AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He nodded. “It’s true that we weren’t in a good place, Ruby.”
His admission frightened her. Suddenly every ounce of security she had established in Love felt as if it were slipping out of her grasp. She raised her hand to her mouth as a sob bubbled up inside her. Why had he allowed her to believe they were a storybook couple?
“I can’t believe this! Everything I believed about us is a lie.”
“No! It wasn’t a lie. Relationships ebb and flow, Ruby. Sure, we were grappling with certain issues, but we loved each other. That’s the biggest truth of all.”
“But we were separating. Breaking up,” she cried out.
“We would have found our way back to one another. I know it!”
She sank onto the bed as if her legs were too weak to hold her up. “It feels like I don’t know much of anything. Everything between us since I’ve been back in Love has been based on what I thought we had. Everyone here in town told me we were this amazing couple, but the truth is, they didn’t know our struggles or that we might not have stayed together.”
“I know this is confusing to you, but it doesn’t change what we were...the love we shared. We were devoted to each other, Ruby. Head-over-heels, besotted, crazy-in-love fools. Did we have rough times? Yes. Did we fall short of what we wanted to be? Yes. But the good times far outweighed the bad.” A sheen of tears shone in his eyes. “I know we would have stuck it out because I vowed it to you on the day we got married.”
She shook her head. “If all that is true, why weren’t you honest with me?”
“Because after losing you, I couldn’t stand the thought of going through it all over again. I wasn’t confident that I could tell you without losing you. I allowed fear to cloud my better judgment. I was afraid for Aidan, as well, and what it would mean for him if you took off back to Colorado.”
“Stop hiding behind Aidan! Ever since I came back you’ve been avoiding the elephant in the room. You made me believe that we had this beautiful, perfect marriage. And so did everyone else in this town—” Suddenly she wasn’t just furious with Liam. She was angry at the townsfolk for giving credence to the fairy tale. And she was furious with God, for allowing her to believe she had found her way back to the place she belonged.
“It wasn’t perfect, but it was everything we ever wanted it to be.”
“That’s not true,” she said in a steely voice. “I remember the fighting and the bitterness. We were planning a separation. That’s not what most couples dream about.”
Liam grimaced. “You brought up the idea of a separation after things got heated between us. I hated the fact that you were going out on these dangerous missions and putting your life at risk. One of your search-and-rescue colleagues had been killed in a previous mission. I wanted you here in Love, with us, where it was safe.”
Ruby raised her hand to her head. It still ached. “And I told you that my profession was a big part of me and that I wouldn’t be whole without it.”
Liam nodded, his expression grim. “Neither of us was willing to budge.”
“So we broke?” Ruby’s lips quivered. She had bought into the fairy tale of her blissful marriage to Liam. The perfect couple with the high-powered careers and the adorable son. Not a single person had described them as anything other than euphoric. Suddenly nothing made sense. Liam wasn’t the man or the partner she had believed him to be. And it hurt terribly. The pain threatened to strangle her.
“We weren’t broken. A little chipped and frayed around the edges, perhaps. But none of that is what’s most important. We’re two people who were given an opportunity to repair the pain in our marriage. Try to remember us, Ruby. Who we truly were. What we can be again.”
She shook her head. “Nothing beautiful or lasting can be built on deception. I remember enough to know that, Liam. It wasn’t pretty.”
“I think you’re falling in love with me all over again. You already have my heart, Ruby. There’s nothing standing in our way. Let’s not put up obstacles.”
She gathered her strength and stood. “So, tell me one thing, Liam. Would you still hold me back from doing search-and-rescue work?”
“Don’t ask me that question.” Liam gritted his teeth.
She locked gazes with him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that she expected an answer.
He let out a groan. “My head says no, but my heart says yes. I lost you once due to unacceptable risks. How could I ever be on board with you returning to that line of work?” His brow was furrowed. His features radiated intensity.
Ruby shuddered. Up until today it had felt as if they were moving toward their own happily-ever-after. But now, after what she had discovered, it felt as if everything was falling apart.
“I need to go, Liam. I can’t keep going around and around this with you. Aidan is taking his nap.” She began walking toward the door. Liam reached out and grabbed her arm. She shrugged him off.
“Please don’t go. Stay and talk this through with me. There’s not a thing we can’t figure out together.” There was a pleading quality to Liam’s voice that made her want to stick around and hash things out. But she was so confused about everything. At the moment she didn’t know up from down. And she needed time to sort things through.
“I can’t. Truthfully, it’s really hard for me to look at you right now.”
She raced to the living room, picked up her purse and keys and headed out into the Alaskan afternoon. Ruby had no idea where she was headed, but the one thing she knew for certain was that she no longer felt safe and secure in her world.
* * *
