30. Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
B rooke walked down the stairs to answer the knock at the door. Her mom stepped out of the kitchen with a cup of tea.
“I’ve got it, Mom.” She hopped down the last two steps and smiled. No more brace on her ankle. No more pain in her leg. Six weeks at the ranch had done wonders for her recovery. The days she spent in the sun had given her skin a warm glow. The cuts on her hands and arms were completely healed. She still wore the brace for her broken wrist. The scars and the way others stared at her would take more time to get used to completely.
She opened the door and froze. Fear and a desperate need to run rushed through her system. Two weeks working with a grief counselor and even longer with a psychiatrist went out the door along with her breath. She couldn’t remember a single thing the doctors told her about living in the moment and trying to avoid triggers that sent her into quiet depressions that smothered her ability to see the joy in anything.
The suffocating darkness opened up under her feet and swallowed her whole.
“You aren’t welcome here,” her mom snapped, rushing up beside her. “Leave. Leave now before you cause any more harm to my daughter.” Her mom wrapped a protective arm around Brooke’s waist to draw her away from the door.
Brooke’s whole body trembled with fear and anger and a misery so deep it hurt her heart to beat.
Why did Cody have to work late tonight? She needed him desperately to hold the world at bay and keep her safe. She needed him so she could breathe through the pain and find the peace that he gave her.
“We’ve only come to talk,” Mrs. Harris said, stepping forward. “Please, Brooke. Give us just a few minutes of your time.”
“She doesn’t owe you anything.” Her mother seethed. “Can’t you see you’ve upset her?”
“We aren’t here to hurt her, only to talk. Please,” the governor pleaded.
Her mom glared daggers at him. “Your being here hurts her. Seeing you brings it all back when she’s done so well these last weeks to put it behind her.”
Brooke snapped back into herself with her mother’s fierce words. The truth was, she’d never put what happened behind her. She’d been hiding on the ranch, biding her time, waiting for something that would never come.
She’d never magically erase what happened.
She’d made some strides out of spending her whole day and night wallowing in pain and misery. She’d found enough focus and drive to slowly get her bookstore and café ready to open, with a lot of help from her mom and Cody. She’d even settled into her relationship with Cody and loved that they’d found their way back to each other.
But none of that meant that she’d fully dealt with and healed from the attack and the loss of her daughter.
Focused and driven in everything she did, she used to know exactly what she wanted and who she was. Now she was finding her way through her new normal, allowing herself to still sit in those dark moments knowing there were good things in her life waiting for her. But there were still some mornings that Cody had to remind her to eat, that even a kiss from him didn’t bring a smile.
So maybe she did need to stop putting this off and face it. Them.
If they wanted to talk, then she was going to finally have her say.
She reached out and touched her mom’s hand. “Mom, it’s okay.”
“Brooke.” Her mom pleaded with her eyes.
She needed to do this. “Governor, Mrs. Harris, please come into the study. We can talk there.” She didn’t wait for them to come in, simply turned on her heel and headed for Cody’s office. If they wanted to talk to her, they’d follow.
She walked into the study, saw the rug by the couch, and stopped short. Poor choice for this discussion. Her daughter could very well have been conceived in this room.
Instinct backed her out of the room and straight into the governor’s chest. He gripped her arms to steady her. She stifled a scream and tore herself away from his grasp, taking several steps away. “We can’t use this room. I’m sorry. The living room will have to do.”
She rushed past the wide-eyed and curious couple and crossed the room to the fireplace, not giving them an explanation about her seemingly irrational reaction. They had to know it was because of their son.
She paced back and forth a few times, trying to compose her swirling thoughts. She wrapped her arms around her middle, holding herself tight, trying to pull herself together.
She didn’t care if she looked unhinged. She felt that way.
They’d opened up her festering wound.
Mrs. Harris took a seat on the sofa and the governor stood beside his wife, giving Brooke space.
The governor took the lead this time. “Brooke, we’re so sorry to barge in on you like this. We’ve tried to reach you through Cody and your lawyer, Mr. Wagner. They’ve made it clear you aren’t ready to talk to us about this situation, but we simply wanted to tell you face-to-face how sorry we are for what happened.”
The sharp retort that flashed through her mind caught in her throat.
Cody ran through the front door and slammed it in the governor’s security guard’s face with a resounding thud. He stopped for a second in the foyer and stared at everyone in the living room. Her mother stood sentry just behind Mrs. Harris. Brooke suspected she was ready to pounce like a mama lion if her cub was in any danger. Cody stood rigid, his hands fisted at his sides. He looked ready to kill.
