Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,100
of the other people out there, then I went straight back out. By then half a dozen people were in the water. We were all looking for Adam. Searching so hard. But he was . . .” Wade’s words trailed away.
She knew what he’d been going to say.
Lost.
She pressed closer to him. All she wanted was to comfort him. To take away that pain.
“He must have gotten swept back into the undertow,” Wade murmured. “I fucking hate the water.”
She knew that he did, and now she understood why.
“Three days. It took three days of searching on boats, of getting the Coast Guard and divers out there, before they found my brother.”
“I’m so sorry.” She held him as tightly as she could. “So sorry . . .”
“My mother just . . . she broke for a time after that. It was like I heard you say to Jim. She was just . . . there. Going through the motions. I could see it. Nothing I could do seemed to get through to her. She didn’t laugh. She didn’t smile. She was like a ghost, one being forced to hang around the living.” His voice was so sad.
He’s breaking my heart.
“I couldn’t make her want to fight. I couldn’t help her. And when I was nineteen, she passed away. Just . . . got sick. Pneumonia. She withered away right before my eyes.”
He’d carried all of this? This pain? And she hadn’t known. He’d always seemed so confident. Strong. Happy.
And . . .
Victoria kissed his jaw. His cheek. His lips. She just had to kiss him. To let him know—
Wade, I’m sorry. Wade, I care. Wade, I—
Love you?
She eased back, stunned by the force of her own emotions.
“I joined the military. I swore that I would be as good a person as Adam had been. I would help people. I would make a difference. I would do my best to make him proud.”
“I’m sure he would be very proud of you.”
She felt him tense against her. “Adam was the good one. I think I just went through the motions.”
“No.” Victoria snapped out that denial. “That is absolutely not true. You are the best man I’ve known, Wade. You’re strong and brave and you—”
“We both know I have a dark side, Viki.”
“That doesn’t make you a bad person!” she threw right back, desperate for him to understand. “You are good, Wade. I know it. I’ve always known it. You do help people. You help me. You help so many at LOST. You make a difference.” He’d changed everything for her.
“You make a difference, too.” His voice was so solemn. “I hope you know that, baby. You make a big difference for me. Because I’m not going through the motions any longer.”
It was hard for her to breathe. He’d heard so much of her talk with Jim, but she’d never even thought Wade—
All this time, he was in as much pain as I was.
“I’m living,” he whispered. His lips pressed to hers. Did he taste the salt of her tears? She thought that he did. In the darkness, they just held each other. And, maybe, maybe they both healed.
“I love you,” he said, voice growing a bit husky, sleepy. “That’s not going to change. We’ll go day by day, and one day, you will trust me enough.”
“Enough?” She could barely whisper that one word.
“Enough to love me back. Enough to know that you can count on me, through good times and fucking bad times. Enough to know that I will always have your back, and that, for me, you will always be the one who comes first.”
She wanted to have a future with him. A life. Could they do that? Go for kids? The whole picket fence? Knowing what they did—having seen the violence out there, could they really do all that?
“One day at a time,” Wade whispered. “Because we have plenty of days ahead of us.”
He bent his head and pressed a kiss to her lips.
WHEN THE PRIVATE plane touched down in Atlanta, Ana Young was there to greet them. Petite and delicate, physically she seemed the very opposite of her brother.
But she had Asher’s dark, almost pitch-black hair. And her eyes were the same deep brown—though flecked more with gold.
And they shared scars.
Ana’s scar wasn’t on her chin. It was a faint slash that slid over her top lip.
She greeted them with a cautious smile and a quick handshake. “It’s a pleasure to be working with you,” Ana said. “I’ve, um, got