Chapter 28
After everyone else at Refuge Cove had turned in for the night, Max found himself alone in the living room with Hadley.
The fire crackled softly in the stone hearth, the only steady sound in the room. The glow cast shifting light across the walls, warming the space in a way the rest of the day hadn’t managed to do.
Hadley sat beside him on the couch, a blanket draped loosely over her lap. Her arm was bandaged and her movements a little slower than usual, but she didn’t complain.
She wasn’t a complainer, and he appreciated that about her. But he wouldn’t blame her if she did. She had every reason to grumble.
Max reached for her hand, and her fingers curled around his. His thumb brushed across her knuckles as he studied the fire. The contact grounded him and kept his mind circling back to everything that had happened.
None of it made sense.
And underneath all that sat something else he hadn’t dealt with yet.
Kendra.
His jaw tightened as he thought about her. He needed to talk to her and let her know he was now seeing Hadley.
It was the right thing to do. But he dreaded the emotional fallout.
She’d probably cry. Ask what was wrong with her. Why she couldn’t be the one.
Before he could follow that thought any further, Hadley cleared her throat. “There’s something I should probably tell you.”
Max didn’t let go of her hand, though an edge of tension tugged at him. “Okay.”
She hesitated as if choosing where to begin. “In case you didn’t know, I was married before I came here. For five years. His name’s Ethan, and he’s also a vet.”
Max listened, his attention fully on her now.
“We built a life together. Or at least I thought we had. We both had the same goals and convictions. Everything about our relationship lined up the way it was supposed to.” She paused, her gaze drifting toward the fire. “Then we had a baby.”
Max’s grip on her hand tightened. Hadley had a child? He’d had no idea.
“A girl. Emma Joy.” Hadley’s voice cracked. “But . . . she was stillborn.”
A lump formed in his throat, and he squeezed her hand more tightly.
“We didn’t handle the loss well. Ethan and I both grieved differently.
Instead of leaning on each other, we pulled away.
We were living in the same house but in completely different worlds.
” She swallowed, her voice steady but softer now.
“Then Ethan . . . well, he cheated on me with another vet at the clinic where we worked.”
The muscles across Max’s chest stretched tauter at her words. That was low. Scum of the earth low.
“When I found out, I was furious, of course. But I was still determined to fix our relationship. I begged Ethan to go to counseling with me. I suggested we could even move, go somewhere new to get a fresh start together. Whatever it took.”
“Did he agree?”
“No, he wasn’t willing to do any of those things. He didn’t want to put things back together. He wanted someone new, someone that would help him forget about our loss.”
“He sounds like a fool.”
“He filed for divorce and decided to stay with the woman he’d cheated with.
” Hadley shifted her gaze back to Max. “That’s part of why I came here.
I needed a fresh start, somewhere that didn’t remind me of all my plans that didn’t work out.
So much was out of my control. I never wanted to be divorced. To lose a child.”
Max nodded as understanding settled in.
“I guess you could say that life didn’t turn out the way I thought it would.” Hadley paused, her fingers tracing the edge of her sleeve as her thoughts settled. “For a while, I was angry and hurt. I didn’t understand why God would allow all of that to happen.”
She let out a quiet breath.
“But God didn’t leave me. Even when I couldn’t see it at the time, He was still there—steady when everything else felt like it was falling apart.
” Her gaze lifted again. “After being consumed by grief for so long, I realized I had a choice. I could keep looking backward . . . or I could trust Him with what was ahead, even if I didn’t understand it. ”
A small, tentative smile touched her lips.
“So I started trying to look forward instead. I found so much comfort in the thought that one day I’d see Emma again—in heaven.”
Max sat with her words, his thumb brushing her hand again as he considered what she’d shared. Despite the tremendous loss she’d been through, there was an admirable strength in her tone.
“You didn’t deserve any of that,” he finally said.
Hadley shrugged. “Maybe not. But it happened. I thought Ethan was a better man than he turned out to be. We were raised the same way. We had the same values. But grief changed him.”
“Still . . .”
Her expression softened. “I’m okay. Or at least . . . I’m getting there.”
“You’re a strong woman, Hadley.”
Hadley’s gaze held his, the firelight reflecting in her eyes. “Maybe.”
“Not maybe. You are. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Relief settled over Hadley as the silence returned.
She hadn’t expected to feel refreshed. Opening up usually led to too many questions, too much analysis, or worse, pity she didn’t want.
But Max hadn’t done any of that. He’d just listened. He’d been steady and present. He’d made her feel like what she’d said mattered.
Her chest loosened at the thought.
She glanced at him. “How about you? How did you end up here? I mean, you told me a little bit already.”
Max’s gaze shifted, and for a second, something darker crossed his expression before he looked back at the fire.
He drew in a slow, measured breath as if he were deciding how much to say. “I grew up in Ohio. Joined the military after graduation. Made it all the way up to Ranger.”
Her brows shot up. “That’s impressive. Why did you get out?”
A shadow crossed his gaze. “There was . . . an incident, for lack of a better word. I thought I was doing the right thing.” He shook his head and corrected himself. “I know I was doing the right thing. But everything . . . everything was turned upside down afterward. My military career ended.”
Hadley tightened her grip on his hand. What did that mean? What had happened? Something on one of his missions?
She didn’t push for more details. She simply waited.
Max glanced at her, something guarded settling back into his expression. “Let’s just say I hit rock bottom afterward. I came to this area to stay with my aunt and uncle. I needed a fresh start. But I couldn’t find work. No one was exactly lining up to hire me.”
Something in the way he said it told her there was more behind that than he was sharing. Why wouldn’t people want to hire him? Because he was an outsider?
“That’s when I met Sarah,” he said. “She didn’t ask a lot of questions. She simply gave me a chance.”
“I heard you were the one who found her after . . .” She couldn’t bring herself to finish. It seemed too morbid to say the words “she was killed.”
Max’s expression tightened as he stared at the fire. “I did. I should have been there for her earlier. I should have been close. Maybe then she wouldn’t have died.”
Hadley’s heart pulled when she heard the pain behind his statement. “You couldn’t have known what would happen.”
“I suspected Richard was abusing her. I just didn’t have proof. I kept telling myself I needed something solid before I acted.” He let out a breath, heavier now. “I tried to talk her into leaving him—for her own safety—but she wouldn’t.”
“People in my family are determined to see their vows through, I suppose.”
“Normally, that’s a good thing. But I could see Richard’s microaggressions eating away at Sarah. He was always critical—but never in front of other people. When others were around, he put his best foot forward.”
“Abusers often do.”
“I thought I could protect her. It would be my way of telling her thank you for seeing the good in me when no one else did. But I was wrong. I failed her.” The regret settled deep in his voice.
Hadley rested her head against his shoulder, and Max leaned into it as if he needed the contact as much as she did.