Cody’s gaze swept over her, a moment of relief in his eyes before his much sharper gaze fell on the governor. “I told you not to come here. I told you she wasn’t ready to talk. Get out of my house.”
The barely controlled rage in Cody’s words registered as resignation in the governor’s eyes.
“How dare you come here, knowing you’re not welcome. She’s the victim. And you should respect her wishes and needs. And the last thing she needs is you in her face with your agenda and demands. Now get out!”
Brooke rushed to him and took his fisted hands in hers. His chest rose and fell heavily with each heaving breath he took. Angrier than she’d ever seen him, he was trying to protect her. It made all the difference. She could take care of this because she had him on her side, ready to shield her and defend her to the bitter end.
She took his face in her trembling hands and made him look at her.
When he finally met her gaze, he softly touched her cheek and pleaded with her, “Please, honey, don’t do this. Go upstairs. Let me take care of it. I don’t want to see you hurting, not like that, not ever again.”
“I have to. I was his victim. Now I’m a survivor. I can’t hide forever.”
“If this gets out, that he came here to see you and why, the media will never stop hounding you. You’ll never be able to let it fade into the past.”
“That’s just it, Cody. I live with it every day. Nothing will change that. It’s in my head and affects everything I do and think. I look at you and I ache inside because I wonder if our daughter had your blue eyes and the same dimple in her left cheek that only comes out when you try not to smile. I look at the scars on my body, and I remember the knife slashing through my skin. I can feel how tight my chest gets as I remember my desperation to protect myself and her. I walk around the ranch and every little thing reminds me she isn’t here. She’ll never run through the garden, splash in the pond, learn to ride a horse, or play hide-and-seek in the hayloft.”
Cody’s eyes shone with unshed tears.
She brushed one of her own away. “You want me to put it behind me. So do I. The counselor told us it takes a lot of little steps to finally put some distance between yesterday and today. This is one of those steps I have to take.”
Cody cupped her face, much like she held his, and stared into her eyes. “Everything inside me tells me not to let you do this. To protect you no matter what. I didn’t protect you from him but I can protect you now.” He sighed and looked her up and down. “But I know you, Brooke. You’re strong. So fucking fierce. If you say you can, then I know you will. If this is what you need…”
“It is.”
His words, his confidence in her, it gave her the courage to speak for herself and their daughter.
“Then I’m here for you.” Cody stole a kiss and released her. He stood beside her, his arms folded over his chest, and eyed the governor. No mistaking his unspoken threat. Make a wrong move, say the wrong thing, and you’ll answer to me.
Brooke took a deep breath and turned to face the governor. “Why are you really here, Governor Harris? You made yourself clear in the hospital about what you really want. Seems to me the cover-up is well in effect. No one knows what your son did. His pampered ass is sitting in a swanky hospital instead of a cell. And I’ve allowed it.” She wanted him to know that she ultimately held the power here.
Governor Harris rubbed his index finger over his chin. “My wife and I have known your family for decades. Harland was one of my best friends. We care deeply about what happened to you, Brooke. We wanted to be sure you were okay.”
She actually believed the part about him caring because of his long-time friendship with Harland. “Did you go and see the other girls your son attacked? Did you speak with the woman he raped? How are they feeling after being assaulted that way?”
Mrs. Harris gasped. Tears streamed down her face. She took the handkerchief from her husband and dabbed at her eyes. “He was a good boy. Quiet. Kind. Thoughtful. Something happened to him. He changed. He wasn’t himself. He wasn’t the one who did those things.” The disassociation of her son from the monster struck Brooke like a hammer blow. Mrs. Harris truly didn’t believe her son capable of hurting anyone.
She hadn’t met the monster Brooke saw the night he attacked her.
Something inside Brooke snapped. “You only see him as your son. You ignored the signs that something was off with him.”
Confirmation shone in both their eyes that she was right about that.
“You never wanted to see the monster who attacked me and four other women,” she accused. “You only want to cover it up, so no one will ever know the boy you raised is a stalker, rapist, and murderer. You want to avoid the stares I can’t escape when people see my scars. You don’t want to be shunned because of what he did.” She stared down the governor. “You don’t want to lose your job and the power you wield.”
The governor consoled his weeping wife with a hand on her shoulder. “We don’t need to get into the details.”
