Taming His Montana Heart(62)

“He used his fists on her. Over and over again. He had her against a wall. I tried to pull him off her, but I was in too much pain.”

“Pain?” Shaw asked as he rubbed her shoulders.

“I had three broken ribs. I didn’t know it at the time.”

“Da—go on.”

The wolf continued to look up. “Somehow Mom got away from him and ran into the kitchen. She was trying to pull a knife out of the drawer when he knocked her to the floor. He grabbed his pistol from the top of the refrigerator and—he always said he had it for protection but he sometimes…”

“Used it to intimidate his family.”

“Yes.”

“I know what those situations are like.”

Once again, Shaw’s tone pulled her out of herself and onto him. He was shivering. She’d lived through one nightmare situation while he must have witnessed many more.

Grateful because he wasn’t asking for details, she took his hand and led the way back to the bed. She hated breaking contact with the wolf, but Shaw’s comfort was more important.

Hers too since she was getting colder by the moment.

“Your father shot your mother at close range and in your presence,” Shaw said matter-of-factly when they were under the blankets and he’d drawn her to his side. “Did neighbors hear?”

She shook her head. “We didn’t have any close neighbors, which in part was why Dad—Dad? Most of the time I don’t call him that, or anything. I haven’t seen him since he was sentenced. Mick, ah, Mick went to the prison a couple of times. He told me that our old man insisted he didn’t mean to kill our mother. He asked whether I was all right. Mick told him it was too late for him to consider that.”

“I’m glad you had your brother. Haley, it’s going to be hard, but I believe you need to finish telling me about that day.”

Knowing he was right, she told him about stumbling out of the house and making her way to the closest neighbor’s place. She’d been hysterical, but the retired couple had known what to do. Mick arrived shortly after the police did. According to Mick, he’d pushed past the police and gone into the kitchen. Seen. Then he’d followed the ambulance she was in to the hospital. He remained nearby while the police questioned her. After she was released, he took her home with him. No one had to tell her that her mother was dead.

“You told the police your old man attacked you when you stood up to him?”

How, she wanted to know, had they gotten to this place in the story so soon? Shaw had zeroed in on the one thing even her brother didn’t know. She could evade as she’d done all those times and all those years, she was good at it. She suspected Mick knew there was more to the story, but her bother hadn’t probed.

Tonight, she vowed, needed to be different. It already was.

“I didn’t tell anyone about provoking him. I couldn’t. I told them how he attacked Mom and me. I had cuts, bruises, broken ribs, and a bloody nose. Mom…”

“Was dead and there was no doubt who’d shot her.”

“Shaw?” She struggled to continue, but the words wouldn’t come so she rolled away. When she was on her back, she stared at the ceiling and imagined that the predator was listening.

Shaw ran his knuckles over the side of her neck. “What?”

“I was partly responsible.” Her throat burned. “Mom would be alive if I hadn’t stood up to him. I did more than that. I told him I hated him and wished he was dead, that I’d take my baseball bat to him if I had a chance. Because of me, he snapped.”

“No, darn it, you aren’t responsible for anyone’s actions. Your old man has to own his.”

She barely heard Shaw for what she still needed to say. “Mick left home because if he didn’t, he was afraid he’d kill our old man. He told me he was so full of anger he didn’t trust himself. Mick—I should have done like he did. If I’d walked away that day instead of losing my temper and getting in his face—”

“Guilt. You’re blaming yourself.”

“Yes.”

“You have to get beyond that. Faulting your behavior doesn’t change anything. All it does is keep you locked in the past.”

Locked in the past. In many regards that was what she’d done ever since she was fourteen. “I don’t want to be like that. I hate it, but I don’t know how to change.”

Shaw groaned. “I know what that feels like.”





Chapter Nineteen




Looking back, Shaw felt as if the night had lasted forever. He should be relieved to see the sun rise but that meant their time together was coming to an end.

No, not just the two of them, he amended as he exited the bathroom and spotted Haley sitting on the bed holding her socks. They’d had company.

They’d also made love again not long after Haley told him what she had. Hopefully she hadn’t noticed that he’d deliberately distracted her from such a serious conversation first by trailing his hands over her naked body and then doing the same with his mouth.

She’d been whimpering his name when they’d found release at nearly the same time. Shortly after, she’d fallen asleep and he’d lain next to her listening to her breathe. When she started jerking and moaning, he’d wrapped his arms around her and held her until she settled again.