Page 140 of Traces Of You

“I wouldn’t have.”

“But you wouldn’t have been able to stop what happened. You did this time. That is what I choose to remember.”

“Why are you telling me this now?” he asked.

He tucked her damp hair behind her ear. “Because I’m a stronger person. I won’t hide. I won’t run. I won’t be afraid to be honest with you. There is no one out there controlling me or stopping me. I’m that way because of you.”

He leaned down to kiss her on the lips.

“You always had it in you, but I can’t tell you how thrilled I am I got to witness the transformation.”

37

TIME TO STOP

“What are you doing here?” Brooke asked on Friday. “You’re off this week.”

Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “It’s boring with Ford all day.”

“He’s being a bear, isn’t he?” Brooke put the pan down she’d been pulling out of the oven and rushed to give her a hug. Reenie couldn’t express how much she needed to feel as if she belonged by more than just Ford.

Only two days had passed since his hospital discharge, but he was driving her crazy with his restlessness.

She had to admit she felt the walls closing in on her.

That was saying a lot for someone who spent most of her life hiding in a small bedroom to escape reality.

But she was free now.

As free as she’d ever been in her life.

She needed to repay those that got her here.

“I didn’t expect him to complain so much,” she whispered.

It’s not as if Ford could hear her. She’d dropped him off at the mill, made sure he got in on his crutches, which only resulted in a frown and an impatient hand waving her away.

“He doesn’t like being laid up,” Brooke said, moving back. “None of my boys do. How is your arm doing?”

“Good,” she said. “I don’t feel much more than some pulling now and again, but it’s in a good spot that I can reach around without too many issues.”

Just another scar on her forearm.

A reminder of what she’d overcome.

She’d wear this one with pride. She was a survivor.

That was what she’d told herself for days.

Not that the Ridgeway family would blame her for what she’d brought to their sons.

Ford was injured.

Clay had killed two people.

Ford was checking in with his brother now, worried about his headspace.

Not what she wanted to hear, but the two of them vowed to be honest with each other and she’d been telling him her fears, so he did the same.