“Why not? The details matter. Your son attended parties with you here. I’d never really taken the time to get to know him. But last Fourth of July, I spent some time talking to him and a few other friends. I thought he was nice. A little sad that he lived in your shadow and that you didn’t see him for who he was, more than you saw him as merely another player in your political game.”
The governor bristled. “I love my son.”
“I’m sure you do, but he didn’t feel that love. He felt your judgement and need for him to play his part. He was desperate to be seen and loved for who he is, not as the governor’s son, but as Adam. He wanted to feel good enough just as he was.”
Governor Harris hung his head, his gaze distant with memories.
Brooke continued. “We spoke for less than an hour. Then he stalked me for six months, intermittently meeting up with me and my girlfriends with his friends, acting like everything was fine and he hadn’t been out attacking other women. I couldn’t go anywhere without looking over my shoulder, wondering if the gifts and pictures would soon turn into something more sinister. But instead of coming for me, he picked vulnerable women to go after and terrorize. The first two women were lucky. Even though they were drunk, they fought him off. They got away. One of them was in his quantitative reasoning class. The other his government course. The third victim didn’t fight because your son brought a knife to subdue her. He put that knife to her neck and scared her so much she lay there fearing for her life while your son tried to rape her. We’ll never know if he planned to kill her, because a jogger saw them and he ran away after the sexual assault. I wonder if she knew when she went back to school two weeks later that he was sitting in her international relations class with her. He made the fourth victim pay for all his failed attempts. Not only did he terrorize her with that knife, he did rape her, and beat her unconscious. He left her there, beaten, bloody, and scared out of her mind when she woke up. He did that on my twenty-first birthday.” She paused, letting them get the full impact of that. “That student dropped out of the semester. She didn’t have to sit in her ethics class, where he’d picked her to be his next victim because she looked like me.”
Cody turned to her. “Brooke, how do you know they were in his classes?”
“When the detective investigating my stalker told me the other victims were probably his victims because they looked like me, I started looking into them to see if I could figure out who was doing this. Women are more likely to be raped by a person they know. These women didn’t know each other. But Adam knew all of them. So once I knew Adam was the campus stalker, I figured these women had to be in his classes. After you brought me home, and while you were working in your office and assumed I was watching something on my laptop, I emailed a friend willing to break the rules and who works in the counseling office and asked her to get me all of their schedules. It was easy to connect the dots.”
The governor looked reluctantly impressed she’d done what the police couldn’t. But they didn’t know Adam had attacked any of them. They didn’t know if they were looking for one person or more.
“Your son did that. He sat there, day after day, watching the women around him, looking for someone who looked like me. He picked those four surrogate women. And then he came for me.”
Mrs. Harris violently shook her head side to side. “I can’t listen to this. It’s just so—”
“True,” Brooke snapped. “Tragic. Unforgiveable. Horrendous. Unspeakable.” She tilted her head and studied Mrs. Harris. “I think the note he left you after his suicide attempt spelled it all out very clearly. Everything he’d done and why. He confessed to everything. Didn’t he?”
She got no response to her guess. But how else would they have known what Adam did and that they needed to hide him away as quickly as they did?
“What happened to the letter, Governor?” She raised a brow.
He stared at her shrewdly, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and remained silent.
A politician knew how to spin things and when to say nothing at all.
Brooke couldn’t confirm the existence of the suicide note, but it was a good bet Adam left one behind before he tried to kill himself. Guilt moved him to do something drastic. She bet that same guilt made him leave a confession.
“He is depressed,” Mrs. Harris said, trying to defend her only child.
“Depression didn’t make him a rapist or murderer,” Brooke shot back. She refused to accept any excuses for what Adam Harris had done to her and those other women “He’s mentally unstable and should remain locked up for the rest of his life.”
“He’s getting the help he needs.” Governor Harris took a step toward Brooke.
That wasn’t a confirmation Adam would remain locked up.
Cody stepped forward, ready to pounce if the governor even thought about coming closer.
Brooke vibrated with anger and the fear and grief that was never far from her mind. “As far as the doctors know, he’s being treated for depression. Right? You’re not getting him the help he actually needs. So when the doctors say he’s stable and can go home, what then?”
The governor didn’t respond. Mrs. Harris’s gaze dropped to the floor.
Governor Harris gave her his diplomatic answer. “Brooke, it’s obvious our son was suffering, and he lashed out at you and those other girls.”
That was as close as he’d come to calling his son a murderer and a rapist.
As a parent, you never wanted to think of your child in that way, but you couldn’t hide from the truth either.
