Genevieve #2
Kaine led the way outside and I followed, Isaiah closing up the cabin behind us.
“Koda!” Gabe laughed as he fell off the dog’s back. The loose snow puffed up around him.
When I’d walked into Kaine and Piper’s place last night, I’d gasped at the dog trotting down the hallway to greet us. I’d sworn it was a wolf.
Not a wolf, just a dog. Unless you asked the twins, who treated Koda more like a furry horse.
The second Koda’s back was free, Robbie launched himself at the dog, scrambling to climb up. Koda sidestepped, causing Robbie to crash to the ground beside his brother. Then the dog licked their tiny faces, causing a fit of laughter that echoed through the trees.
Kaine chuckled, picking up an ax leaning against a post at the top of the porch stairs. “Come on, boys. Uncle Isaiah is coming with us.”
The twins squealed in unison, struggling to stand with their thick clothing.
Kaine walked to them, patted Koda on the head, then helped his sons up, one by one.
I glanced at Isaiah, opening my mouth to wish him luck, but stopped when I saw the expression on his face.
“You’re smiling.” The whisper slipped out. The smile disappeared. That would teach me to keep my mouth shut. “You like being here, don’t you?”
“I’m glad to see Kaine happy. He deserves it.”
“And you don’t?”
“No.” Isaiah took the stairs and joined his brother and nephews without a backward glance.
Standing on the top step, I wrapped my arms around my waist. He believed he didn’t deserve happiness down to the marrow of his bones.
Would he punish himself forever for his sins? Wasn’t prison enough? Was this about Shannon, whoever she was? In the back of my mind, I knew the answer.
Shannon.
She was the key to his misery. Who was she to him? Did he love her still?
If he’d just open up a little bit, maybe I’d know how to help him. Maybe I’d know why he was this way and ease some of his pain—or at least stop resenting him for it.
I was his wife, after all. I’d always thought some other woman would come along and be the one to heal him. She’d be the one to put light in his eyes. But then months had passed. Feelings had grown. He didn’t need another woman to break through his walls.
Isaiah needed me.
I waited until Kaine, Isaiah and the boys were off on a trail that headed deeper into the trees, then made my way across the trodden path that linked the cabin to the main house.
With a brief knock on the front door, I smiled as Suzanne opened it for me.
“Good morning!” She wrapped me in a hug, practically pulling me inside the house. “How did you sleep?”
“Great,” I lied again. Every time, it was harder to keep the truth from leaking out. Wasn’t lying supposed to get easier with practice?
I followed Suzanne into the kitchen, inhaling the scent of sage, fresh bread and turkey. “Good morning.” I smiled at Piper. “It smells amazing in here. Can I help with anything?”
Say no.
“Thanks.” She smiled, taking a sip from a mug. “And nothing. We’re taking a break. The turkey’s in the oven so we have a couple of hours. We’ll do the rest later.”
“Would you like some coffee?” Suzanne asked, going to a cupboard to take down a mug. “Or hot chocolate?”
“Coffee would be lovely. Thank you.”
We all took our drinks into the living room off the kitchen, sitting on the comfortable sofas that filled the space.
“We’re so glad you could come up here.” Piper splayed a hand over her pregnant belly. “We’ve been anxious to meet you. I told Kaine we should go to you but he’s been so busy in the shop. He’s got orders for the next two years solid.”
“He made this?” I ran my hand over the handcrafted wooden coffee table.
“Yep.” Her smile was prouder than Suzanne’s.
“It’s exquisite.” Though the piece that had really caught my eye was their dining room table. It was walnut, stained a dark brown that brought out the natural pattern of the grain. There were a couple of places where it looked as if I could reach into the boards and tickle the striations.
“I’d always hoped that Isaiah would want to work with Kaine,” Suzanne said. “They’d make such a great team. Both are so good with their hands. But . . .”
I waited for her to continue, but she simply gave me this look, like she expected me to know the reason they didn’t work together. She expected me to know about my husband’s past when I did not.
The conversation turned to the twins and their excitement about having a baby sister. I refilled my coffee once more before excusing myself for the bathroom.
I was just coming down the hallway when Piper’s voice caught my ear.
“Is he doing okay?” she asked Suzanne. “He seems . . . off. Maybe it’s just me. Kaine thought he seemed fine, but I don’t know. Maybe I’m just being hormonal.”
My heart jumped into my throat. They had to be talking about Isaiah. Could they tell we weren’t in love? Did Piper suspect our relationship was a fraud?
“He has his ups and downs.” Suzanne sighed.
“It’s still hard. But I’m glad he has Genevieve.
I mean, it has to mean something that he’s finally opened up.
The marriage was a surprise, but I’m taking it as a good sign.
I didn’t think he’d ever get over Shannon, but the way he looks at Genevieve, there’s love there. ”
No, we were just getting too good at lying.
Suzanne spoke about me like I was some sort of savior. Would she hate me when Isaiah and I ended our marriage? Would she realize I’d caused more harm than good?
I wanted to change that. I wanted to help.
“Do you think he’ll ever get over the accident?” Piper asked.
So it had been an accident, as I’d suspected.
“I don’t know,” Suzanne said. “I think when he comes here and sees Kaine happy, it helps. Maybe when he realizes that Kaine has forgiven him for Shannon, he’ll finally forgive himself. I’m more worried about what happened in prison. He won’t talk about it. I hope he confides in Genevieve.”
Nope. Not a word.
Wait, what was I doing? I was intruding on their conversation. Sure, they probably would have had it if I were still sitting beside them on the couch because they expected I knew about Isaiah’s past. They thought I knew about Shannon.
I hated eavesdropping, straining to soak up every word.
I hated that Isaiah was so lost in punishing himself he wouldn’t confide in me.
God, I wanted the truth. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t dig into Isaiah’s past. Was this better? Hearing it rather than reading it? If I stood here long enough, I might get a taste. But guilt seeped into my veins and made my insides slimy.
Isaiah would confide in me when—if—he deemed me worthy.
I took a step, ready to head for the kitchen and make some excuse to change the subject. Hell, I’d even do some cooking if it changed the subject. But then Suzanne spoke again and my greedy ears devoured every one of her words.
“I pray with everything I have that he holds on to Genevieve. That they last. When he and Shannon got together, they were so worried about hiding it from Kaine until the baby was born. Then he finally proposed and . . . she died. I don’t want him to have a love disappear again.”
My stomach plummeted. My hands came to my ears, covering them up. It was information overload and I didn’t want to hear another word.
Shannon was the pregnant woman he’d killed. Maybe I’d suspected it for a while, but to know it was true didn’t make it easier to hear.
This was Isaiah’s nightmare. He’d killed his fiancée.
And their baby.