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That was a big deal. “Right.”
She didn’t speak for a while.
Neither did he. But he couldn’t help but ask, “So what does he know?”
She let out a long sigh. “Of course, he knows I was married. He knows I had difficulty having children. He knows that my ex was abusive. But I just haven’t been able to tell him I … murdered him.”
“It was self-defense, Cheryse.” He felt protective of her. “When you kill someone in self-defense, it’s not murder.”
“I know. I know. I just … it’s hard to tell anyone.”
They reached the coordinates that Trent had marked. Hunter paused and pointed to a large rock; it looked like a nice place to set Cheryse down for a minute. “I think this is the place. I’m going to put you down right here, if that works.”
“Yeah.”
His mind was spinning. How could she not understand that none of that was her fault? She talked about Pastor Henry and he knew she was going to church, and Pastor Henry had stopped in to chat with her several times over the course of the last week. Not just her, but both of them.
Carefully, he swiveled and put her down on the rock. “Have you talked this over with Pastor Henry?”
She bristled and looked away. “I haven’t talked this over with anyone. And now I’m telling my greatest nemesis.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her. “We’re not in a comic book—at least, I don’t think so.” He winked at her. “Unless it has a coffin meme, too.”
She let out a light laugh.
It was stupid, but he was ridiculously happy that she was sharing with him. “First, I’m not your nemesis. Second, I believe in you. You’ll figure it out.” Even though part of him didn’t want her to figure it out. It was obvious why she didn’t share with the snobby fundraiser; she was afraid of rejection. Hunter wanted to be supportive. He wanted to be the guy that he used to be, before the past year. “I’m glad you told me.”
“Are you?” She met his gaze.
“Of course I am.” He moved to her side and took her hand. “Listen, I want to be there for you and support you. If you don’t feel like it was the right time to tell Roger about your past, then it’s not the right time. You don’t have to explain that to me.”
Her lip trembled. “Why are you so nice to me? Quit it. Tell me how ridiculous it is that I haven’t told my would-be fiancé that I killed my last husband.”
Their eyes met, and he couldn’t help but smile. He pulled her into a hug and chuckled at her dramatics.
She pushed his chest. “Don’t laugh at that. Because it’s horrible. See? See how horrible that sounds? I killed my last husband. How am I even going to say that?”
He kept her against him. He wanted to tease her, but she didn’t need that right now. So he sat beside her on the ground and took one of her hands. “Reese, your husband was abusive. He was a monster. When you were lying in the hospital because I hit you with a motorcycle, that’s exactly how I felt. I felt like a monster too. It … It shook me up.”
A tear fell down her cheek. “You’re not a monster, Hunter.”
He gave her hand a little squeeze. “Oh, but I was acting the part. The fact is, Reese, it doesn’t matter how something sounds. The truth is greater than that.”
She squeezed his hand back and smiled, tears running down her face. “I remember this Stone family lecture. The truth is greater than anything else.”
He found himself laughing and crying with her, thinking of his father, then thinking of his brother Trent and how they had made fun of those little speeches. “That’s right.” Gratitude spread through him. Suddenly, he knew he didn’t need to worry about anything else when it came to Cheryse, except the truth he had to offer her. “You’re a good person, Reese. You’ve always been a good person. Something happened in your life that made you question everything about yourself, and that’s okay.”
“Is it?” More tears stained her cheeks, and she wiped them away.
“As long as you come back to yourself.”
“I want to. Have you come back to yourself?”
He snorted. “It’s so like you to turn this on me.”
She smiled. “Well, have you?”
Hunter didn’t speak for a long time. Eventually, he had to confess, “I hope so. You know, I honestly never worried about the people I killed in the service of my country. Before I went into a situation, I always felt that God was on my side and that he would help me not make a mistake. I took taking a life seriously, and though it wasn’t always easy to be a SEAL, I felt extreme honor. It wasn’t until … Trent got blown up.” The air whooshed out of his lungs. “I should have cleared the area better. He stepped on a trip wire that I should have found. It was my job to take care of that.”