The governor touched his chin again. “Mr. Wagner has remained in touch with me, the police, and campus security and is keeping track of the investigation. Have you instructed him to reveal my son’s name as your attacker?”
She tilted her head and stared right at him. “You mean the murderer of my baby.”
“Our son is sick,” Mrs. Harris pleaded, not wanting to truly believe her son capable of all he’d done as she made excuses for him. “You can’t blame us for what happened. You can’t make us pay for his mistakes. This will ruin us.”
Brooke looked down at the woman sobbing on the couch, trying to salvage a life that had never really included her son. Brooke could muster enough compassion for the woman’s grief at discovering her son was the worst sort of person and not the boy she thought him to be. Almost.
“Your son is sick. That doesn’t exonerate him from what he’s done.”
Governor Harris’s frame went rigid. “But if you’ll just listen to reason. I’m the governor of the state. People depend on me. I’m up for reelection next year. This will ruin my career. Every good thing I’ve ever done to serve the people of this state won’t matter. I’ll only be remembered as the father of the man who attacked five women and killed an unborn baby.”
“Yes.” She nodded and wrapped her arms around her middle. “A baby who never got to take a breath, or see the light of day.”
“He knows what he did was wrong. He’s sorry he did it,” Mrs. Harris wailed. “He’s distraught and anxious to make things right. He’s sorry.”
“I don’t care if he’s sorry!” she raged. “I don’t care if he was the kindest boy there ever was. I don’t care what changed him, or the reasons why he decided I was the woman of his dreams, and he had to have me at all costs. None of that mattered when he held a knife to my face.” She traced the scar on her cheek. “It didn’t matter when he dragged me into the bushes and trees and attacked me because I had the audacity to love someone else.”
Governor Harris held his hands out to her, palms up, pleading, “Brooke, we understand your anger and your sadness over the loss of your daughter. It’s understandable, expected, and perfectly reasonable. I see your anger is directed at the person who did this to you. It wasn’t our intention to come here and cause an open wound to bleed even more.” He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out to her. “This is for you.”
Brooke eyed the check as if he were holding out a rattlesnake. She actually took a step back before she caught herself. “Do you actually believe you can buy my silence?”
“No,” Governor Harris said quickly. “No, Brooke. This is our way of doing… something ,” he said for lack of a better word. “Nothing will change what happened, but this money is for you to use to build a future.”
Mrs. Harris gazed up at her, with watery eyes, imploring her. “Please take the money. There’s no reason to ruin my husband’s career and life over this .” Mrs. Harris had gone too far turning what happened to her and those other women into simply “this.”
The fury she’d kept in check to this point hit the boiling point and spewed out with her next words.
“Over this ,” Brooke repeated. “ This that we’re talking about is my murdered daughter. This is about me and Cody and a little girl who never got to be here with us.”
She wished she could make them understand. They’d lost their son, but they were more worried about a job and a reputation. Granted, the governor had worked his whole life to earn both, but it shouldn’t matter at a time like this.
“Why couldn’t you have just come here to tell me how sorry you are for what happened? Why couldn’t you express your sympathy for my daughter in a way that made me feel like you understand all that I’ve lost? You’re parents. Yet I just don’t think you get it.”
She snatched the check out of the governor’s hand and glanced at the amount. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about what your son cost me.” She faced Cody. “About what we’ve lost.” She turned to Mrs. Harris. “A half a million dollars. In your estimation, this is what compensates for a life lost. A life never lived. This is what my daughter’s life was worth. This is what your son’s life is worth to you.”
They looked helpless to answer.
“You just don’t get it.” The anguish washed over her. “I never got to see her face. I don’t know what color hair she had, or what color her eyes were. I never got to hold her in my arms after she was born and count her fingers and toes. I never heard her voice, or saw her take her first steps. I’ll never walk her to her first day of school. I’ll never get to play the tooth fairy or Santa Clause for her. Cody will never get to put together a dollhouse, or a new bike for her the night before Christmas. We’ll never know if she wanted to be a doctor, an engineer, a cowgirl, a writer, a chef, or a lawyer like her dad. I won’t talk to her about boys in high school, or help her pick out her prom dress or wedding gown. I’ll never see her father walk her down the aisle and marry someone she loves beyond words. I’ll never hold my grandchild in my arms, knowing they’re a part of that beautiful girl I lost.”
