Page 52 of Running to You

Eliza had heard just enough about the worse that her stomach turned over at the thought. After what Camilla and her family had been through—believing Daniel dead, a car accident that nearly killed their son, then a kidnapping… The last thing Camilla needed was more trauma. Eliza cleared her throat, and the men looked up at her. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Sam climbed the stairs toward her and held out his hand as if she needed help carrying her suitcase. She handed him the shopping bag.

“This is it?”

“My designer luggage.”

He lifted it like he was weighing it. “You let me know what else you need, okay?”

The look in his eyes… She couldn’t name it. Or maybe just shouldn’t, because the word affection came to mind.

“Yeah, sure. I will.” She continued her descent. Sam beside her.

Daniel seemed to be waiting. “I owe you an apology, too,” he said when she reached him. “I’m sorry I yelled. I was—”

“You owe me nothing.” She squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry I brought this to your doorstep.”

The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Technically, Sam’s doorstep.” He looked past her and up the stairs, and his expression shifted, becoming similar to the concern she'd just seen in Sam’s face. “You all right?”

“Quit worrying. I’m fine.” Camilla joined them. “You made a plan?”

“Dad’s on his way. We’ll stay with him.” To Sam, he said, “You two should go to the camp.”

“The other Wrights are there,” Sam said. Eliza almost asked who he meant, and then he added, “They’re having a girls’ weekend.” And she remembered Sam’s cousins—four, maybe five girls. Women now, she supposed.

“There’s plenty of room,” Daniel said. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

“We’re going somewhere nobody will find us. Away from anybody who could get hurt.”

“Yeah. Probably not a bad idea.” Daniel’s lips pressed in a grim line. Then he shifted to his wife, wrapped his arm around her, and led her to the living room. “You need anything? Tea?”

“Stop doting. I’m fine.”

Eliza watched them, this couple in love. The way they looked at each other. The way they took care of each other. She’d seen it in Camilla’s behavior as she’d acted as Daniel’s nurse—the respect, the affection.

Now she saw it in Daniel, how he wanted to serve her. How he worried for her. How he loved her.

They settled side by side on the couch, speaking too low for her to hear. Meeting each other’s eyes. Reaching out for gentle touches as if to assure themselves the other was still there.

They weren’t overly polite or putting on a show. This was true. Two people who’d nearly lost each other and who understood what they had. Understood that the other wasn’t replaceable.

She thought of her own parents.

Mom demanded.

Dad acquiesced.

There hadn’t been peace in her home, not for many years before Dad’s death. More like a tenuous cease-fire.

Every once in a while, Dad would kick up his heels, and war would break out all over again.

Her parents’ marriage wasn’t what she wanted.

What she was witnessing right now…that was what she longed for.

She might not remember where she’d been for the last five years, or what she’d been doing, but deep down, what she yearned for hadn’t changed. She wanted to be with a man she could count on. She wanted to be with a man who cherished her. She wanted to be free to live and love and sometimes even make mistakes without them blowing up in her face.

She wanted a family, a home of her own.