As I slipped through the door, Tucker’s head shifted to the side and our eyes connected. The minute he saw me, he let out a huge breath and then to my complete shock, he started crying. “Oh, thank God. You don’t know how hard I prayed,” he murmured. “When you wouldn’t answer, when we couldn’t get ahold of you, I thought that they might have hired someone to come…” he choked on whatever emotion he was battling and couldn’t get the words out, but I knew what he meant. Wes hadn’t lied. My husband thought I might have been in danger and had been worried that I was dead.

“I’m here.” Those two words were no more than a whisper carried across the all-too-quiet space. “I’m so sorry. No calls or messages came through from you before I left for the mountains. I’ve been in Helen since Thursday with no cell service, and I didn’t use the internet while I was there either. I just checked out, worked, and studied.”

“I’ve never been so grateful for you to have taken an unexpected trip. There was evidence that someone from their family might have come here, to the States, to tie up any loose ends that might contest the inheritance later. They didn’t know that my father couldn’t inherit any of the Brighton wealth.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered as I got close. “I still don’t know exactly what happened. I just got back from my trip and Wes showed up to bring me here.”

“You really didn’t know anything had happened?” He asked, sounding as though he didn’t believe me.

“The last thing I heard about you, before I left for the mountains, was that article that posted with a picture of you and your ex-girlfriend fighting outside of a club. The whole reason I went on my trip was that I didn’t want to see anything that might have printed after that.” I looked away then. Not willing to let him see how much it hurt me that I had once again I’d had to see his life, with other women, play out in the press.

“You thought the worst of me, huh?”

I turned back to look him in the eye then. “I honestly didn’t know what to think. I wanted to believe you, but I was afraid of what it might mean if I was wrong to do so.”

“I don’t blame you for that. We are still new, Mina. We’re still working on building trust and knowing one another well enough to make those judgement calls. I don’t blame you.” Tucker took my hand and pulled it to his lips. “One day, I hope that changes, and until then, I’ll just keep showing you. My words will never be enough to prove anything, but hopefully my actions will.”

I nodded. “Now, stop worrying about me, what I thought, and fill me in on what happened to you and how long you’ll be here.”

“Right. The article you saw, it was a little misleading. Made it seem like I was at some nightclub with her when I wasn’t. The hotel we stayed in was directly across the street. I was just coming back from a late dinner by myself because Wes was entertaining someone up in his room. She was there when I walked back. I told her to go away, that we had nothing to discuss, so she flipped her jacket open and showed off her swollen belly. When I saw her on my last trip, she appeared to have gained some weight, but I thought nothing of it then. This time, her stomach was noticeably larger and there was no hiding that it’s a pregnancy and not just weight gain.”