“At this point, I think modesty is a little late, don’t you?”
As she stood, Griff looked away. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact source of his anxiety, but he couldn’t discount the nagging feelings, either. Sexual desire would only complicate things. When he glanced back, she was lifting the damp ends of her hair from beneath the collar of her robe.
He followed her into the living room, joining her on the couch. Entwining her slender fingers in his grasp, he said, “Talk to me.”
She sucked in a gulp of air and nodded. “When they admitted me to the hospital that night five years ago, the nurse who helped me into those awful dressing gowns noticed the bruises on my arms. After that, it wasn’t difficult to keep my husband away. The police sent a detective to take a statement. She said she’d come back the next day for me to sign an official version.”
“Sounds like standard procedure so far.” He hoped his casual acceptance, his nonchalant attitude would help her get through whatever she had to say.
“So far,” she agreed. “I was pregnant. I’d known for a while, but we’d been growing apart instead of together. I planned to tell him after the cocktail party that night. My big surprise,” she said with more than a touch of bitterness.
“What…”
“Please, this is hard enough. Just let me get through it, okay?” Her eyes filled with unshed tears, wrenching at his heart.
“Okay.”
“Within a few hours of being admitted, I started having these awful cramps.” Her hand went to her stomach, covering her abdomen. She stared straight ahead, as if a mere glance in his direction would cause her to fall apart.
Without warning or invitation, a vision of Chelsie, pregnant with his child, rose in his mind. The image filled the empty spaces he hadn’t even realized were inside him.
“I lost the baby.” Tears dripped down her face and she swiped at them with the back of one hand. “Then the doctors had no problem taking x rays and doing all sorts of tests. Turns out I had a severe concussion, too. They all understood when I told them I didn’t want Jeff to know about the baby. It wouldn’t serve any purpose except to enrage an already demented man.”
“I’m sorry.” He moved closer, sliding towards her end of the couch.
“Don’t.” She shook her head, halting his approach. “This is where the story gets messy.”
“Take your time.” He realized they had to do this her way.
“At the time, I needed to get away from him. Far away from his temper, his influence, and the reminders. Jeff was determined to be on the partnership track at one of the largest firms in the city of Boston. Any hint of a scandal, any inkling that he had a violent nature or beat his wife would destroy his career. I knew that,” She exhaled a shaky breath. “So I threatened him. Fly down to some Caribbean island and get a quick divorce, or I would sign that statement and press charges. The hospital had documentation. He had no choice.”
As five long years of suppressed memories came spewing forth, her voice and demeanor grew more confident. A stronger woman emerged with each revelation, one who wasn’t afraid of the truth. Despite the pain of resurrecting the past, Griff noticed a definite lifting of Chelsie’s spirits. He sensed the change, even if she didn’t.
“You bribed him,” he said. Until her response, he hadn’t been aware of speaking aloud.
“Yes. I’m not proud of it, but at the time, I thought it was best. I was alone. My parents were never the supportive types. They wouldn’t have approved of the scandal this could have created. I couldn’t face my sister. She’d just gotten married to a wonderful man. I didn’t think she’d understand, and I couldn’t bear to watch.”
Comprehension came to him in a flash of insight, so strong he wondered why he hadn’t realized it sooner. Chelsie wasn’t the type to ignore family, to avoid a little girl. Not without strong personal reasons. “So that’s why you never visited, never spent time with Jared and Shannon.”
She nodded slowly and two teardrops coursed down her cheeks. “What can I say? I know now I was wrong… but she’s gone.”
Along with his brother. At least he’d had a semblance of closure with his sibling. “But I’m not. You can talk to me. I won’t judge you.”
“You don’t have to. I’ve spent the last five years doing just that. My entire career has been spent making up for thinking of myself first. When I let Jeff off the hook, I freed him to abuse some other woman. At the time, I wasn’t thinking that clearly. Sure, I thought about my own future, but not about anyone else. Each case I took that involved an abused woman, I told myself that I was making a difference.”
“You did.”
She twirled a strand of hair around one finger. “But I refused to allow myself to think about what Jeff did with his life after the divorce. Probably because deep down I knew.”
“You aren’t responsible for anyone but yourself.”
“Funny you should mention that.” Her bitter laugh sounded too harsh. “In the end, I didn’t do such a hot job in that area, either.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighed, placing her head in her hands. When she spoke, he could barely hear. “There were complications from the miscarriage. They gave me antibiotics when I left the hospital. I was supposed to finish the prescription and come back in to be checked. I finished the bottle, but I never went for the follow-up exam. I wanted to bury myself so deep in work that I never had time to think about Jeff Sutton, my failed marriage, or lost baby ever again.” She lifted her head. Tears streamed down her face. She let them fall. “I just wanted to forget the past, not destroy the future.”
He laid a hand over hers, startled by how cold her skin felt against his. “What happened?”
“A year went by. By the time I got around to that checkup, I had severe pelvic inflammatory disease. There was scarring. I can never have children of my own.”
“I’m sorry,” he murmured.
He drew her into his arms, whispered all the right words, and caressed her until she seemed to relax, wishing he could do the same. Unfortunately, his tension had just begun.
He had fallen in love with Chelsie because she wanted nothing from him. Because she seemed to care for him unconditionally. Because unlike Deidre and his mother, Chelsie wanted Griff the man, not what he could give her. Or so he had thought.