Kept Bride (The Secret Bride #2) - Alta Hensley Page 0,4

as he approaches and pulls her into a hug. “I’m alive, Mom.” He looks up at the sky, then inhales deeply, closing his eyes briefly as he does.

I can’t look away, even though I feel as if I’m invading their privacy by observing this twisted reunion. What it must be like to embrace a ghost. To hold your dead son in your arms, only to feel the warmth of life and the breath of the living.

“I know I heard your voice on the phone, but to see you.” His mother pulls away from the hug and looks Christopher over from head to toe. “You’re really here. I can’t believe you’re really here. How did this happen? How?”

“There’s a lot to tell you,” Christopher says as he then turns away from her and reaches out his hand for me to take. “But first, I want to introduce you to Ember. She was with me in Hallelujah Junction, and we escaped together.” When I cautiously approach and take his hand, he adds, “Ember, this is my mother, Louisa Davenport.”

Louisa glances down at my hand intwined with her son’s and then paints a smile on her face as she gives a slight nod in acknowledgement. She then reaches her hand out to me. I’d never shaken a hand before but know what to do from all my reading. It’s odd to touch someone else—a complete stranger—but I want to be polite. I want Christopher’s mother to like me.

“Nice to meet you, Ember,” she says as she grips my hand firmly.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Davenport.” I make eye contact with her and notice she has hazel eyes beneath very thick eyelashes against heavily gray-eyeshadowed lids. I’ve never worn makeup before and wonder if Louisa will someday show me how to apply it like she does.

She is still smiling, but her upper lip twitches, and her eyes seem to bore right through me. I reposition myself from one foot to the other as I feel the weight of her assessment on my shoulders pushing me down and making me feel small.

I need to escape, and yet I have no place to go. No place to run to.

I also don’t want to stand on the pavement near the large jet any longer. I wish I could flee and go hide in a corner somewhere out of sight. I need to breathe someplace that is all my own, and yet I can’t. I release Christopher’s hand, which oddly briefly frees me from the stare of Mrs. Davenport when I do.

“You both look like prison inmates,” she says with a wrinkle of her nose as if we possess an odor.

Rather than being offended, Christopher chuckles, and for the first time, I see laugh lines around his eyes and a look of genuine… glee. It’s foreign to me, and that fact smacks me hard with what our reality was and what it is now.

“Fitting, since we both were in a prison of sorts for months.”

I don’t like Christopher referring to our life in Hallelujah Junction as a prison. I understand why he does, but it doesn’t sound right. It doesn’t feel right. And even though we are both dressed in clothing given to us by the police, I don’t like being compared to an inmate either.

She looks at Christopher, finally breaking her searing stare on me. “Is she coming with us?”

I look at Christopher for an answer as well. Am I?

Christopher swallows hard and nods. “There’s… something… that happened while I was held captive.” He looks at me and places his palm on my lower back, which gives me a sense of comfort. “The man holding me there forced me to marry Ember. She’s my wife, Mom. We’re married.”

Her fingertips flutter to her lips as her eyes widen. “Your wife? He forced you to marry? You can’t be serious.”

He nods. “There’s a lot I have to tell you about my nightmare, but right now, Ember and I really need to get on the plane, eat something, and get some rest. I also really want to get the hell out of Nevada and never step foot in this godforsaken place again. I can tell you everything once we’re in the air. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but I could sure use a stiff drink.”

I look at the jet with the door open and stairs leading up to it, beckoning us to enter. I can’t imagine how something so big and what looks so heavy can possibly