Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
Grace winced under his gaze. She shot Hannah an apologetic glance before she turned back to Garrett.
“Yes,” Mrs. Hayes eagerly spoke up, hurrying to the table. “Let’s all sit down and eat!”
“You didn’t tell her?” Grace asked, staring steadily back at Garrett and seemingly ignoring both pleas for a subject change. “You were shot, Garrett. She should know that you struggle from time to time so she doesn’t overburden you.”
Hannah was out of her chair and standing in front of Garrett in an instant. He was still staring daggers at Grace even as she came close, so she gripped his chin and forced his gaze down to hers.
“You were shot?!” She demanded to know. “You were shot and you never told me?!”
“They never were able to dig that bullet out of you, were they?” Grace spoke up.
Terror and guilt flooded through Hannah’s veins as her eyes focused on Garrett’s left shoulder. The shoulder that he’d used countless times to pick up her younger siblings, the shoulder she leaned on so often lately.
Had it been hurting every time?
Guilt passed briefly through Garrett’s dark eyes before his gaze softened.
“It was a long time ago and I didn’t think it was important,” he said calmly.
He moved his hands up to her shoulders, but Hannah quickly brushed him off.
“You should have told me,” she rasped out, taking a step back, “I thought you said that we weren’t going to have any more secrets?”
“I didn’t think you needed to know!” Garrett insisted, his deep voice filling with bass and urgency, “It’s something I’ve lived with for a long time, it’s not an issue!”
It was, though. It was because it was yet another secret that Grace knew and Hannah didn’t. Even after nearly three weeks of marriage, Garrett was still hiding things from her.
“Please excuse me,” she rasped, stepping around Garrett.
She threw an apologetic glance to Amanda and Mrs. Hayes, feeling horrible that she’d ruined the birthday party, and fled quickly from the house. She barely made it off of the porch steps before Garrett swung the front door open and came rushing after her.
“Hannah, wait,” he called, “This isn’t important. Grace should have never—”
“Grace is the only one who has been telling me about your life,” she said bitterly over her shoulder as she picked up her pace and crossed the street.
“You used to tell me things, remember? In your letters you’d tell me what you were thinking, what you were doing, what was happening in your life.
But ever since I got here you stopped. Now I only find things out about you through Grace! ”
She felt Garrett’s hand close around her wrist just as she reached the courthouse lawn. She tried to pull out of his grip, but Garrett’s fingers remained steadfast, secure, but not painful or tight enough to hurt her.
“Let go!” She demanded, tugging as she braced her feet into the grass.
“You’re right, Hannah, and I’m sorry,” Garrett said, his tone pleading as he still refused to let go of her wrist.
Her eyes narrowed with distrust.
“Tell me what happened,” she demanded. “Do you really still have the bullet in there?”
A frustrated sigh loosed from Garrett’s lips.
“Grace shouldn’t have said that. It’s not exactly true,” he replied.
“Well, what is true?” She asked.
Garrett grit his teeth, clearly annoyed that Grace had shared another secret.
“The doctor was able to get most of the bullet out but it fragmented when it hit my bone,” he explained in a careful, measured tone. “What’s left in there is a very tiny piece of metal. And yes, it does hurt me from time to time but it’s nowhere near as bad as Grace made it sound.”
Hannah studied him for a long time, trying to determine if she felt better about knowing the story or not.
She didn’t. In fact, it only made her more curious.
Movement caught her eye, and she looked behind Garrett.
On the other side of the street the rest of the party members had gathered, as had a few other people from town; no doubt drawn out of their homes from all the ruckus they had caused.
Seeing them had shame flashing through her cheeks, and she willed her anger into a slightly calmer emotion.
She didn’t want to yell anymore, but she was still going to have this conversation with Garrett.
“What else aren’t you telling me?” She quietly demanded. “There’s something else. I can feel it. Something big.”
Guilt and shame flooded through Garrett’s gaze before he bowed his head. His broad shoulders sank, and a grimace formed on his lips.
“There is,” he confessed.
