Page 142 of The Bitterroot Inn (Jamison Valley 5)
When we’d finally broken apart with wet faces, Jess had asked for a moment with Hunter and me to explain our options for dealing with Nell.
With Coby sitting just outside the conference room with my parents, Hunter had told me what Nell had said when he’d talked to her in the back of the police car.
The woman hadn’t been in her right mind. We could have pushed and demanded she spend time in prison, but Hunter hadn’t felt right about having her sent to a place where her mental state would just deteriorate further. She was his family, after all.
So rather than press criminal charges, we’d taken pity on her and agreed to get Nell into a mental institution. She needed help. Something had broken in her weak mind and she needed professionals with tools to help her put back the pieces—if she ever recovered at all.
“Are you feeling okay about it?” I asked. “No regrets?”
He shook his head. “No regrets. This is the best. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. The place she’s at is really nice. Her doctor seems like a good guy and the staff is very professional.”
“Maybe in a few months, you can go visit. I’m sure she’d like that.”
He shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Was I still angry that Nell had taken Coby? Absolutely. But I just couldn’t find it in myself to hate her any longer. She had no one in the world to care for her except Hunter. She’d lost it all: her money, her home and her mind.
Nell had hurt Hunter so badly by taking Coby; I was just proud that he’d been able to set that pain aside and care for her as a fellow human being. His father would have been proud too. I wasn’t going to push Hunter to see her if he didn’t want to, but I also wouldn’t object if he decided to visit. It was his decision and I’d support him either way.
“Did you find out why?” I asked.
The timing of all Nell’s actions was still bothering me. I had no doubt that Everett’s death had been the catalyst for Nell’s mental break, but why now? Everett had been dead for years. Why did she suddenly go crazy this year?
“It was my fault,” Hunter said. “She snapped because of me.”
“What do you mea—ouch!”
Coby’s car slammed into my bare foot again.
“Sorry, Mommy, sorry!” he called before I could scold him.
I frowned. “Shoo. Out of the kitchen.”
He came and scooped up his car, then went rushing out.
“Okay.” I turned back to Hunter. “Continue. Why is it your fault that Nell snapped?”
“Because I moved here.”
My eyebrows knitted together. “I’m not following.”
“Remember I told you that I was living in the pool house at Dad’s house?”
I nodded. “During your residency.”
“Yes, and afterward too. I lived there until I moved here for the first time. Even after I left Chicago, I kept Dad’s old house. Nell had already moved to Grand Rapids but she’d left almost everything in the Chicago house. She spent most of Dad’s life insurance on a new house and new furnishings. All of that stuff, I just left. When I moved back to Chicago after I’d been here the first time, I moved right back into the pool house since most of my stuff was still there.”
I was still confused at how his moving the second time to Prescott had sent Nell over the brink, but I stayed quiet as Hunter got up from his stool to get a glass of water, then sat back down.
“When I moved back here, I decided to sell Dad’s house. I left not knowing how long I’d stay here, but . . . call it a feeling. I just knew it was time to clear out all of the stuff and let it go.”
Hunter shook his head and yanked out his hair band, fixing his bun to trap some of the hairs that had fallen loose.
The suspense was killing me but I just stood quietly and waited for him to keep explaining. Hunter had stopped keeping secrets, but one thing I had learned about my man was to be patient. When things were hard for him to talk about, he needed some extra time.
I could give him all the time in the world.
I’d give him anything.
