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Hank kept walking until she tugged hard at his jacket, forcing him to come to a stop. He turned around and frowned at her. “I really don’t want to hear it!”
“Please, listen to me. There’s so much you don’t know, Hank. So much I should have told you from the very beginning.”
“There’s really nothing you can say at this point that I want to hear. Why don’t you go back inside, Sage? The Norths are waiting for you. They’re so desperate to get their daughter back after all these years. I’m sure they won’t blame you for all the weeks of lies and evasions. From what I saw, they’re ready to welcome you back into the fold with open arms.”
“I didn’t mean to lie to anyone,” she choked out. “It was complicated.”
Hank let out a harsh laugh. “You’ve been telling lies this entire time. In my experience, the truth isn’t that hard to own. Tell me this. How long have you known you were Lily? Surely you didn’t just find out.”
She bit her lip. “I’ve known for a few months, but I couldn’t really be certain. I wasn’t sure. That’s why I came to Owl Creek. I was trying to figure it all out.”
Months! His blood ran cold. He felt his heart icing over. Against his better instincts he’d opened himself up to Sage. He had told her all about his past hurts. He’d trusted her. And now the door to his heart was firmly shut again. “That first day on the ferry I told you Connor was my best friend. You knew there were close ties between myself and the Norths, which served your purposes, didn’t it? Every question you asked me about the abduction and the North family was digging for information.”
“No! That’s not true. I didn’t target you because you’re town sheriff or due to your ties to my birth family.” Her lower lip trembled, and she hitched in a breath. “I tried not to like you, Hank, because of those relationships. I made a point to keep my distance, but it seemed as if we were always being drawn together. A sheriff was the last person I wanted in my life.”
He knew Sage was trying to reason with him, but it was near impossible to hear anything she was saying. His anger ran too deep. Her betrayal hurt too much. His mind raced with all the times they’d discussed Lily’s abduction, as well as the investigation and the Norths’ desperate desire to find their missing daughter. It made him sick to his stomach that she’d been sitting on the truth for such a long time. It seemed heartless.
“Bravo. You really fooled us all, didn’t you? And you put your family through unnecessary pain.”
Sage flinched. Her face turned a paler color. “I know it must seem like that, but you don’t have the whole story, Hank. There’s so much I want to explain.”
He clenched his teeth. “You should have told me weeks ago. You had plenty of opportunities to come clean. The world offers us plenty of excuses to not tell the truth. You knew what the Norths went through and what this town endured. Did I ever tell you that Piper’s father was a suspect in the kidnapping? He went through torment to prove he was innocent. So the ripples from this case were widespread. The cuts run deep.”
Her eyes went wide. “That’s truly terrible.”
“Well, I hope you get your happy ending with the Norths. They’ve waited a long time for this reunion.”
“Come back inside with me,” she said in a pleading tone. “I want you to be a part of it. I’m so very sorry.” Sage sounded contrite and utterly broken. He faltered for a moment, unsure of himself. Wasn’t forgiveness part of his faith? Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Just then he remembered Sage’s plan to leave town. How could she have made that decision, knowing she’d be withholding the truth from the North family and the entire town of Owl Creek in the process? It caused his wrath to flare up again.
“No, thank you,” he bit out. “It really has nothing to do with me. You’ve made that clear all along, haven’t you?”
Sage seemed to be fighting back tears. She ducked her head down. Seeing her cry pained him. Growing up in a household of women had made him very susceptible to the slightest signs of weeping, but he clenched his teeth, trying not to be swayed by her waterworks. It was probably just one more manipulation. “I just want to ask one thing of you.”
“You can ask me anything,” she answered in a soft voice.
“Please don’t hurt them. They’re good people who only deserve happiness after all these years of suffering. They can’t take much more.”
“I wouldn’t! I won’t! I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. I just didn’t know what to do or how to fix everything. I was in way over my head.”
Hank scoffed. “Yeah. I know the feeling. So was I.”
“Everything was real between us, Hank. Please don’t lose sight of that.”
He held up his hand as he walked away, letting her know in no uncertain terms he was done talking to her.
“Hank!” The sound of her voice crying out his name nearly brought him running back to her side. But he was on autopilot, trying desperately to move away from the gut-wrenching pain roiling in his body.
Hot tears stung his eyes. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried. Perhaps on the day he’d discovered he was Addie’s father. But those had been tears of joy not sorrow. These tears were forged from loss and devastation.
It was way more than being deceived. He was in love with Sage! The knowledge crashed over him like a tsunami. He’d fallen in love with her despite all his reservations and doubts. It had happened gradually, bit by bit, until now it was too late to take a step back. He’d done what he almost never did—he had stepped out on a ledge and allowed himself to free-fall, thinking he had a safety net to catch him. Instead, Hank had plummeted to earth and been given a healthy dose of reality.
Chapter Thirteen
The last few days had been a whirlwind. There had been a celebratory mood amongst certain members of the North family as the news had sunk in about her true identity. Sage had submitted to a DNA test and the results were conclusive. She was Lily North! Willa and Nate had been overcome with joy, praising God for the reunion. Connor had been hesitant at first to fully believe her assertion that she was his long-lost sister. But he’d softened once Sage explained about the deathbed confession of the woman who’d raised her, as well as confided her fears for her father. He’d embraced her once the test results had come in.
They’d shed tears as a family and Nate had led them in prayer as they stood in a circle, tightly holding hands.