The tears streamed down her cheeks unchecked. The sadness welled to overwhelming proportions. “Do you get it now?” She wanted them to understand. To feel her pain. But how could they? Their son lived.
“You carried your son for nine months and gave birth to him. You had twenty-plus years of making memories with him. You got to watch him grow up and go off to college. It may have turned out badly, but I bet you wouldn’t trade those twenty-plus years for anything.” She shook the check at them. “Certainly not a half a million dollars.” Maybe for prestige and power , she thought bitterly.
She sucked in a ragged breath. “You’ve got a million memories stored up to pull out to console you and remind you of what you had with him. You have years ahead of you to make more memories. I didn’t get a single day with my daughter!” She sucked in a ragged breath, letting the tears fall. “Not even an hour with her,” she added miserably. “The last thing I remember before your son attacked me is her rolling and kicking inside my belly. That’s the only memory I have of my daughter, what it felt like to have her move inside me.” She pressed her hands to her stomach. “And now I’m empty. I’m empty all the way to my soul.”
Cody moved behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, squeezed, and kissed her on the head, letting her know he was there, backing her up, grieving with her.
She held up the slip of paper. “This check is to buy my silence. I want you to know that I know it. And if you want me to even contemplate giving it to you, then I want something in return. And I want it before I agree to anything.”
The room remained completely quiet and still, except for the soft weeping of Mrs. Harris and her own mom.
Tears spilled down her face. Brooke didn’t even bother to wipe them away. Each one was like another event she’d miss in her daughter’s life.
“You will go to the women your son attacked and tell them he’s locked up and will never hurt them again. You will offer to pay for whatever medical or mental health aid they need because of what your son did to them.”
Governor Harris looked at Cody, surprised.
Cody bowed his head and touched it to her shoulder.
She went still, wondering what they knew and she didn’t.
“I didn’t want to upset you, or set back your recovery. It was a calculated risk and one that’s coming back to bite me in the ass.” Cody turned her to face him. “I didn’t say anything yet to give you more time to heal.”
“What is it?” Her stomach fluttered with dread.
“The student Adam raped committed suicide. Her family said she was devastated after the rape and unable to cope with what happened. I didn’t want to tell you and bring back all those horrible memories. You were doing so well… I wanted to talk to your psychiatrist about how and when to tell you.”
“You should have told me,” she snapped, fisting her hands at her sides. “We don’t keep secrets from each other. Remember?”
“Yes.” Cody hung his head, then looked at her again. “I wanted to wait for the right time to tell you in a way that softened the blow as much as possible, or at least didn’t send you into a downward spiral. I love you. Hurting you isn’t easy for me.”
Of course Cody tried to protect her from any more bad news and tragedy.
She frowned even as the tears came again.
That poor girl.
She turned back to the governor and his wife. “So your son is responsible for two deaths. If that doesn’t motivate you to keep your son under lock and key for the rest of his life, I don’t know what will.”
The governor sighed. “Brooke, I’m not heartless, and when I said I care about you and how you’re doing, I meant it. And I certainly could have handled this conversation with more tact and compassion. This is hard for us, knowing what he did and that, as his parents, we bear part of the responsibility. I’ve promised you he’ll never get out. I get that you have reservations that I’ll keep my word. When it comes to this…you…I will.
“In fact, I also discreetly did what Cody’s been asking for on your behalf. I had an attorney contact the other victims. In exchange for them signing a non-disclosure agreement, the attorney would tell them who attacked them and let them know he was locked up. Only the first victim wanted to know. The other two declined the offer. The fourth…we didn’t get to her in time. I don’t know if it would have made a difference to her, if she would have still… I don’t know. And I’ll have to live with that the rest of my life.”
Brooke allowed that maybe they were too concerned about their reputations, but the governor had done the right thing in the end. “You protected your ass but gave them a chance to know they were safe. I hoped you would do something behind the scenes to ease their pain and suffering and you did.”
Cody stepped up next to her and faced off with the governor. “I assume you have an NDA for Brooke.”
The governor pulled it out of his suit jacket inside pocket. “The money is yours no matter what. This is more than just an NDA; it is an insurance policy that Adam will stay locked up in a psychiatric facility for the rest of his life.”
Cody eyed the governor with suspicion. “Did you stipulate it in the NDA?”
Governor Harris handed the document over. “Brooke is only held to the NDA terms so long as Adam is locked up. If he is released, so is she.”
Cody turned to Brooke after he read through the document. “It’s true. It’s very specific. If Adam is released, you are free to tell the police, or anyone you want, what he did to you. With no statute of limitations on murder, you could send him to prison for life.”
