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“Come on, handsome.” Delaney grabbed Sam’s hand. “Put another baby in me if you can.”
“Challenge accepted, my beautiful, amazing wife.”
He gave her a gentle tug as he stepped back over the threshold into the house.
Delaney stage-whispered to her sister and Eli. “He says that when I know there are mushed carrots in my hair!”
And then they were gone, two of the happiest people Beth knew, to hopefully grow their family from three to four. Plus Scout. Plus Butch Catsidy. Plus all the animals at Delaney’s shelter, including the pregnant goat whose kid was due any day now.
Now it was just Beth and Eli on the porch, the two of them not quite a family but somehow also not quite not.
“Let’s sit,” Eli said, motioning toward the top step of the porch.
He held out a hand to help her, and though she didn’t need it…though her ankle felt better than it had felt in over two months, she took it and let him guide her to the ground before sitting beside her.
He blew a breath and ran a hand through his damp, dark hair.
“Fury didn’t just get loose that night,” he began.
His voice trembled, and his jaw clenched. Beth couldn’t tell if it was due to fear, pain, anger, or some combination of the three. All she knew was going back to that night was probably the hardest thing Eli had ever had to do, and he was doing it for her.
“It’s okay,” she told him. “I mean, I know it’s not okay. But I’m here, and I’m listening, and I’ll do whatever you need, if you’ll let me.”
She rested a gentle hand on his forearm, and he slid his arm up until her hand met his and their fingers intertwined.
She gave him a reassuring squeeze.
“There were poachers on the property. It’s all still kind of a blur…Tess and I hearing Fury’s distress even on top of the storm, the two of us bolting out of bed and running out in the rain. She ran after Fury, and I took off after the assholes who came to take her.” He paused. “Until the loudest crash of thunder shook the goddamn ground, and I heard Tess scream.”
“Oh god.” Beth squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to put him through this. She didn’t know if she could relive the night with him. “Eli, you don’t have to—”
“Yeah,” he interrupted before she could finish. “I do.”
He cleared his throat, and Beth didn’t know if he was looking at her or still staring straight ahead because she couldn’t open her eyes until he was done.
“I don’t know how I found her. It was so goddamned dark, and the rain was relentless. And I knew. I fucking knew when I got there that it was too late. I think she did too, but she kept telling me she was fine, that she’d get up in a minute but that I needed to find Fury. She’d never forgive herself if anything happened to that horse.” He let out a bitter laugh. “I used to tease her that she loved Fury more than she loved me, but I didn’t care. At least when it came to humans, I was her favorite in that arena.”
Silence stretched out for several seconds.
“You didn’t go after Fury,” Beth finally guessed.
Eli cleared his throat. “I did…but not until Tess was…not until…”
He didn’t have to say the rest. He didn’t have to tell her that he stayed with his wife until she was gone or that when he finally got to their almost stolen mare, she was injured too severely to save.
Beth opened her eyes because who the hell was she to let him go through this again…alone.
Eli’s eyes were red, his cheeks streaked with tears.
“Hey…Eli…” She shifted to face him, took his wet cheeks into her palms. “None of it was your fault. You know that, right?”
He shook his head. “I should have gone after the horse with her. She had no business trying to mount Fury bareback in a fucking storm.”
“And you did? It was an impossible situation that likely would have ended badly no matter which decision you made. But if you dwell on the what-ifs and don’t find a way to forgive yourself, you’ll never really be able to move on.”
He cleared his throat and shook his head, effectively shaking himself free from her grip.
“I can’t change what already happened. I get that. But I’m not going to fuck up like that again.”
