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“Takes courage to leave your support network and travel miles away to make a home.”
“It was for the best.”
“And does Nick still stay in touch?”
“He calls.”
She hesitated, so he waited.
“I think he’s in trouble. He called the other day and said he needed money and that these people meant business. I said I couldn’t help him and hung up.”
“But you’re worried about him?”
“He’s not a bad guy, just a spoiled, misguided one.”
“Sounds like a real peach.”
She turned enough to look up at him. “Seeing as I’ve just told you my life story, tell me what happened to you now.”
“Why do you think something has?” He traced his finger down her cheek. Soft and warm to the touch.
“I don’t know. I just do.”
“Only a few people know about this, Autumn, and I have only just told my family what I should have told them years ago.”
She frowned. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“I know, but I guess I feel like I want to now I’ve started talking about it.”
She braced a hand on his chest and leaned in to kiss him, then cupped his cheeks and looked into his eyes. “Whatever you tell me stays with me, okay?”
“I know that already, Autumn, just like what you told me goes no further.”
“How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know how I know. I just do.”
“That’s a lovely thing to say, and just so we’re clear, I know you’re a good guy too.” She gave him a sweet smile and then turned to rest her head on his chest again.
Ford exhaled slowly and began to talk. She didn’t interrupt. At some point, he took her hand and slid his fingers through hers.
“I can’t imagine the hell that was to live through or how you’ve suffered since,” Autumn said when he’d finished.
“Hell about sums it up.”
“So you didn’t tell your family because they were going through stuff of their own, and you figured you’d deal with it alone at the age of twenty?”
“I did what I thought was right.”
She looked at him, her green eyes concerned. “But now you’re wondering if you made the right decision, aren’t you?”
He exhaled. “I thought I was doing the right thing, and then as the years passed—”
“Ford, I know you’re the eldest, know that protecting is in your DNA. But no man, or young man as the case was, is an island. You should not have gone through that alone. I hope you understand that now.”
“I’m coming around to that.”
“I don’t have that many people in my corner, but the two I do are important. Yes, they’re older and don’t always get me, but they love me. It would have destroyed them had I gone through something like that alone.”
