"Me, too," he said gruffly.
I slid my arms around his waist and pulled him close. We stayed that way for several long minutes, an island of warmth and safety in a sea of drizzling rain and stormy emotions. It had taken us ten years to get back here. Closing my eyes, I breathed in and out, letting my heart slow down, letting my mind catch up with everything that had happened.
"We're getting soaked," Drake murmured, as he released me.
I smiled, keeping my hands on his waist, needing him to stay close. "We've always been good in the rain."
His lips curved upward. "That's very true. Are you really okay, Willow?"
"I am. How about you?"
"I'm trying to process it all. I feel like I came into the middle of a story."
"I know. I'll tell you everything. There were some unexpected twists."
He shook his head in bewilderment. "I can't believe Melanie was with Gage, that she was pregnant. She was sixteen. She must have been so scared when she found out she was going to have a baby, but she didn't tell you; she didn't tell me. Why couldn't she confide in us?"
His question brought me more pain. "I don't know. I wish she had. But I can't be angry at her for that. I never told her about you and me. It was too personal. Maybe Melanie felt the same way about Gage."
"I always had a bad feeling about him, about the lie he told. Now I understand why he didn't want anyone to know he'd seen her that day. He was afraid the secret about the baby would come out."
"Your instincts were right."
"I wish I could have protected her."
"I wish the same thing."
"But Kelsey is okay," he said. "You saved her life. She said you hid her in the woods and made noise so Eileen would follow you. That was brave and selfless."
"I just did what came to mind. But I was in trouble. Until you showed up." A knot came into my throat. "I thought for a minute there, I was going to die."
His gaze darkened. "When I heard the gunshot… Well, I don't think I've ever been that scared. I didn't know what I was going to find when I came through the trees."
"You were a sight to see. I dodged the first bullet, but I don't think she would have missed a second time. Thank you."
"You're more than welcome. I'm glad you told me where you were. I know I hurt you, Willow. I betrayed your trust by keeping a secret from you."
"I had thought we were being completely honest with each other," I admitted, still feeling the sting of his lie of omission.
"It was a mistake."
I let out a weary sigh. "Well, I don't want to talk about that now. I just want…"
As my voice trailed away, he gave me a searching look. "What? What do you want?"
"You asked me that before."
"Is your answer still the same?"
"I'm not sure," I said honestly. "I need to think about a lot of things. But I'm too tired and overwhelmed, so can I say what I want for the next minute?"
"You can say anything."
In the end, I didn't need words. I pulled him to me and took the kiss I both wanted and needed. Nothing else mattered. It was just me and him. But not even our heat was enough for the cold wind. I shivered, and Drake let me go.
"We should get out of the rain," Drake said.
"Yes. Everything else can wait."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I stripped off my jacket when I got into Drake's car, grateful that it had provided some protection from the rain. We didn't want to split up, and I didn't feel like driving, so I'd get my car later.
Drake cranked up the heat as we headed to the medical center. My hair and jeans were still damp when we got there, but the chill had eased, and I didn't want to waste time going home to change.
When we arrived, Dillon was in surgery, but his prognosis was good. Kelsey had been checked over and had her ankle taped and was about to go home with Brooklyn and my parents. We had a short reunion with promises to talk later, and then Drake and I left the hospital and went to the sheriff's office to speak to Ben.
We'd no sooner sat down with him in a conference room when Gage burst through the door, a deputy following close behind.
Gage looked like a wild man. His blue eyes were lit up, his hair wet and windblown.
"What the hell is going on?" Gage demanded. "My dad just called me. He said Dillon kidnapped Kelsey, but you have my mother in custody? Are you crazy? First, you think it's me, Ben, then it's my mother? If you did this to get me to turn myself in, well, here I am," Gage said. "You need to let my mother go."
"Sit down," Ben told Gage. He nodded to the officer. "You can go."
The deputy left, closing the door behind him.
Gage remained on his feet, giving me and Drake a hard look. "What are they doing here?"
"They're going to fill me in," Ben replied. "Since you seem to be in the middle of this, you can stay, but you need to sit down."
Gage pulled out a chair and took a seat, giving Ben a hard look. "I want to get my mother out of jail and then I want to talk to Kelsey. Is she all right? Was she hurt?"
"No, she wasn't hurt. Dillon was protecting her from you. He thought you killed Melanie and would do the same to Kelsey. He didn't realize that it was your mother who took Melanie's life."
Gage's face turned white. "What are you talking about? That's absurd. My mother isn't a killer."
"I didn't think she was, either," I said, drawing Gage's attention to me. "But Eileen shot Dillon right in front of me. Then she told me why she had to kill Melanie, because she was pregnant with your child and was going to ruin your life."
Gage was shaking his head before I finished speaking. "That's impossible. She's not a murderer." Despite his words, there was now a shadow of doubt in his eyes.
"I don't think you know who she really is," I said. "Eileen was willing to do anything to protect her family, her image, her reputation."
"She just confessed this?"
"She was going to kill me, too. She believed the secret would die with me."
"I want to talk to her," Gage demanded, turning to Ben.
"You'll have a chance at some point, but not now," Ben replied. Then he turned to me. "I want to know how my father became a threat to Eileen."
I knew I was going to hurt Ben with this part of the story, but it had to be told. "Your father and Eileen had an affair years ago, Ben. There was a baby, a secret baby that she passed off as Sean's. That child was Gage."
Both Ben and Gage stared at me like I'd lost my mind.
"It's not true," Gage said.
"Gage," I said with a sigh. "You need to stop telling me things aren’t true, because everything I'm going to tell you is the truth. You won't like any of it, but you have to hear it."
"Go on," Ben said shortly.
"Yes, let's hear about this secret baby," Gage added, anger written across his face.
"Eileen didn't tell Tom that he was your father until you were thirteen," I said, focusing solely on Gage. "That's when you got into trouble shoplifting. Tom wanted to teach you a lesson by putting you in jail. Eileen told him he couldn't because you were his son. She gave him DNA proof he was your father, along with photos of you."