Brooke sighed with relief. “I’ve already instructed Mr. Wagner to continue to tell the police I did not see my attacker. The story will remain as it’s been reported. Whoever the stalker might have been has moved off campus. End of story. So long as Adam never gets out.”
The governor gasped. “You did this already.”
“Yes. I’m not always as out of it as people think. I hear and see what’s going on. So long as you keep your son locked up in that psychiatric hospital under a qualified doctor’s care, I will remain silent. While I don’t think you should have to pay for what he did, I will hold you responsible for ensuring he pays for what he did by never letting him go free again. He will never be allowed to hurt another person. Is that clear?”
“Yes. He will never leave that place, or one like it,” Governor Harris assured her. “Keep the money, Brooke. I need to know that I did something, however inadequate it is. I wish I could…do something to ease your pain and suffering.” He took the few steps to her and stood in front of her, as humble as he’d ever been. “I’m sorry you were hurt. I’m sorry you lost your daughter. I’ll think of you, I’ll think of her, every day for the rest of my life.”
“I hope you do.” Brooke turned to Cody, handed him the check, then walked out the back door, past the governor’s security guard, and to the lawn, where the lights from the house couldn’t reach her. She put her face up to the dark sky, stared at the stars, and let the tears fall. The anger she’d carried around with her eased with each tear streaming down her face. Telling the governor how she felt about her daughter and all she’d lost made it a little easier to carry.
Cody came up behind her minutes later and wrapped his arms around her with her back pressed to his chest. He leaned his head down on her shoulder. “They’re gone, honey. I had no idea you’d contacted Doug about not turning Adam in to the police.”
“You left the office the other day to get me a bowl of ice cream. Your phone rang. I went to grab it and take it to you in case it was a client or your office, and I saw the governor’s name. It felt like my burden had been placed on your shoulders to carry alone because I simply checked out on dealing with the very present issues facing me and what happened.”
“The governor could wait until hell froze over as far as I was concerned.”
“He can’t fix his son. He can’t fix what his son did. So I knew he’d try to hold on to what he still has. His job. His reputation. His ability to help others.” She didn’t let politics or his outstanding record cloud her judgement on that, and tried to hold on to the fact he was a very good public servant and maybe this situation would make him even more sympathetic and empathetic in the future.
“When I thought about what I really wanted to happen to Adam, I realized I already had it. He’s locked up and getting the help he needs. So long as he remains at the hospital, I can live with no one knowing he’s the one who—” Her throat closed on saying the words again. “But I wanted the other women to have the same sense of safety I feel knowing he’s not out there watching or coming for me anymore.”
She turned in his arms and looked up at him. “When I do feel that way, I have you to remind me I’m safe. I don’t know if they have someone to do that for them, but I could force the governor to make that assurance.”
“I knew you were getting stronger, I just didn’t realize you’d come so far so fast. It is so good to see you standing up for yourself and them. And I’m sorry you’re hurting. You carried her inside you. She was so very real for you. I feel like she’s fog. I can see her, but then I reach out to grab her, and she slips through my fingers.”
Brooke cried even harder from his words. He got it. He might think she felt more deeply, but he’d described how she felt perfectly. The baby had become something so close to being solid and real, then she’d faded and disappeared before her eyes.
She held him so tightly her arms ached.
“What do you want me to do with the check?”
“I don’t want to talk about it tonight. I don’t want to talk at all. Just take me to bed and hold me.”
He hooked his arm around her shoulders, pulled her close, and walked her back to the house.
Susanne met them in the living room and wrapped them both in a hug. “I am so proud of you, Brooke, and how you handled yourself tonight.” She kissed Brooke on the head. “Goodnight, you two.”
Brooke turned and buried her face in Cody’s neck.
“Come on, sweetheart, you’ve had a hell of an evening.” He scooped her up into his arms and carried her up the stairs to their room, set her down by the bed, and undressed her like she was a child. She simply didn’t have the energy to do it herself. He helped her under the covers and joined her a minute later after stripping to the skin. She went into his arms the second he lay beside her. She didn’t speak or sleep that first hour. She cried, then rested quietly against his chest. He kept his grip tight around her and whispered soothing words to let her know he was there for her. They fell into an exhausted sleep hours later as the moonlight streamed through the window.
When she woke to a slightly graying sky before dawn, she quietly left Cody’s loving embrace and snuck away to her favorite spot to think.