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Joy shrugged. “It was all right. By the time I got back to their house, they had a special alarm system and a bodyguard for when I went outside with the children.”

“What did your family say when you came home and told them about it?” I asked.

“I never told them.”

“How could you not tell them?” I demanded to know.

She looked up at me. “Look at how you’re reacting, and this whole thing happened years ago. My family would have gone batshit crazy, and there wasn’t a damn thing they could have done. Trust me, my way was best.”

She must have noticed the look on my face because she winced. “I still stand by my decision.”

I shook my head. “You do know they were buying your cooperation, but any time you want to come at them with a lawsuit, you still would have a good one.”

“It wouldn’t do any good. Mr. Smythe is really rich, so he’s a really good barrister. Anyway, it happened too long ago.”

“Bullshit. They ignored everything that was happening to you and practically thrust you into the arms of a killer. Trust me, you have a case.”

She shook her head. “I want to keep it buried in the past. They never found the guy while I was in London. The detective called me six months after I was home. No one else had ever complained of something similar happening. So, they were closing the case. When I think about it, I don’t think there is any chance the guy from London sent me flowers to the clinic.”

I blew out a deep breath. “It doesn’t seem likely,” I agreed. “So, you never once told your family? Ever?”

“No, never. If I had, they would have insisted I come live back home. I would have been lucky to have gone out on a date when I was forty. Maybe even forty-five. Even then, Seth or Randy would have tried to chaperone me.” She bit her thumb.

“And your brothers would have lost their minds,” Graham said quietly, nodding. “But you did end up talking to someone. A therapist. Who? When?”

“The detective suggested someone affiliated with their department, and the Smyths paid for it. She really helped me. I understood things better. I was more logical about it, but I still had nightmares for a while.”

“How did you handle them?”

“I would read until the sun came up. Then I could sleep. If I fell asleep when it was dark, then the nightmares would start.”

“Aw, baby.” Graham cupped the back of my head and pressed his cheek against mine. “When did the nightmares stop?”

“About a month after I came home. Mom knew something was up. She thought I had met someone, and it was a bad breakup. The way I didn’t talk about it, I know she thought the man might have been married. She figured he lied to me, and I found out. I still wouldn’t say anything. She insisted I talk to Little Grandma.”

I frowned. “She thought that you talking to your great-great-grandmother would help?”

Joy gave a quick grin. “You don’t know her. She’s magic.”

“So, you actually talked to her?” I shook my head, trying to clear it.

“I did. She asked me about the museums in London. About the kids I took care of. About my favorite foods. Then she fed me. All of my favorites.” She grinned.

“That must have been a long conversation,” I teased.

She punched me in the chest, and it felt like a feather’s caress. “Anyway, I told her I was sad.”

“And after you told her you were sad?”

“She asked me if I had a reason to be sad in Jasper Creek. It was a simple question, and I had been so jammed up in my own head and heart that I hadn’t even considered that. I just stared at her, then finally laughed.”

She turned and straddled my lap. “At that moment, I felt the clouds clear, and I realized now that I was back in Tennessee, I didn’t feel like I was in a haze of dark oppressive clouds. When I told her that, she smiled and waited. I finally asked her, ‘What?’ She asked me what else I wasn’t facing. God, she’s good.”

Joy didn’t say anything for a long time. I waited, just like Little Grandma had. “I told her my family was suffocating me. I could feel their worry every damn day. I might not have told them about the stalker, but they knew something was wrong, and they hovered. I couldn’t make a move without them there.”

“Is that why you moved to Nashville?” I asked.

She nodded. “It might not have been the best life, but it helped. I was anonymous, and nobody was looming over me.”