Page 120 of Strangers She Knows

“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do enough. Simply sat with her, and wondered if we were going to die there. Then I heard the helicopter that your dear husband sent.” Ruby glanced toward the door.

Max and Verona stood there, listening.

“Kellen wouldn’t rest until I understood you were here and needed help.” Max gave credit where credit was due.

Kellen gave a watery laugh. “Max, you jerk. Why didn’t you tell me Luna was alive?”

“I didn’t know until this morning when I spoke to Tichi. The medical team didn’t realize we thought Luna was dead. At that point I thought you should really see our dog.” Translation: Max didn’t want Kellen bursting into tears when he was alone with her.

Ruby watched them fondly. “What a lovely couple you are.” She extended her hand to Verona. “You must be Rae’s beloved grandma.”

Verona carefully shook the twisted, arthritic hand. “All I’ve heard about since I returned is the brave and strong Ruby Morgade.”

Introductions were made, Max set chairs around the bed, and he and Verona seated themselves. Rae remained close to Ruby, and Kellen stayed where she was, crouched beside the bed to pet Luna.

“Please, Miss Morgade, tell us what happened next,” Verona said.

“Dear Tichi found us first. She came through the kitchen door, saw me and Luna, and in no time she had the whole medical team working on Luna.”

Tichi popped in from the outer room. “She insisted we help Luna first.” Seeing how Ruby sat up to talk, how she gestured, Tichi came in, fluffed the bed pillows, pressed Ruby back and urged her to relax.

Ruby smiled tremulously. “Tichi is fierce.”

“You’re supposed to be resting.” Tichi pointed to Luna and to the mattress. “So are you, Miss Luna.”

Luna subsided at Ruby’s feet, head on paws, watching them fondly.

Tichi took up the story. “The team removed seven shotgun pellets from Luna’s hind quarters, then we carried Miss Morgade and Luna upstairs to bed. Luna is recovering well, although we are worried about nerve damage in her spine.”

“I blame myself,” Ruby said. “I took that woman’s guns away, but I didn’t find that wicked shotgun.”

“If I’d had access to Mara’s other weapons, or our own—” Kellen now knew who had removed the guns from the gun safe “—my battle would have been much briefer.” Reminded of her aches and pains, Kellen shifted uncomfortably.

Ruby shook her head. “I couldn’t… Icouldn’tgive them to you. I feared for you, darling girl, but I had faith in your ingenuity, a faith which you justified.”

“I’m grateful for everything you did for me. You saved me.” Appreciation and resentment mixed until Kellen couldn’t tell where one left off and the other started. “I’m just saying it could have been easier.”

“I’m glad you beat that awful woman. If I had witnessed nothing of Mara Philippi and her cruelty, I would still have been on your side because of your interest in my story and your kindness in giving me a happy ending.”

“What I did, with the explosives, was so much more difficult and risky than pointing a gun at her would have been.” When Kellen remembered how she had plotted and struggled and sweated, her heart thumped an uneasy, fearful beat.

With sad certainty, Ruby said, “She would never have yielded, and you would have had to kill her.”

Hmm. Yes. That was probably the truth. “But I killed her anyway.”

“Not face-to-face. You didn’t see the blast of blood and bone, and the light of life flee from the poor, shattered body. You didn’t face your own inevitable guilt, and have to turn your mind away before you went mad.”

Rae proved she’d been listening. “None of this would have happened if my parents had told me the truth about why we came to the island.” She spoke in a clear, cold voice, and she stared at Max and Kellen with clear, cold eyes.

Kellen stared back, stunned by the blunt attack.

Tichi made a sudden retreat and shut the door after her.

Rae transferred all her attention to Max. “Daddy, why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

Kellen glanced at him.

Max fumbled for words. “Your mother and I—we wanted to protect you.”

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