Page 47 of The Way Back Home
“She can’t know that we know,” Noah warned.
“No,” Alex agreed. “She’ll move up the timeline and bolt, probably in the middle of the night, under thecover of darkness.” When the others cast a questioning look his way, he shrugged. “That’s what I’d do.”
“What is the timeline?” Daniel asked.
“As it stands right now, she’s agreed to stay until tomorrow.”
“Then what?”
Noah grimaced. “Then I drive her somewhere of her choosing and let her go.”
“Ten to one, that someplace is Saughannock,” Alex guessed.
Noah nodded as the truth settled heavily in his chest. “Yeah, no doubt. She’s going to try and stop Josh on her own.”
“Fuck that,” Eli said vehemently, and Noah felt another swell of appreciation for his brothers. “We’re not going to let that happen, right?”
Noah looked at him, his eyes so dark that they were more mahogany than amber. “I gave her my word.”
“And you’re not going to break it,” Alex said firmly. “You can’t start a relationship like that.”
“It’s not like that,” Noah began, but everyone ignored him.
He pushed those thoughts aside for now. The important thing was to keep Teagan safe, and to do that, he was going to put his faith and trust in Alex.
Alex’s lips curled, but no one would ever mistake it for a smile. “Okay, today’s Christmas, so for now, we sit tight. Tomorrow, when Teagan asks you to take her into Saughannock, do it.Youmight have made a promise, but we didn’t. In the meantime, I’m going to do some more digging. We’ll go from there.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Brandon asked. At their blank looks, he explained, “Kinsey recognized her.”
“Did Kinsey tell anyone else besides you guys this morning?” Noah asked.
Brandon shook his head. “Not that I know of. We saw her parents at Midnight Mass, but I don’t recall Teagan’s name coming up. Of course, her dad cornered me to talk college football afterward while Kinsey was with her mom and sisters. I suppose she might have said something then.”
“Nothing we can do about that now,” Alex said. Then a thought occurred to him. “Wait, Kinsey recognized Teagan, but Teagan didn’t recognize Kinsey, did she?”
Noah answered that one. “No. She would have said something—or at the very least, she’d have had some kind of a reaction if she had.”
“Any way we can keep the two of them apart for the next twenty-four hours?” Alex asked.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Noah said. “Teagan’s reclusive by nature. She’ll be relieved if I suggest hanging out in the cabin.”
Alex nodded and clapped his hands together. “Then it sounds like we have a plan. Go take care of your woman and leave it to us.”
She’s not my woman. The protest was on the tip of his tongue, but Noah couldn’t make it pass over his lips.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
TEAGAN
Teagan ran the brush down Chester’s left flank while he munched contentedly on fresh alfalfa. The motions were rote, at once soothing and comforting. She felt at peace here, with only the horses and Bear to keep her company. Animals didn’t care if you were pretty or smart. They didn’t care if you made mistakes or had a less than honorable past. They didn’t judge you based on anything more than your heart and your kindness.
Unlike people, for whom judgment and cruelty were skilled art forms.
Not everyone, of course. She had met some amazing people along her journey. Most recently, Mona, Noah, and Noah’s family—with the possible exception of Alex.
If nothing else, Noah had given her the best Christmas she’d ever had. She’d woken up amid a cocoon of cozy blankets in front of a fire. Opened hereyes to gaze upon the seven-foot pine he’d cut for her the night before. Gazed out the window to see the half a foot of fresh snow glistening like white diamonds in the bright morning sunlight. And then there was the quiet breakfast they’d shared, just the two of them.
She accepted it for what it was—the calm before the storm that tomorrow would bring—and wanted to savor every minute of it.
