Page 189 of Severed Heart

“We will sort every emotion you are feeling, Delphine. I swear to you, but for now, we’re going to give that beautiful brain of yours a little rest.”

“I remembered,” I finally say, “I remembered,” I croak in disbelief, eyeing the shoebox I retrieved from my old house last night. After weeks of fruitless sessions, of drawing blanks. Weeks of believing my damaged brain would never allow me to see, I recovered the box from my closet in one last effort to try. Biting my lip, my eyes drift back to the woman I finally allow myself to truly view, to regard as Tyler’s mother.

“Thank you, Regina.” I swallow. “I will find a way to thank you.”

“These circumstances are really unique, and so this request is purely selfish albeit unprofessional, but would you be okay if I hugged you?”

“Oui, yes,” I say. With permission, she pulls me gently into her embrace, and I crumble in relief, holding her back just as tightly. The tears far more quietly shed than any others in our nearly ninety hours together as my body releases each one until an exhausted sleep claims me.

I wake up with strong arms surrounding me, lifting me, and look up to see Tyler gazing down at me. His expression is pained, though his posture is stoic. It’s clear he’s indecisive about what he needs to be for me right now as I palm his face to ease his anxiety. “I remembered,” I whisper. “I remembered that night, Tyler,” I croak, “and I am okay.”

“I’m here, baby,” he murmurs. “I’m right here if you want to talk about it.” I glance around as he walks me toward our bedroom.

“Is it nighttime?”

“Yes, you’ve been out for a few hours. Are you hungry?” he asks, depositing me on our bed and kneeling beside it, gripping my hand between his. “What can I do?”

“You’ve done enough,” I whisper, running my fingers through his lengthening hair.

“Are you okay?” he croaks, real fear in his return gaze.

“You heard me scream?”

He nods.

“It was a scream of outrage, Soldier,” I tell him honestly. “He gets no more of my fear . . .” I palm his jaw. “I’m glad you made him suffer, and I don’t care what that makes me.” I gently stroke his face as his eyes frantically search me. “I feel safe, I promise, and I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby ...fuck,” he croaks, running a hand through his messy hair. It’s then I recognize the true state of him.

“Tyler. I’m okay. I’m not lying to you. Look at me.”

He does, his eyes roaming every inch before he finally nods, seeming satisfied. I turn on my pillow to fully face him, studying him carefully, astonished by the soldier I created. In utter awe of the secrets I suspect he’s been guarding. “And though I am glad you made Alain suffer, you did not reveal all to me when you confessed about that night, did you?”

He slowly shakes his head. “I was going to tell you.”

“You found out that night that you went to Alain why I stayed? You learned of his threat ... about Abel?”

He nods again.

“And you never told Ezekiel?”

He blows out a long breath. “I can’t and never will.”

“And why is that, my soldier?”

“I had to,” he whispers. “By the time I got there, Abel was already moving in on Tobias. They were playing chess in a park in France. I saw a window and used it to eliminate the threat to my brother.” He swallows. “As far as Tobias knows, Abel died with no foul play. T attended his funeral.”

“And you have kept this hidden from him all this time?”

He nods. “As much as I feel T should know what you endured to protect him, protect them all, you guarded this secret, so I did, too.”

“Iendangeredthem by urging them to come here. I just didn’t realize it until they came to join me in the States. I wrote those letters before I discovered what Abijah was hiding. It was only after they got here that he started to threaten me.” I sigh. “Over time, I realized there was only one thing Alain wanted more than anything else.”

“You,” he deduces easily.

“And I will never understand it.”

“Sadly, I do,” Tyler rasps out mournfully.