Page 241 of Taken Away

The rush of footsteps.

The split second when instinct had taken over.

Then he had heard Aubrey behind him.

One breath.

That was all it had taken.

One breath, and everything in him had turned back.

Not toward the threat.

Toward her.

He needed to get back to her.

The realization moved through him slowly.

Then all at once.

His gaze drifted toward the bedroom.

Aubrey slept on the other side of the wall.

In his bed.

In his life.

He looked back at Claire’s photograph.

“I don’t know how to do this,” he whispered.

His thumb pushed at the ring.

It slid to his knuckle.

Stopped.

Bennett stared at it.

His chest tightened.

He could take it off right now and lay it on the table beneath Claire’s photograph like an offering.

His throat worked.

“I’m trying,” he said.

The words nearly broke in the middle.

Bennett closed his eyes.

For a moment, he saw Claire in the hospital bed, too thin beneath white sheets, smiling at him with more courage than he had ever possessed.

He opened his eyes.

The ring remained halfway over his knuckle.