Page 112 of Cavern of Silence
"I know, but if I lost you—"
"You didn't. I'm okay.Weare okay," I assure him.
He embraces me. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
He releases me and kisses my forehead. "I'll see you later at the house."
18
Ryker
Six Weeks Later
Days turn into weeks.Before we know it, Julieta and I have spent over a month with the family.
Cristina couldn't get out of bed for weeks but is slowly coming around. And I know her pain too well. I've done what I can to help her with her grief, but her talks with Julieta seem to help the most.
The boys and I have worked on rebuilding parts of the barn, but supplies are limited. They are doing a good job taking care of the animals, and the girls help out their mama.
Every day, I fall more in love with Julieta. She never complains and does whatever is needed to help out the family or make sure I'm taken care of. The little girls have grown quite attached to her and love it when she reads them bedtime stories, so she does every night.
It's dark out, and she comes out of the girls' room and into ours. She strips and slides into bed.
I kiss her. "That took a long time."
A sad smile crosses her face. "The girls fell asleep quickly. Cristina wanted to thank us again for staying and then broke down about Kenner passing." Julieta tears up. "I still see and hear him. I wish I could have saved him."
I kiss her forehead. "You couldn't have. I still regret leaving you by yourself."
"Don't."
I sigh. We're only thirty minutes from Tinker's. Julieta and I drove to his house a few days after the earthquake. His home was in shambles. But he had a blonde wig for Julieta and found his camera. He said it was going to take some time for the passport supplies to come in due to the earthquake and told us we could go to Mexico where another contact could help us, but I didn't want to take the risk of going to Mexico. And neither Julieta nor I wanted to leave the family in the state they were in.
A few days after we saw him, he stopped by the farm and said Zoe got abducted, and they shot Dirk in his friend Clayton's driveway. Clayton was nursing Dirk back to health, but he was heading to Mexico to help him figure out how to re-rescue Zoe. He gave Julieta's photo to his connection, Mike, who said he would drop her new passport off when supplies arrived.
As much as I wanted to go to Mexico with him to help Dirk, there was no way I could risk Julieta's safety, and I wouldn't leave her.
Julieta and I both feel sick about Zoe and Dirk's situation. And it's a reminder we need to get out of Central America and to Bermuda as planned.
So the last month we've been sitting on pins and needles, waiting for the passport.
Tinker's guy was finally able to get us the passports earlier today.
"I have some other news for you," I say.
"What?"
"Mike has a fisherman friend going to the Bahamas on a boat. We'll have to go through a passport check when we arrive at the marina, but he said he has an extra cabin, and we can go with him. It will take a few days extra to get there, since they will fish on the way, but I think we should do it."
Julieta sits up. "So, we don't need to get on an airplane in Central America?"
"No. We can hop on a flight from there."
She lets out a breath. "That's good. Great, actually."
"I thought you'd be relieved."
