Page 22 of If You Love Me

“She’s herself, and Jersey is her twin. The girls are just as close as their moms were.”

I looked away, sadly. I missed my best friend something serious. We’d been two peas in a pod since the playground days. We used to do everything together, from dressing alike to wearing our hair the same. We went to the same college and got married within two months of each other.

It was no surprise when we ended up pregnant at the same time. We wanted our kids to be the best of friends, just like us. Nina was truly my soulmate in friend form.

“I can’t wait to see them. Did you tell anybody?”

He shook his head. “I ran out of the office. I didn’t even think to call anyone.”

We pulled up to a stop sign, and he reached for his phone. I watched as he sent several text messages.

“I let everyone know to come to the house in about an hour, but I didn’t tell them why. Nina won’t get there until later. She’s working overtime today.”

I nervously rubbed my hands up and down my thighs. This reunion was long overdue, but I was excited yet terrified. What if transitioning back into civilian life was harder than I thought? What if the people closest to me had changed into people I didn’t know anymore?

Then there was the media. Officer Hilbert warned me that once the news broke, there would possibly be people wanting interviews. I wasn’t ready to talk about what happened to me to a widespread audience. I didn’t want that kind of attention. All I wanted was to go home and pick my life up.

“Evenie…” Tyrion said quietly. “Can I ask you something?”

I swallowed hard. “Sure.”

“Did he ever realize you weren’t the person he was looking for?”

I nodded. “He did. At that point, he didn’t care. He said I was the closest thing to having her back, and he couldn’t just let me go.”

Leon had several moments of clarity over the years. The first time he realized I wasn’t Lisa, he cried and apologized for taking me.

“Did he—did he ever hurt you?”

I pulled my hand away and looked down at my nails. “A few times, he hit me when I wouldn’t comply.”

“Anything else?”

I knew what he was asking, but I didn’t want to answer. That night, although it was only once, it had been traumatizing. I’d been sleeping when he came down to the basement. When I woke up, he was standing over me with a bottle of alcohol in his hand. He told me how much he missed me as he ran his hands along my leg beneath the blanket I slept under.

I’d tried to reason with him, but he wasn’t hearing me. Before I knew it, he had me pinned to the bed with all his weight on top of me. I cried, screamed, and pleaded for him to stop as he forced my legs apart and himself into me. That was the first night I actually contemplated ending my life. If that was to be my fate, I wanted no parts of it.

“Ev?” Tyrion said, breaking my thoughts.

I looked over at him. “Once, he um… he forced himself on me. Just once.”

He pulled the car over and put it in park. Turning to me, he grabbed my hands.

“I’m so sorry, Evenie. It should have been me. I should have gotten up that night and gone to the store—”

I shook my head. “Don’t put this on you. It was my choice to leave that night. We couldn’t have known any of this was going to happen, Tyrion. The person to blame is dead. All we can do now is move forward.”

The look on his face was one I couldn’t read. There was… something unfamiliar in his eyes, and it caused a sting in my chest. I didn’t know what it was, but I was sure it wouldn’t be long before I found out.

Home.

I stood in the front yard, looking up at the place I once called home. It was still as charming as we’d renovated it to be. When Papa Lewis first gifted us the house, it needed a lot of work. Tyrion and I spent many long days and nights tearing out old cabinets, stripping paint, sanding things down, and repainting them. We spent countless hours at the Habitat for Humanity Restore looking for fixtures and cabinets to refurbish.

I remembered us sleeping on an air mattress or furnishing the place with Goodwill furniture until we saved up enough to buy what we really wanted. Our families offered to help, but we wanted to do it all on our own. We didn’t have much, but we’d always had each other.

“We can’t stand here all day,” Tyrion said with a chuckle.

I playfully bumped him. “I know. I’m just taking it all in.” I smiled as I grabbed his hand. “I’m ready.”

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