Chapter 14 #3
They nodded, but neither looked convinced. Ethan reached out and squeezed Eli’s shoulder, then gently booped Rosie’s nose with his finger until she cracked a tiny smile.
“We’re safe,” he said firmly. “I promise. No one’s going to hurt you here.”
In the kitchen, Lydia was shaking so hard her teeth were chattering. Ethan pulled her into his arms, and she collapsed against him, her body rigid with terror and adrenaline.
“That was him,” she whispered into his chest. “That was Tom.”
“I know.”
“He threatened to burn the house down. With the kids inside. With you—” She stopped, just leaning against him until she finally continued. “I’m so sorry. I brought this to your door. Put you in danger. Put the kids in more danger. I should never have?—”
“Stop.” Ethan pulled back just enough to cup her face, forcing her to look at him. “This is not your fault. You hear me? None of this is your fault. Tom is a grown man making choices. Bad choices. Dangerous choices. But that’s on him, not you.”
“But if I’d just … if I’d stayed in Ohio, if I’d tried harder?—”
“He would have escalated anyway.” Ethan’s voice was firm. “Men like that always do. And then you and the kids would be in a place with no support, no one watching out for you. At least here you have help. You have me. You have Caleb. You have a sheriff who knows what’s going on.”
Lydia’s eyes filled with tears. “He sounded so angry. So—I’ve never heard him like that. Even at his worst, even drunk, he never—” She swallowed hard. “Do you think he set the fire?”
The question hung in the air between them, heavy and terrible.
“I don’t know,” Ethan said honestly. “Could he have?”
Lydia was quiet for a long moment, her eyes distant, seeing something, someone, that wasn’t in this kitchen.
“I want to say no. The Tom I married would never have hurt anyone. He was kind, funny, and a good father. But that was before the drinking. Before the bitterness.” She looked up at Ethan.
“He’s not that man anymore. He’s changed so much.
Become so … he’s not the person I married.
And now, after seeing him like that? Hearing him threaten to burn down your house?
” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I think it’s possible. God help me, I think it’s possible.”
Ethan felt cold settle in his gut. Not surprise. He’d suspected as much since the sheriff had told them about the arson. But hearing Lydia confirm it, hearing the grief and terror in her voice as she acknowledged what her ex-husband had become, made it real in a way it hadn’t been before.
“Okay,” he said quietly. “Okay. We need to call the sheriff. Tell them Tom was here, what he said, what he threatened. Get it on record and alert them he is driving drunk.”
“He said the restraining order expired.”
“Doesn’t matter. Harassment is still illegal.
Trespassing is illegal. And threatening to burn down a house with children inside?
That’s serious.” Ethan pulled out his phone.
“I’m calling it in. And we’re getting a new restraining order.
A better one. And if he comes back, when he comes back, he’s getting arrested. ”
Lydia nodded, but Ethan could see she didn’t quite believe it. Could see the fear that had lived in her for too long, the certainty that Tom would always find a way around the rules, would always manage to hurt them, no matter what protections were in place.
“Hey.” Ethan caught her chin, tilted her face up. “I meant what I said. No one’s going to hurt you here. Not while I’m breathing.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Lydia whispered. “What if he hurts you? What if?—”
“He won’t.” Ethan’s voice was flat, certain. “I’ve dealt with worse threats than one drunk asshole in rural Virginia. I promise you, Lydia. He won’t.”
He called the sheriff’s department while Lydia went back to the living room to be with the kids.
Gave his statement to the dispatcher, described Tom’s threats in detail, provided the license plate number he’d memorized.
The dispatcher promised to send a deputy out to take a formal statement and advised them to keep the doors locked.
As if they needed the reminder.
When Ethan returned to the living room, he found all three of them on the couch.
Lydia was in the middle with Eli pressed against her left side and Rosie curled in her lap.
The movie was still playing, but no one was watching.
They were just holding onto each other, taking comfort in proximity and touch.
Ethan sat down, and without a word, Eli leaned into him too. The boy’s weight was slight, his body tense, but he was there. Trusting Ethan to keep him safe.
“I got you,” Ethan said quietly. “All of you. I got you.”
And sitting there in the flickering light of the TV, with a found family pressed close and danger lurking just outside his door, Ethan made a silent promise.
Tom Redding would not win this. Would not take these people from him. Would not destroy this fragile, beautiful thing they were building.
Whatever it took, Ethan would protect them.
All of them.
No matter the cost.