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“An angel?”
“Yeah. After he was hit, he was convinced this angel came to help him. A woman or something. Anyway, Jax was driving on the same road and he found Luke. Did CPR, called an ambulance, and saved his life.”
“Is that how you all met?” I asked, stomping snow from my boots and winding my scarf off my neck.
“Yup. Easy to give Jax a job when he’d saved the life of my best friend. Luke got taken to the same hospital Flora was giving birth in, so he missed it but when he woke up a few days later, he got to meet Ava. It was then that Flora told him she was only after a green card and that Ava secured that for her. She waswrong,but at the time, you can imagine how much that broke his heart.”
“My God,” I murmured. To be injured and miss your child’s birth only to have your heart broken. And yet, as Theo spoke, there was a gnawing sensation in my gut. Some details in the story were almost too close to home. “What happened?”
“Well, you might have noticed that Luke limps sometimes. His leg was shattered so he had a long recovery ahead of him. Healing, therapy, that kind of thing. It turned out Flora was months past the expiry date on her visa so giving birth alerted authorities. She was sent back to France, and Tabitha took over caring for Ava and nursing Luke. Jax and I helped wherever possible; ever since Flora has sent gifts but refused to be a mother. So Ava, I think she yearns for that especially since she likely still has early memories of Luke in recovery.”
“Geez. I had no idea.” Warmth tingled through my body as the cold faded, yet the gnawing sensation in my gut refused to leave. “And Ava is… four, right?”
“That’s right. So I hope you won’t think too badly of her; it’s just a slip of the tongue, y’know?”
“Oh, of course!” I reassured him quickly. “Please, I don’t mind at all. It was kind of cute really.”
Before I could say more, Kane sprinted from the kitchen to find his father. As Theo tended to him, my mind raced.
Ava was four. So Luke’s accident was four years ago.
Four years ago, I had been a passenger in Felix’s car when he’d run over someone in the dark. In my darkest dreams, I could still hear the crunch of their body as they flew over the car. I’d tried to help, forcing Felix to pull over, and I’d tried to give CPR to the victim before Felix had dragged me away, thrown me in the trunk, and left me there all night.
Hearing Luke’s painful story… the crossing similarities were chilling and the gnawing in my gut increased tenfold when I arrived in the kitchen and saw Ava and Luke up to their elbows in dough.
It was just a crazy coincidence… right?
21
SUMMER
My mind became a hamster on steroids ever since Theo told me Luke’s story. I knew he had offered the information as a way to explain why Ava had slipped up and why she might be so attached so quickly, but it was the details of Luke’s accident that stuck with me all through the night and plagued me as I headed down the mountain the next day for some Christmas shopping.
It was movie day, and the guys were settling in with their children to binge all their favorite movies, and it was the perfect time for me to slip away for some festive shopping by myself, especially with Christmas fast approaching.
Yet, even the twinkling lights and decorated fir trees throughout the resort couldn’t distract me from mulling over Luke’s accident and what had happened with Felix. It was too similar. The hit and run, Luke seeing an angel while I had tried to help the victim—was it too crazy to be a coincidence? As I wandered the shops, I tried to persuade myself that hundreds and thousands of people get hit by cars daily. Four years ago, when the police came knocking for Felix and I handed him over without a second thought, I hadn’t needed to go to court; as my own statement had provoked an angry confession from Felix and that had sent him away to prison.
No court trip meant I never learned anything else about the victim. An officer told me he was alive, but I was never given any more information.
Was it Luke?
Was I his angel? Or rather a devil in disguise.
Those thoughts spun on a carousel in my mind, mingling with the growing warmth and affection I had for Luke and the others. In a short time, they had made me feel more cared for and more loved than anyone else in my life. They were a proper family and welcomed me with loving arms and good sex; who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Even Ava calling meMomhad given an unexpected uptick in my affection for her and the other children.
But my heart swung like a yo-yo between adoration and confused guilt. What if I was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, partially responsible for Luke’s injury? No one would care that Felix was violent and often scared me into obedience or that I had tried to help and he’d dragged me away. All they would see is the passenger that hit Luke.
All Ava would see is a monster that hurt her father.
Then again, maybe it was a coincidence.
I sighed deeply, alarming the cashier behind the till and I flashed her a quick, apologetic smile. Taking the cardigan I had bought for Tabitha, I added it to my bags and wandered out of the shop with my head still spinning. It was times like these that I yearned for someone in my corner, someone I could talk to that would listen and support me.
In my distracted walking, I wasn’t looking where I was going and continued down the corridors lost in my own little world until a shadow blocked my path. Still distracted, I merely sidestepped with a quiet apology until a vice-like grip wrapped around my arm and jerked me sideways. My heart leaped into my throat as I stumbled and lifted my gaze, ready to give whoever it was an earful for touching me.
The words turned to ash in my mouth and my blood turned to ice as I looked at the stranger.
“Felix?” Like a recurring nightmare, he stood before me dressed in a T-shirt and leather jacket with his thin face twisted into a smirk.
