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“Let me come with you,” Olivia suggested, her face filled with compassion. “I want to help.”
Hunter's heart swelled up and he felt a tightness in his chest that made it near impossible to speak. He nodded his head at her, mesmerized by the grateful smile she sent his way. As he settled into the back seat of Braxon's truck with Joshua, leaving Olivia to sit in the front passenger seat with Braxon, turbulent emotions were coursing through him. Competing with his worry over Joshua was a nagging suspicion that he couldn't shake. If he wasn't mistaken, somewhere along the way Olivia Renault had wedged her way so deeply inside of his heart that he knew she would stay there forever.
“Lean on Him in times of trouble. He won’t ever fail you.” Mae Rawlings
Chapter Thirteen
It was close to midnight by the time Hunter was able to drive Olivia back to the Renault mansion. They'd managed to settle Joshua down, and after a brief period he had returned to his usual, jovial self. When his brothers had pressed him about his mood shift, Joshua admitted that he remembered almost nothing about the rehearsal dinner, including his scuffle with Marcus and the incident during the fireworks. Hunter and Braxon had seemed stunned by his admission. Olivia had fixed Joshua some herbal green tea and they'd played four rounds of Uno until Joshua had practically fallen asleep at the kitchen table.
By the time they'd left the house he was fast asleep on the sofa and Braxon was keeping a close eye on him.
During the car ride home Olivia was able to voice the concerns she'd been harboring about Joshua. She'd grown up with him, and although he'd been several grades above her in school, his kindness and gentleness had been legendary. One of her most indelible memories of Joshua occurred when she was eight years old and he'd won a pink rabbit's foot for her at the Savannah state fair. Although his friends had teased him something fierce about his kind gesture, he'd taken it with a grain of salt. Thoughtful. Sweet. A giant teddy bear. That was the Joshua Rawlings everyone in Savannah had always known and loved. His recent, erratic behavior was startling, particularly since it coincided with his tour of duty in a war zone. It wasn't something the Rawlings family could afford to ignore for much longer. Of that she felt certain.
“Has Joshua received any counseling?” she blurted out.
“He doesn't need counseling. He just needs time to heal,” Hunter said in a brusque voice, his jaw twitching with emotion. “He was pretty badly injured over there. When I visited him at that rehab center in Bethesda he could barely talk. His throat had been burned so badly in the explosion, along with his hands and arms.”
Hunter's tone sounded defensive. She knew better than to hold it against him. Olivia suspected that the whole family was in denial. They all seemed to believe that with time and massive doses of love, Joshua would heal. But did any of them know what he'd endured during his deployment? Had he confided in anyone the hell he'd been put through? There was no way Joshua could have made it through three tours of duty without having witnessed the worst acts imaginable. Memories like that, she imagined, were no doubt seared into his mind.
“There's all kinds of healing for veterans. Physical. Emotional. I think Joshua needs to talk to someone. A professional who deals with veterans' issues.”
She was trying to tread lightly, knowing that her suggestion might be met with open hostility. It was a difficult subject for her to bro
ach, but she felt compelled to add her two cent's worth. Too much was at stake if Joshua didn't get the help he so desperately needed.
Hunter turned towards her, quickly studying her face before he focused again on the road. She couldn't miss the look of stark pain etched on his face. He was hurting for his brother and clueless about how to help him. For a man like Hunter, who could access the best the world had to offer with a simple phone call, it must be excruciating not to be able to fix Joshua. He nervously tapped his fingers against the steering wheel and she knew his mind must be whirling with a million different thoughts. After a few seconds he said, “I know he needs help. He's been struggling ever since he came back.” He blew out a huff of air. “I just need a minute to figure out where we go from here.”
His face looked so vulnerable it made her want to lean over toward the driver's seat and kiss all his worries away. But she knew it wasn't that simple. Along with his physical scars, Joshua had emotional wounds that were remnants from his military service. He might have a rough road ahead of him before he got his life back. If he got his life back.
“Don’t forget to pray about it, Hunter,” Olivia said, reaching out and patting his hand as he clutched the steering wheel. “Lean on Him. It will make this whole situation less scary.”
Hunted nodded but didn’t say a word.
As they drove down the long, curved driveway leading to the mansion, Olivia was struck for a moment by its desolate appearance. The house was shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by a few lanterns circling the driveway and a light twinkling in the front hall. It looked lonely, she realized. Empty. What would this house be like, she wondered, if it was filled with a lively bunch of children? A family who laughed and loved and played? Joyful noises.
Hunter walked her to the front door, his hand resting at the base of her spine as she fished her keys out of her clutch.
“Thanks for the ride,” she murmured as she pulled the keys out.
“Thanks for helping out. It means a lot that you'd want to step in and help Joshua.” Hunter looked over at the driveway then back at the darkened house. “Where's Jack? He should be home by now, shouldn't he?”
“He's probably still at the party with Mae. Or maybe they decided to make it a late night at one of the jazz clubs downtown.”
Hunter's face looked puzzled. “Wow. They really enjoy themselves together, don’t they?”
Olivia couldn't help but smile at Hunter's dumbfounded reaction. He looked so adorable and confused. “They really do. I think their relationship is sweet. You haven’t seen them together much, but they’re a great team.”
Hunter scratched his jaw. “I saw them in a whole new light tonight. They really love each other, don’t they?”
“They really do,” she murmured.
“Then it makes sense that they commit themselves to each other. If they love each other so deeply, getting married is the right thing,” Hunter said with a nod.
It warmed her heart to think he had his own opinions about love and marriage. Something low in her belly contracted painfully as the realization hit her that Hunter might settle down and get married himself in the next few years. She shook her head to rid her mind of the image of Hunter exchanging vows with a beautiful bride. The notion of Hunter sharing a life with another woman was too agonizing to contemplate.
“Come inside for a spell. I still have some of that peach cobbler from the other night, if you're interested.” She tossed the invitation out casually, although she felt anything but casual. It felt as if she was holding on to lightning in a bottle. Soon Hunter would be leaving Savannah and heading back to his fabulous life in New York City. Until then, she was going to hold on as tightly as possible.
He rubbed his stomach and flashed her a wolfish grin. “You don't have to ask me twice. That peach cobbler rivals the one mama makes, although you're sworn to secrecy about that. Mama swears her peach cobbler is the best in Georgia.”
