they’re happy. She deserves the whole damn world.”
“So do you,” he said.
She shook her head. “I don’t know what I deserve, but not that. Not this.” She smoothed her hand over his skin, making it burn from her touch. “I walked away from you, from Pen, from everything. I deserve to feel left out—to miss those big moments. Hell, miss the little ones, too. I even missed Smokey knocking you senseless.”
The quiver in her voice stole any impact from her lightheartedness.
Needing her to really hear him, he shifted to face her and cradled her jaw in his hand. “You left because you needed space. I understand that now. You had more weighing you down than I could have possibly understood. You needed to find yourself. To find a place with people who didn’t have any expectations or idea of who you were or who you should be. You found that here, in this place, and I’m so grateful.”
“You don’t think I’m a coward? You’re not mad I abandoned you?”
“I was hurt and confused, and yeah, for a long time angry. But that’s behind us.” A nagging itch urged him to ask about the future. To find out where her head was concerning them now that they’d hashed out the past. But patience was key. She had bigger things to deal with first, and he didn’t want to add any unnecessary pressure. He’d just revel in this new understanding between them, be there for whatever she needed, and pray she wouldn’t want to leave his side.
Because now that Grace was back in his life, he couldn’t imagine ever walking away.
“I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about everything sooner,” she said, sandwiching her bottom lip between her teeth.
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You weren’t ready.”
She braced herself on her forearms and winced.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just a little sore.”
Damnit, he was an idiot. She was hurting and needed tended, not twisted up in his sheets discussing the future. Untangling himself from her, he scooted off the bed and found his boxers on the floor before sliding them on.
She frowned. “Where are you going?”
“You haven’t had any pain pills for hours. And after what we just did, you’ve moved around a lot more than you should. Might as well take some medicine now and stop the pain before it gets too bad.”
“You don’t need to take care of me. I’m fine. Just get back in bed.”
Cold shot up his feet as he moved across the hardwood floor to the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. “I want to take care of you. Then I’ll be right back in that bed for as long as you’ll have me.”
He filled the glass with water from the faucet and ferried it to Grace before heading to the bathroom in search of over-the-counter pills he always brought with him. He snatched a little bottle from inside the medicine cabinet.
The sound of someone knocking on the door tightened his shoulders.
“Someone’s here,” Grace called.
He hurried from the room, tossing her the bottle as he found his jeans and yanked them on.
“Toss me a shirt, will ya?” Grace asked, sitting against the headboard and gathering the comforter around her chest.
Spotting her discarded clothing at the foot of the bed, he threw her long-sleeved t-shirt and black leggings her way.
“Guess I’ll go without my panties.”
He groaned at the image she presented and waited for her to dress before crossing through the cabin to get to the door. A look through the little hole had dread curdling in the pit of his stomach. He opened the door to a grim-faced Lincoln.