Those two small words were said with so much regret that what was left of Hannah’s anger quickly shifted to concern.
“Garrett, please,” she calmly insisted, “No more secrets. No more trying to keep things from me for my benefit. Tell me what is going on.”
She turned her wrist that was still in his grip, and squeezed his hand.
“I’m your wife,” she said softly. “Let me be your wife.”
Garrett’s dark eyes slowly drew back up to hers, and her heart quivered as she saw the raw emotion there.
Then he began to speak. Hannah’s furrowed brows and hard-set lips softened as he told her about the Southern Pacific Railroad coming after his ranch.
About the alleged new owner, and about the financial problems he’d been trying so very hard to hide from her.
“You kept all of this to yourself?” Hannah asked, taking a step closer to Garrett after he finished his confession. “Why on earth would you do that, Garrett?”
He shook his head as he tried to look away again, but this time, it was Hannah that gently gripped his chin and stopped him from looking away.
“You have your hands full with the children,” he replied, his voice tinged with sorrow, “With getting used to Texas. To the ranch. I didn’t want to put any more burdens on you.”
He paused, taking a moment to nibble at his bottom lip and then added, “I was hoping that I could get some things, especially the deed to the ranch, sorted out before word ever got out. But then the new ‘owner’ came by last week with the news. And I can’t afford a lawyer to fight it in court, even though Logan was able to get me an appeal, and I just… I just felt like such a failure.”
Garrett let go of her wrist only to smooth his hand up her arm to give her shoulder a warm squeeze.
“You have no idea how much more I wanted to be able to give you, Hannah,” he rasped out, his eyes pleading for her to believe him, “I’m sorry I let you down.”
Silence stretched between them as Hannah turned the new information over and over in her head.
Garrett’s world had been turned upside down these last few weeks, and this whole time she’d thought that it was her and the kids who were responsible for his silent, moody moments.
Now she understood that it wasn’t them, but a force far bigger than herself.
“Well?”
Hannah’s eyes looked toward the new voice, and found Dean standing a little ways behind Garrett’s left shoulder, his arms crossed and his lips twisted into a hard frown. She was not in the mood to deal with one of his outbursts or his teasing. Not this time.
“Well, what, Dean?” she replied sharply.
His brows lifted in surprise at her tone, but he didn’t back down.
“You going to leave him now?” Dean demanded, “Now you know he can’t take care of you like you thought he could?”
Garrett turned, shooting a warning look at Dean to be quiet, but it was Hannah that stepped up to Dean and looked straight into his narrowed, distrusting eyes.
“He is taking care of me exactly how I thought he would,” she sharply retorted, “And now that I finally know what is going on, I can take care of him the way he deserves.”
Garrett stayed quiet behind them as Dean’s hard expression softly softened into a look of quiet surprise.
“He is my husband,” Hannah said softly, stepping back to stand by Garrett’s side, “And I am not abandoning him in his time of need.”
“You’re not?” Garrett whispered, his deep voice laced with hope.
Hannah turned her head to face him as she laced her fingers in his.
“Of course I’m not,” she emphatically replied, “But from now on, there are no more secrets. You tell me everything and I will take it all with you. Do you understand?”
Affection shimmered in Garrett’s eyes as he pulled her close; his body heat encompassing her and soothing more of the hurt inside her.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied solemnly as he stared at her with unwavering sincerity.
Hannah sniffled and nodded her head. She was still upset with him, but that distance between them now seemed just a little less. Hannah smoothed her hand up his shirt, letting it rest above his beating heart.
“Good,” she sternly replied. “Now it’s my turn.”
Garrett’s brows furrowed as he stilled; his hands clenching at the back of her dress.
“What do you mean?” He asked as Hannah slid her gaze back up to his.
Hannah took in a measured breath, swallowed, then took a step back. Garrett’s arms fell away and though she immediately missed his touch, she forced herself to accept the distance as her own guilt burned through her anger.
“I mean I have one more secret to share with you,” she explained, drawing in her courage. “It’s about my father.”