Chapter 13 #3
“What?” Ellen swallowed. “Where what happened?”
Nicole took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Looks like I’m going to have to be the one to tell you, though rightly it should be Harry himself. But Sam says Harry never talks about it, ever. And that’s not fair to you, because you should know.”
“Whatever it is, I’m already feeling dread.” Ellen leaned forward on her elbows. “So…something happened when Harry was twelve. Something awful.”
“Yes. The three of them were living with Harry’s mom’s boyfriend du jour, who was a meth addict. A very violent one.”
“Oh no,” Ellen whispered, knowing where this was going.
Nicole nodded and closed her eyes briefly. “On Christmas day, the methhead got it into his crazy head that Harry was hiding money from him. He took a baseball bat to Harry’s mom and stove in her skull, then he broke…”
Nicole’s voice wobbled as her eyes grew wet.
She stroked her belly, where her little daughter was growing.
Her voice was hoarse as she continued. “He broke Harry’s sister’s arm.
Her name was Crissy. Christine. She was five years old and she loved Harry.
Sam said that Harry said that she was the sweetest little girl on earth.
” Nicole wiped a slender, elegant finger under her eyes and checked the finger for mascara.
“I can hardly think about it. That madman broke Crissy’s arm, then picked her up by the broken arm and smashed her against the wall.
She died instantly. Harry did everything he could to save his mother and his sister but this monster took a bat to his legs and shattered both femurs.
Even with two shattered legs, Harry managed to kill the man but it was too late.
His mother and sister were gone. When he was able to walk on crutches, he was sent to the most brutal foster home in the system. ”
Ellen could actually feel her heart swelling with pain. “Oh God.”
“But Sam and then Mike were there and they had his back. They couldn’t look out for him in Afghanistan, though.
He came back in pretty bad shape. Was blown up by something called an RPG.
I guess sort of like a flying bomb. When I first met him, Harry could barely stand.
He’s done miracles since then, mostly because Sam and Mike forced a physical therapist on him he called the Norwegian Nazi. ”
“He told me about the Norwegian Nazi.” The Norwegian Nazi was very very good at his job because Ellen could remember the steely muscles under her hands, lean and hard. The grace with which he moved. You’d never have known he’d been grievously wounded, twice.
“Of course you helped, too.”
She’d been thinking of Harry’s muscles. How hard he was all over. Intense heat had crept into her thoughts. “Um, yes, he said he listened to me quite a lot.”
Nicole wasn’t smiling. “They say Harry listened to your two CDs obsessively, over and over and over again. He couldn’t sleep at night, so he listened to you and somehow your voice pulled him through.
Sam and Mike were really worried about Harry, about his will to live.
I think thanks to you, he found the will to put himself back together. ”
Oh God. Ellen blinked the tears back. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“I do.” Nicole leaned forward, incredibly serious.
“Last year, some bad guys came after me. It’s a long story.
I’ll tell it to you some day. Even worse, these guys came after my father, who was very ill, dying in fact.
They kidnapped him, hurt him.” Her blue eyes blazed with what Ellen recognized as hatred, so strange on her beautiful face.
“Sam saved me with the help of Mike and Harry. Sam said that when he and Mike set off to rescue me and Dad, Harry’d have done anything, given anything to be able to come with them, even though he could barely stand.
As it happens, he helped Sam and Mike find me even if he wasn’t there at the showdown.
He’s one of the good guys, Ellen. A really good guy.
He’s had more than his share of tragedy.
He loves you. I know he’s completely on your side and he’ll protect you with his life.
I couldn’t bear to see him hurt in any way.
So think about this carefully. Because if you hurt him in any way, if you break his heart, you’ll have me to answer to.
And Sam and Mike. But trust me, I can be meaner than Sam and Mike.
I’m the one you should be afraid of. Is that clear? ”
In that instant, Ellen understood completely why Sam loved Nicole so much. Not for her beauty—though that was off the charts—but for her fiercely loving heart.
“Completely,” she answered. “And for the record, I think it’s more likely that Harry will break my heart instead of the other way round.”
Nicole was still watching her intently. At Ellen’s words she suddenly broke into a smile.
“Okay.” The smile broadened as she sat back.
“Okay. That’s settled, then. Well.” She rubbed her hands briskly.
“Now that that’s taken care of, I say we all have takeout pizza tonight and a salad to make it officially healthy.
And afterwards—you’ll sing for us? For Harry? ”
There was only one possible answer. “For you guys and for Harry? Sure.”