Page 11 of Shielding His Heart
Tana shakes her head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Of course I do,” I say as though it’s the easiest thing in the world. Because it is. She may not remember me, but she’s my wife. I would do anything for her.
She sighs. “I may not know much, but I’m starting to learn that you are the most hardheaded man I’ve ever met.”
At this, I crack a smile. “Have you met many men?”
Scowling, she says, “That’s not the point. I keep trying to tell you that you don’t have to take care of me, and you’re not listening.”
I glance at her pointedly as I pull to a stoplight. “I hear what you’re saying. And, yeah, maybe I am hardheaded. But I vowed to take care of you, and that’s exactly what I’ll do. If that means giving you a safe place to stay while you figure things out, I’ll do it. If it means taking you to and from doctor’s appointments, I’ll do it. And if it means things don’t turn out quite the way I want them to, I’ll deal with it. You let me worry about all that. You just worry about healing.”
When she speaks, her voice is thick with emotion. “You don’t even know me.”
My hands clench the steering wheel. “I know you as well as I know myself. And even if I didn’t, it’s the right thing to do.”
She’s quiet for a long time. We’re nearly to the grocery store when she says, “I just don’t wanna hurt you.”
I glance in the rearview at the girls, who are now watching a movie on their respective tablets. They have headphones on, so they can’t hear us talking. I turn to Tana and say, “You let me worry about that. I’m a big boy; I can handle it. In the meantime, I’ve been thinking about how to help you.”
She raises her eyebrows. “More than you already are?”
“I mean with your memories.”
She angles her body toward me. “Yeah? How are you going to help with that?”
“Well, I’ve known you most of your life. We share a lot of the same memories. Obviously, you can ask me if you have any questions, but I think it might help if you actually saw the things we were talking about.”
“Do you mean like take me places?”
“Yeah, sort of. Take you to some of your favorite places, look through pictures, stuff like that.”
“Don’t you already have your plate full? You have two kids and your job. I can do some of the stuff on my own.”
“Now who’s being hardheaded?”
Tana rolls her eyes. “I have a feeling arguing with you could be a full-time job.”
I pull into a parking lot spot at the grocery store and cut the engine. “Get used to it. That’s probably the first thing you should know about me. It’s something that you used to complain about quite frequently. Besides, you told me that acts of service is my love language. Doing things for other people is sort of how I live my life. It’s why I became a paramedic. So it’s only natural to me to want to help you.”
When she starts to speak, I shake my head and say, “Just think about it.”
The girls are unbuckling their seatbelts and throwing themselves out of the car. I help them and meet Tana at the front of the truck. Normally I would take her hand with Gemma to my right, and Paisley would grab Tana’s free hand. But Paisley pauses awkwardly, so I take Paisley on my left and Gemma on the right. Tana doesn’t seem to notice the moment of awkwardness.
“Come on, Paise. Let’s see what we can get for dessert.” I don’t normally agree with sugar as a stopgap, but the girls have been through enough. Besides, cheesecake was Tana’s favorite dessert ever. I wonder if it still is.
Time to put my theory to the test.
CHAPTER6
TANA
“This is delicious.” I savor the piece of cheesecake on my tongue, my eyes slipping closed.
“Yum,” Gemma says. “Can I have another piece?” My eyes open to find Gemma winking owlishly at her father.
He laughs and gestures toward the cheesecake. “Fine, one more piece, but that’s it. And I don’t want any arguing about shower and bedtime.”
Nodding enthusiastically, Gemma practically bounces in her seat as Alec serves her another piece.
