He Chose Her. I Left Carrying His Heir. novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Eight Years in McAlester

Floyd took Cade out of the shop by the arm.

My husband went without a word, grey in the face, and the third bike was the last to leave the gravel.

Then the engines faded down Route 9, and the shop was quiet.

I put the wrench on the counter, because my hand had started to shake.

Rhett shut off his bike in the back bay and came out wiping his palms on his jeans.

He stopped a few feet from me and did not come closer.

"Say it," he said. "Whatever you want to say."

"You told me those were your terms. No questions about your past."

"I did."

"Fair, you said." My voice rose. "You let me stand in this shop and tell you about the baby, and the bruise, and the charter. You knew every word of it better than I did."

"I did."

"You let me call you Dutch."

"It's my middle name. It's what the men inside called me."

"I don't care what they called you!" I shouted. "You're his brother. You're the baby's uncle. And you sat there holding my arm and let me think you were a stranger who felt sorry for me."

"I didn't feel sorry for you."

"Then what did you feel?"

He didn't answer.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand, furious that it was wet.

"You said I could stay without questions. Well, here's one. Why did you tow me?"

"I was driving home from the parts store."

"On the one road in the county where my truck died."

"It's the road I live on." He looked at the floor. "I saw a woman on the shoulder. I thought it might be a stranger. I got close enough to see your face, and I knew you from the photograph he used to keep on the dash."

"What photograph?"

"Your wedding portrait. He sent it to me in the first year, to the prison. I put it in a drawer."

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