Page 41 of Hunted in Hope Town

Gingerly, carefully, he drew her into his arms. It felt like she could take a full breath for the first time.

Safe.

She was safe. And wrung out. Exhausted. There were so many things to talk about, to remember, but with the rhythmic, calming sensation of his hand moving up and down her back, she fell asleep.

ELLIS WOKE UP in his bed in Chicago, his wife in his arms, thinking he was going to be late for work if he didn’t force himself to leave this perfect moment. He pressed his nose into her hair, inhaled deeply, and cursed himself for taking this last job.

What was he thinking?

That if you stay, you’re going to have to face the realities of being a father.

And then he opened his eyes. The room was bright with sunlight. The moment gone, but the bolt of fear lodged in his brain.

A dream? A memory? He couldn’t quite make sense of it. He hadn’t been afraid of being a damn father and…

He wasn’t alone in this bed, in the here and now. Not Chicago. Wyoming.

But his wife. Brown eyes met his. Searching for something.

She’d remembered last night. The trauma that had happened to her.

Because of him.

But it meant…if she could remember the horrible things, that there was some hope…

Damn it, hadn’t he learned that hope didn’t do a damn thing?

Maybe she’d remembered that night, but it didn’t mean she remembered everything. It didn’t mean she understood. It didn’t mean there was some magical way to go back to before.

Too much had happened.

She would never know how hard it was for him to sit up, to get up and out of that bed with her in it. A vision of something he’d once had and lost. Because of his own damn choices.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, not able to look at her.

She took a moment, like she was considering it. “A bit like I got hit by a truck. But… I’m glad I went back to sleep. I needed that. I needed…rest.”

“Good. You’re probably starving. I’ll make some breakfast.”

“Ellis.”

He wanted to walk out the door. Ignore whatever she wanted to say, but how could he? She deserved better. So he turned to face her.

She was sitting up, resting her chin on her curled-up knees. “I don’t know that I remember everything, but when I try to think back to certain things, they’re there,” she told him earnestly, though she didn’t look right at him either, more at the wall next to him. “My mom’s name is Nora Braxton. My sister’s name is Erica. You and I got married on June 14.”

She moved her gaze to his. Tears swam in her eyes. “And you were right. We didn’t have a fight about you being afraid to be a father.” She laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “It was…” She gestured at her head. “I used to rehearse the fights I wanted to have with you in my head. And then I was never brave enough to actually have them, but apparently the memory was just…that. Thinking about it. Obsessing about it. And never telling you.”

He hadn’t known that, but it clicked certain things into a new understanding. Because it had always felt like there’d been these…things left unsaid between them. They’d both retreat to their corners. He’d throw himself into work, and she’d apparently rehearse fights she hadn’t ever actually started.

And she remembered. More than he expected, if she knew names and dates. He honestly didn’t even know what to say to that. He hadn’t expected this, and maybe if things were different, he’d have time to reel.

But there was a threat against her, so he needed to deal with this new reality rationally. With his head, not his heart.

“Do you want to talk to Dr. Leigh? I can set up an appointment—”

“No, Ellis,” she replied, looking very disapprovingly at him. “I want to talk to you.”

His chest tightened, hard and painful. He couldn’t quite breathe through it. So he groped around for something that might ease it. “All right. But I should check in with Zach to see what the PI has about the assistant and—”