After the Storm (KGI #8)(110)

Sean strode in, the last to get there, and Donovan knew when he saw the deputy’s face, it wasn’t good.

“We found Rusty’s Jeep,” Sean said grimly. “Wrecked on 79 headed out of town. From the looks of it, she was rear-ended and shoved into the ditch. The passenger door was open. Air bags were not deployed. Her bag was still there with the cash from the hardware store, some jewelry and not much else.”

“What the hell did you say to her, Donovan?” Rusty all but shouted.

The others stared at her in surprise. Donovan was taken aback by the anger and grief in her voice. He understood it, but he wasn’t sure why it was directed at him. Surely she, like Eve, couldn’t believe he had in any way betrayed Eve.

“You didn’t see her or hear her. I did,” Rusty seethed. “She thought, no, she knew that you were handing her over to her stepfather. A trade of sorts. She said that she was merely the means for you to get what you truly wanted. Children. A family that didn’t include her. She quoted what so many of us have said over the years. You have a weakness for women and children but especially children. She believes you want them and not her and that you were offering her up to her stepfather. And yet she left Travis and Cammie in your care because she believed no matter what you’d done to her that you truly loved and cared about them and that you’d protect them with your life.”

“Where the hell would she get an idea like that?” Donovan exploded. “Goddamn it! I wouldn’t have done something like that and surely you can’t believe it.”

“I don’t know what to believe,” Rusty said, tears clogging her voice. “All I know was that I was confronted with a desperate, terrified and devastated woman who believed to her soul that she’d been betrayed by the one person she trusted. You.”

Donovan couldn’t even form a response. He was utterly flabbergasted. First, that Eve would ever think such a thing, and second, that a member of his own family would think, even for a moment, that he would do something so despicable.

“Donovan.”

Near to his exploding point, Donovan turned at Sophie’s soft call. Her eyes were red and rimmed with moisture. All the wives were present and deeply upset by the situation. But at least there was no accusation in her eyes. Just grief and worry.

“I think I may know what happened,” she said in a painful voice. “Yesterday when you sent her and the kids over to my house. When we were supposed to shop and you and your brothers were getting together at your house to talk about Eve’s situation.”

“Yes, I remember,” Donovan said, impatient for her to get to the point.

“She was worried and bothered by the fact that you hadn’t let her remain behind. She thought she should be included in any decisions regarding her future. I—we—understood. We knew that if it were us in that situation that we wouldn’t—couldn’t—just stand to the side and let our fates be decided by others. We would have at least wanted to know what was going to happen, even if we weren’t going to be directly involved. The uncertainty is horrible. It was horrible for Eve. She’s had no control over her life in a long time. She wanted at least a semblance of control—of choice—especially when it concerned her brother and sister, whom she’d do anything at all for. Even at risk to herself. We encouraged her to go over and tell you what she was feeling. At first she didn’t want to because she didn’t want it to appear as though she didn’t trust you. We told her you would understand. That you might not like it, but that you wouldn’t be angry with her.”

Donovan’s gut tightened and his dread increased.

“So she decided to walk back over, only she wasn’t gone that long and when she returned, she was visibly upset. She tried to play it off and when we asked her why she was back so soon, she told us she changed her mind. That she didn’t want you to think she didn’t trust you and that you’d promised to tell her later anyway.”

“Dear God,” Donovan whispered hoarsely. “She must have overheard. It’s the only explanation. She must have come through the kitchen and overheard parts of our conversation. Out of context, some of it sounds bad. But it was a plan, goddamn it. It was supposed to be a trap. I never had any intention of handing Eve over to that bastard.”

“Fuck,” Garrett said.

It was a testament to the severity of the situation that he didn’t instantly earn a reprimand from his wife for the F-bomb.

Donovan sank onto the couch, burying his face in his hands. The bastard had her. And she thought Donovan had been prepared to hand her over. She thought he didn’t want her. Didn’t love her. That he wanted Travis and Cammie but not her. And even after knowing—thinking—so, she’d still left them in his care because she’d known what her stepfather would do to them. God, what he would do to her.

Even now she was in his hands. Grief knotted his throat, choking him when he tried to voice his fears. His fury and helplessness. So he sat there, hands shaking as rage and sorrow vied for equal control of his emotions.

“How could she believe it?” he finally managed to get out. “No matter what she heard, how could she think it? I love her, damn it. How could she not know?”

“Did you tell her?” Rachel asked softly. “Donovan, you have to understand her situation. Put aside your anger and your grief for a moment and imagine yourself in her shoes. She’s not been able to trust anyone. She hasn’t been able to afford to. You know how hard it was for you to get through to her. How delicately you had to handle the situation. How hard it was to get her to agree to put herself and her siblings in your hands. To move into your house. I can only imagine the torture she put herself through wondering if she was making the right decision. And now, she believes the worst. That she did make the wrong choice. I can’t even begin to imagine her sense of betrayal. She loves you, Van. I know it. We all know it. One only has to look at her to know that despite any fears or reservations she’s entertained, she loves you, and love will make a person very afraid. I know from personal experience that love can make things worse. It makes the hurt worse when a perceived betrayal is in the mix.”