“There you are,” he said.
“I’m here,” she answered gently.
I helped him to his feet, keeping a steady hold on him as well. Two points of balance. Two people to get out of a storm. I could do this.
The walk back to the car was slow, every step deliberate.
Rain continued to fall, relentlessly, but it no longer felt like something that would take from me.
When we reached my car, I got them inside first.
Her father was in the back seat. Belle was in the front. Only once they are both secured did I allow myself a breath.
Then I moved around to the driver’s side and got in.
The engine started, and warm air began to push into space. The mud dripped off us as the rain still continued to hammer the windshield.
Belle’s hand found mine. It may have been cold and shaking, but she was alive.
I tightened my grip around hers.
“We’re going home,” I said, like a promise I intend to keep.
42
BELLE
By the time we pulled into the drive, I was shaking. Not from the cold entirely. Adrenaline had burned off somewhere between the woods and the highway, leaving everything inside me raw and too aware. My knee throbbed in a steady but not as bad as it had when I’d injured it. It was my hands that wouldn’t quite stop trembling.
The house came into view, lights blazing.
And Geoffrey.
Of course.
He stood just inside the door when we came in, like he had been waiting.
Which, knowing him, he had.
“Miss Belle,” he said, already moving toward us with two mugs of tea in hand and a blanket draped over his arm. “You are soaked.”
“Understatement,” I muttered.
He didn’t smile, but his eyes softened.
“Sir,” he said to Raph with a small nod, then turned his attention immediately back to us. “Let’s get you all warm.”
Everything after that blurred a little. Dry clothes. Hot water. Mud washed down the drain in swirling streaks.
My knee protested when I bent it, but I ignored it as best I could.
When I came back down to the kitchen, wrapped in one of Raph’s oversized sweaters, Dad sat at the table. He looked small in the way fear had crept into him.
His hands shook as he held the mug Geoffrey had given him.
“Hey,” I said softly, moving toward him.
His eyes snapped to mine.
