“What did you think of that?”

“I was so relieved to see him happy again that it didn’t really bother me. Jill didn’t like it at first, but she warmed up eventually. Andi’s special. I think in some ways she saved us all.”

“That’s just what your dad said when he told me about her.”

“It’s true. She was just what we needed.”

“But then your mother recovered.”

Kate nodded. “It made me a believer in miracles. After all that time, she just opened her eyes and looked at my dad like five minutes had passed. But Andi was pregnant with the twins by then, so it was complicated.”

“Your dad told me. Your mother sounds like a brave woman. Not many people could do what she did. It must’ve been so hard for her to give him up.”

“Yeah, well, I wonder if she isn’t having some regrets. It’s like everything’s sunk in now that she’s home from the hospital. She’s gone up to Vermont for a few months to get away from it all.”

“Did you ever find out why she didn’t get out of the way of the car?”

She nodded and slipped an arm around his waist.

He kissed her forehead. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“I want to, but it’s just so awful.” She paused and took a deep breath. “She was a Realtor. She was showing a guy a house when he raped her. He said he’d kill one of us if she ever told anyone.”

“Christ,” Reid whispered.

“So she didn’t say a word. She just lived with it. A couple of months after she recovered from the coma, she remembered everything and realized she saw the car as a way out. She thought if she was dead, he would never come after us.”

“God almighty.”

Kate turned so she could see him. “You know what the worst part is? All that time, all the time she was lost to us, I wondered if I could’ve pushed her out of the way of the car. I was close enough, but I just assumed she’d move before it was too late.”

“Oh, honey, you might’ve been hit yourself.”

“I’ve never told anyone that,” she confessed.

“I’m glad you told me.”

“I’m not a little girl, Reid.” She tipped her face up to his and kissed him lightly on the lips.

This time he let her.

Chapter 14