Page 47 of Mountain Refuge

I stepped forward and put my hand on his arm. My hand traveled down until I was able to lace our fingers together. I stepped into him. “I need time to think about all this. I think you were very brave to remove Belle and Lucas from such a grotesque situation. I can’t even begin to imagine the horrors Belle would have gone through if you hadn’t. I understand now the risk you were talking about as well as your desire to protect me.” I pressed my lips to his shoulder. “But I still need time. Your secret is safe with me. I’d never do anything to endanger those children. I just… You gave me a lot to process.”

Elijah pulled me into his chest. I felt his lips in my hair. I pressed my face into his sweater. He was so warm. “I know. Thank you for believing me. I know the story sounds farfetched, but it is the truth. I swear it to you. All I ask is that you take care when asking Jack or Corbin about this. Make sure there’s no chance of you being overheard.” He clenched me tighter before adding, “Please don’t ask Belle about any of this. I’ve been working with her on processing the things she saw and heard. She’s finally to a point where she’s ready to move on.”

I squeezed him tighter too. From one perspective, one could argue that Elijah was taking away my option of asking the only witness who had actually been there. From another, it was obvious Elijah was only trying to protect his daughter.

I remained silent, knowing I’d never do anything to endanger those children. We stayed like that until Corbin and Dalton came back outside.

Chapter Eighteen

Brooke

Iwas torn. Once again, I suffered through a sleepless night due to Elijah, but this time it had nothing to do with sexual fantasies.

Elijah had kidnapped two children that were not biologically or legally his in any way. He had been their nanny. I thought he’d said he was a teacher, but that was something to be clarified with him at a later date. Regardless of job title, Belle and Lucas werenothis children.

I believed him when he said Belle’s life and welfare was in jeopardy. He’d said something about a shootout too and her older brother getting shot. I would need to get more information about that too next time I saw him.

Maybe I should start making a list…

No, anything I wrote down could potentially be used against Elijah if it got into the wrong hands. So, I’d just have to rely on my memory. I could probably ask Belle for some ribbon to tie around my fingers. I looked down at my hands and realized I probably would need more fingers once I was through processing all he’d told me.

I also had to process the fact that I’d told someone, for thefirst time in nearly a decade, about my failed marriage. I hadn’t talked about Tyler since the incident that awful Thanksgiving at my mother’s house. I’d told Elijah though. It had feltright. Not because I was keeping anything in, but because I needed to be open with him if I wanted to start a romantic relationship with him. He needed to understand my past and my trust issues.

Opening up to him might have also made him feel more comfortable about opening up to me. Mind, he wasn’t kidding when he’d said his past was far more complicated and gruesome than mine.

But now I knew.

Everything from that week he’d spent in my cabin now made perfect sense. He’d taken the kids and somehow gotten in touch with Corbin, who put him in touch with Jack. Since Corbin didn’t have reception or internet at his cabin, I didn’t know how Elijah had reached out to him. My eyes landed on the postcard I’d pulled out of Elijah’s jeans pocket when I’d undressed him that first night. I’d saved it for him, but it had remained here when Elijah had left with Corbin. It had resided on my nightstand for the past four months. All that was written on it was a phone number to an area code that was not local. I recognized the picture on the other side, though. In fact, I’d asked Jack once why he sold postcards with pictures of the ocean on them in a town with no ocean access. He’d just smiled and said, “What’s life without a little whimsy.”

The postcard had no doubt come from Jack’s store and was likely sent by Corbin. I didn’t recognize the phone number, but it explained how Elijah had been able to get ahold of his friend after eighteen years apart.

It still frightens me, the thought of what would have happened to Elijah and those kids if I hadn’t been passing by exactly when I had. If I’d gone to Tommy’s earlier, I would have been home before they’d even driven up the mountain. If I’d taken a differentroute home, I never would have seen them. If I’d looked away before the glow from the taillight had caught my eye, I might have driven right past them without even knowing they were there.

All I knew was that I was beyond grateful that I’d been in the right place at the right time to help them.

As I stared up at my ceiling, I knew that while what Elijah had done was in a morally gray area, he’d done it with good intentions. His goal had always been, and always would be, to protect his children.

I wasn’t sure how I felt right then calling them his children. Technically, they were the children he’d stolen.ButElijah did say that Belle had been calling him her dad since she learned to speak. That had to mean that her real father hadn’t been around or attentive enough to his own daughter for her to form any relationship or bond with him.

There was no doubt Elijah loved those children. It must have been so terrible for Belle if she was suffering from, what I assumed, was a form of PTSD. It was possible Elijah was too, with how protective he was towards those children.

Bottom line was, Ididwant to start a romantic relationship with Elijah. I understood that there might be some heartache down the line if he and the children had to relocate, but I felt it was worth the risk. I didn’t know if I would fall in love with Elijah. I liked him, certainly. Love was a different story. I wasn’t sure I was capable of that anymore.

I didn’t still love Tyler, but I still remember the feeling and elation of loving him. I had been so devoted and utterly blind that I’d missed my own husband having a four-month affair with my own sister. Tyler no longer held a piece of my heart, but I wasn’t entirely sure my heart was whole enough to be given out again.

Time would tell, I supposed. It wasn’t like I had to fall inlove with Elijah by a certain date and time or my carriage would turn back into a pumpkin. We had time. That was the great thing about this mountain.Time. Time had no meaning up here, beyond the change of the seasons. We could go as fast or as slow as we wanted, and there was no external pressure from family, culture, or society.

Elijah and I hadn’t made plans to meet up again when I’d left Belle’s party. I think he was leaving the ball in my court since I had said I’d needed time to process. I had a bunch of questions, there was no doubt about that, and maybe it was foolish of me to even contemplate a relationship with a man who was a self-admitted kidnapper—good intentions aside. When Dalton and Corbin had come back outside, Elijah and I had stepped away from our embrace. He’d kissed me on the cheek and gone inside for the night. Dalton had driven me home.

He hadn’t said anything about what he’d seen at the party between Elijah and I. Mind, he’d also been introduced to Adam as ‘Elijah’.

Dalton just gave me a knowing smirk before driving off to head to his cabin.

I’d planned on going hunting in the morning. The big game was starting to come out of their winter hidey-holes. It was prime hunting time before mating season turned many of them aggressive, especially the males. I also needed to start setting up my regular traps for the small animals. I had specific places around my property that I liked to catch rabbits, squirrels, and (once) a wolverine. I checked them every day or so throughout the warmer months and usually caught something in two out of five traps.

Geese would also be prime in a few months as they headed north to lay their eggs. There was a stream on my land thatattracted ducks sometimes too. Pheasant were also popular come summertime.

There was always plenty to do. I was never short on work.

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