Page 70 of Capturing You

“I didn’t. He did. He never got past it.” Ford stood and poked at the burning logs, then added another, though the room was plenty warm.

“Didn’t he understand you were trying to help?”

“He landed in the hospital.”

“Yeah, but?—”

“Wanting to help, trying to help… The point is, Ididn’thelp.” He stood with his back to her, head lowered as if in shame.

Because of the actions of one kid trying to help another.

She studied his beautiful silhouette. He had straight, broad shoulders, but they weren’t broad enough to carry all the burdens piled up there. He needed to know how to let them go. To release them to the Lord.

Of course, he didn’t trust the Lord. How did people without faith survive the trials of life—even a normal life? And it sounded like Ford’s hadn’t been normal at all. Parents too busy to care for him. Raised by an aunt who’d sent him off to school to deal with pressures no child should face.

“If you had it to do over again,” Brooklynn asked, “what would you do differently?”

He faced her. “I don’t…” His voice trailed, and he looked over her head as if a good answer hovered in the darkness behind her. “I don’t know.”

“If you’d done nothing, the bullying wouldn’t have stopped.”

“Maybe it would have, eventually.”

“Did those boys suddenly become kind, upstanding citizens of your boarding school?”

His lips quirked. “After he left, they moved on to another kid, but the teachers watched more closely. They weren’t as bad.”

“So telling the headmaster actually did help.”

“Didn’t help Matty. For him, I made things worse.” He returned the poker to its stand. “I prayed about that decision. I thought God would help, and He didn’t.”

“He isn’t a genie, you know. You don’t just automatically get what you pray for. Maybe it was better for Matty to go home.”

“Yeah, it was. Which proves my point. God worked that out for Matty because God was on his side. Just like he used me to save you yesterday because He’s on your side. He’s never been on mine.”

“That’s quite a lesson to take from one bad experience.”

“One?” His voice was too loud. He faced the fire again. “You have no idea.”

Those last words were uttered so low she barely heard them.

“I’d love to know, though, if you want to talk about?—”

“I don’t.”

“Okay.” She’d pushed too hard, and he’d retreated into his shell. The thought that he might never open up to her hurt, physically hurt. She wanted to know more about this man who carried the world on his broad shoulders. She wanted to know everything about him.

He was secretive and mysterious and short-tempered and broody. But beneath that, he was a boy who’d only wanted to help his friend. A man who’d risked his life to save hers. Who’d stood up to criminals—and a cop—to protect her.

He was so many things she admired. She wanted to know him better.

And she wanted him to know her.

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

What was wrong with him?

Forbes never told anybody that story. In the years since Matty had left school, Forbes had never told a soul. Not even Grandmother.