Chapter 32
Jenna fell into step behind Luke and Liam and let the woods close around them. He’d tried to text the family, but there was no service out in these woods.
The path back seemed longer than the path out.
Her adrenaline was fading, and her body was paying the bill. Her hands had started to shake somewhere around the ridge. Her knee throbbed from where she’d gone down on the root. Her lungs felt tight.
She pressed her palms flat against her thighs as she walked and concentrated on the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other.
Liam was okay. She kept returning to that fact and whispering silent prayers of gratitude. Things could have turned out so much differently.
Luke walked beside their son but didn’t crowd him. He’d already said what he needed to say, and he’d left it at that.
She’d always admired that about him.
Ahead of her, Liam’s foot hit a rock, and he started to stumble.
Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed his arm to keep him upright.
He startled and froze a moment. A few seconds later, he found his footing and moved forward again.
Her hand fell back down to her side.
Liam hadn’t pulled away. It was a small victory—but a victory, nonetheless. Jenna would take it.
The trees began to thin as the path climbed toward the property line. Through the branches she saw the pale frames of the cottages and, beyond them, the broad white shape of the farmhouse.
She should have felt relief at the sight of the house. At the fact Liam was beside her—and that he was safe.
Instead, dread lingered in her stomach.
Gerald Moss’s obituary was still on her phone.
She hadn’t told anyone. Not yet.
The work continues.
She was waiting the right moment to share the news with Luke. But there was never a right moment for news like that.
She’d left two years ago because she’d made a decision in fear.
And that choice had cost her everything. She had to learn from her mistakes.
She watched Luke’s back as he walked ahead of her. He still thought the threat against her was an open question. He thought that the danger might yet stay at the edges of his family’s life instead of moving into the center of it.
He didn’t know what she knew.
And every hour Jenna let him keep believing that was an hour she spent making the same mistake all over again. Choosing his comfort over his right to the truth. Choosing quiet over honesty.
She’d promised herself last night that she was done being the woman who disappeared into her own secrets. She’d vowed she wouldn’t run again. That she wouldn’t keep secrets.
The path leveled out, and the tree line gave way to the open lawn. Ruby appeared in the doorway, one hand pressed to her chest.
Luke let Liam run ahead to his grandma. Then he turned and waited for Jenna to catch up.
He looked exhausted. The fear he’d been hiding for the past hour had left its marks in the tightness around his eyes, in the gray cast beneath his tan.
Now that his son was safely crossing the yard, some of his apprehension bled through.
He glanced at her. “You okay?”
Jenna almost said yes. The word was right there, automatic, the same answer she gave everyone about everything.
Instead of vocalizing it, she swallowed the sentiment. “Luke. When we get inside . . . there’s something I need to show you.”
Something shifted in his expression. “What is it?”
She glanced toward the house and thought about the children inside. Thought about the family who’d taken her back in.
Then she looked at him. “Talk to your family first. I know they’ll want an explanation about Liam. But there’s something you should know. Something new. And I don’t want to keep any secrets from you.”
Luke walked inside and saw his mother was still hugging Liam.
She smoothed a hand over Liam’s hair. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Are you hungry? I made soup.”
Liam nodded into her embrace.
The kitchen still held the smell of the lunch. Bowls sat on the table where they’d been set out an hour ago, the soup gone cold and the bread untouched under a dish towel.
Cora was perched on a stool watching the door with wide eyes, and Jonah had wedged himself against Naomi’s leg, sensing the tension in the room.
“Liam is fine,” Luke reassured everyone. “He took a walk he shouldn’t have taken. We talked about it, and he knows not to do it again.”
Cora slid off her stool. “Liam, you’re not s’posed to go in the woods. Daddy said.”
“Cora.” Luke kept his voice mild. “Not now.”
She pressed her lips together and frowned but didn’t say anything else.
Through the window, Luke saw Wyatt’s truck come through the gate and roll to a stop near the garage. Thunder had his head out the window and his ears up. Wyatt climbed out and looked at the house.
Luke leaned out the door, caught his eye, and lifted a hand. Found him.
Wyatt’s shoulders softened. He said something to Thunder, and the two of them started toward the door.
Luke released his breath.
He should have felt relief. He did feel relief. But the emotion was buried beneath something colder and harder that hadn’t let go of him since he’d seen Travis Henderson standing beside his son.
It’s a dangerous place for someone who doesn’t know where they’re going. All kinds of things can happen.
Tension—and anger—crept up his spine as he replayed the conversation.
He’d looked into Travis’s eyes, and he’d seen exactly what the man wanted him to see.
His words had been a threat against an eight-year-old. Delivered with a toothpick in the corner of his mouth and a smile that dared Luke to prove otherwise.
Luke’s jaw ached, and he made himself unclench it.
Wyatt came inside with Thunder at his heel. The dog crossed the kitchen, gave Liam a thorough sniff, and then lay down across the doorway.
Wyatt glanced at Liam, who was still tucked against his grandma. Then he looked back at Luke. “What happened?”
He took a few steps away, Wyatt following him. He didn’t want to say too much in front of the children.
“Travis happened,” Luke told him.
Wyatt’s expression flattened. “He had him?”
“He says he found him wandering and was in the process of bringing him back home. Says he was being neighborly.” Luke heard the bitterness in his own voice and didn’t bother to soften it.
“You believe him? That he just found him?”
Luke had been turning over the same question. “I think Liam left on his own. He’s been internalizing a lot of his feelings, and I think he wanted to be somewhere quiet where he could think. I think Travis saw an opportunity to walk a King kid out of the woods and remind me how easy it would be.”
The back door opened again, and Caleb stepped inside. He took in the room, and some of the rigidness left his frame.
“Thank God.” Caleb scrubbed a hand down his face. “I had myself convinced—”
“I know.” Luke grimaced. “Me too.”
Luke glanced across the kitchen, and his gaze found Jenna.
She stood near the corner, distanced from everyone else. She hadn’t tried to insert herself into the reunion. Instead she’d let Ruby hold Liam. At one time, that place had been hers.
He saw the sadness in her gaze and knew how hard this had to be for her.
He hadn’t forgotten what she’d said on their walk back. There’s something you should know. Something new. And I don’t want to keep any secrets from you.
He stepped back toward the kitchen and found his sister. “Naomi, can you and Mom get some food in these kids? I need a few minutes.”
Naomi followed his gaze to Jenna and understood. “Go.”
Luke caught Jenna’s gaze and nodded toward the front porch. She followed him there.
When the door closed, she pulled out her phone.
Luke braced himself for whatever she was about to show him.