Page 148 of Take Me Away

I pull her against my chest. She resists for half a second, then collapses into me.

‘I missed Maggie’s last years because of him, because I knew she’d take one look at me and know the truth,’ she sobs into my shirt. ‘And you. I missed you because I was too ashamed to come back.’

‘You should have told me.’

‘How? How was I supposed to tell you that the girl you loved had been⁠—’

‘Still loved,’ I correct roughly. ‘Still love. Present tense. Nothing he did changes that.’

She pulls back to look at me. ‘You still think I’m worth saving.’

My chest is so tight, it’s hard to form the words I need to say.

‘Isla. Every time you are swept away from me, I will dive to any depths to find you.’

‘Kit, your life is so beautiful, innocent, I feel like I’m darkness, a cloud that will blot out the happiness you deserve.’

‘Isla, I watched my wife slip away from her life.’ There’s a bastard stinging in the back of my eyes. ‘My life hasn’t been all roses. We both hold darkness.’

She doesn’t answer, so I focus on the feel of her chest rising and falling against mine. Until the silence becomes too much.

‘I’ll never let you suffer, never let anything happen to you. No one will ever touch you again. Or I’ll kill them.’

She laughs. Actually laughs.

‘Kit Save the Seal-Pups Harding is threatening death?’

I chuckle, bring her in close. ‘You make me feral.’

‘That makes two of us.’

‘Isla.’ I cup her face in my hands. ‘I saw you drugged. I saw you violated. I saw proof that Marcus Vale is a monster who belongs in prison. What I didn’t see was anything that makes me love you less.’

‘The whole world thinks I’m a liar.’

‘Fuck the whole world.’

‘Maisie’s classmates might have seen⁠—’

I don’t tell her that they have. What would be the point? ‘Then I’ll deal with it. We’ll deal with it. Together. That’s what you do when you love someone. You don’t run. You don’t hide. You stand together and you fight.’

‘I broke my promise.’ Her voice is small. ‘I said I was staying and I ran.’

‘Yeah, you did. And I’m still furious about that.’ I let her see it – the anger, the hurt, the betrayal I felt waking up to an empty bed. ‘But I drove four and a half hours with my daughter to tell you something important.’

‘What?’

‘I should have chased you ten years ago. Should have got in whatever shitty car I had and followed you to London and made sure you were okay. I didn’t. I let you go. And you ended up with him.’

‘That wasn’t your fault⁠—’

‘Maybe not. But I won’t make the same mistake twice.’ I lean my forehead against hers. ‘So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to pack a bag. You’re going to get in my truck with me and Maisie. And you’re going to come home.’

‘Kit—’

‘Not forever if you don’t want. Not even for long if that’s what you need. But you’re coming home long enough to see that the village doesn’t hate you. That Maisie still loves you. That I still love you. And that whatever fight is coming with Marcus Vale, we’re in it together.’

‘What if I can’t?’