Taming His Montana Heart(60)

“Yes. Does that bother you?”

“Of course not. Where had the memories taken you? I’d like to know that.”

“Mother would fall in love with Lake Serene. Despite everything that went on, Mom liked living where we did because she could see so much of the sky. She told me the sky comforted her and gave her courage. Only…”

She felt him move before he wrapped his arms around her and drew her against him. His naked warmth eased her journey from the past to the present, and she rested the back of her head on his shoulder.

“Only what?” he whispered.

Even her brother didn’t know everything, but she couldn’t keep the truth from the man she was sharing a Montana night with. The why didn’t matter, she needed to speak.

“There were limits to Mother’s courage.” Talking with Shaw behind her was easier than facing him. “Shaw, she’d be alive if she had divorced my father.”

“Not necessarily. I dealt with more than one ex-spouse who refused to let go.”

“Dad would taunt her to leave him. He even threw her clothes outside a few times.” She shook her head. “Mom always carried them back inside. When I asked her why, she said I’d understand when I was older.”

“Do you?”

She could refuse to answer. It might not take much to distract Shaw, to distract herself either, but she’d kept so much bottled up for so long. As for why it needed to come out tonight—

“Mom was afraid she couldn’t support her children on her own. She’d dropped out of high school in her senior year. She was pregnant with Mick. My parents got married three months before Mick was born and moved into a trailer on her parents’ land. She occasionally worked at the local farm and ranch store or waitressed.”

“Not high-paying jobs.”

“No. Mom eventually got her GED, but she didn’t have much in the way of marketable skills.”

“Which played a significant role in her reluctance to go out on her own.”

“Yes.”

“Did law enforcement ever get involved?”

Of course he’d ask that. “Yes. Once when Mick was still living at home. My brother called nine-one-one but Mom told the responding officer it was nothing. I don’t think she had any visible injuries that day. Another time she made the call. She—had two black eyes and other injuries. Dad spent the night in jail.” Her emotions were backing up so it felt as if a dam was building, but she forced herself past it. “After he was released, Dad stayed away for a couple of days then came back. Mom let him in. I don’t know why he wasn’t charged with attacking her.” The word attacking made her shudder.

“You’re getting cold,” Shaw said. “Do you want to go back to bed?”

“Not yet.” Her mother had spent so much of her life tiptoeing around that Haley recognized the signs in herself, but things had to change tonight.

“All right.” Shaw moved so they were side by side. When he draped his arm over her shoulder, she slid her arm around his naked waist. If he was getting cold, she couldn’t tell.

“It’s incredible out there,” he said.

He was right. They were looking at a forest untouched by humans. It was ageless and new—home to countless creatures, including the ultimate predator.

Where are you? What are you doing?

“The day—the day it happened,” she went on, “I was planning to stay after school. I was on the softball team and there was supposed to be practice.”

“I’m glad you were involved in sports.”

Something drew her attention to the base of the closest group of trees. “I spent as much time as I could away from home. Mom—she had a large garden where she grew vegetables she sold at the local growers’ market. I thought she’d be working outside all day so when I heard practice had been canceled, I took the bus. Otherwise I would have caught a ride later with a teammate’s folks.”

“You weren’t expected home so early.”

“No.” Don’t stop. He knows what you’re going to say. “There was a quarter mile walk from the bus stop to our place. I didn’t see Dad’s truck until I was nearly home.” She swallowed against the fear she’d never fully escaped. “Seeing him there, I knew something bad was happening.”

“Because he was supposed to be at work?”

“Yes. My folks had been arguing for days. Mom wanted to use what she earned from her garden to buy herself a car.”

“She didn’t have transportation?”

“She did but her beater wasn’t worth fixing. Dad said he needed a new truck more than she did a car.”

“It was her money.”

“Yes, it was.” It felt as if she’d been standing here with Shaw for hours and yet she still had so far to go. Thanks to Shaw, she could get the job done. “The day before, I’d told Dad I couldn’t always rely on teammates’ parents bringing me home. Mom should do it sometimes. That way she and I could do the grocery shopping and—he told me to shut up. When I saw his truck, I knew he’d taken time from work to set Mom’s thinking straight.”

“Is that what he called it, setting her thinking straight?”

“Sometimes.” Shaw must have heard stories like this before.