Sweetest Salvation (12 page)

Hunter treasured the photos
he was in with the
Sheavers
or with Andy, Patrick and
Peter. Nothing meant more to him than the five people who loved him
unconditionally. He smiled and nodded. “It’s a fantastic picture.”

She stared down at it,
then
set it on the small table in front of her. She shifted
to get more comfortable and leaned back against the sofa.
 
“You meant so much to Patrick. You were the
brother he always wanted.”

His throat tightened. His
bond with Patrick had been that of brothers. Hearing her say it, now, when he
missed his buddy so much, choked him up. He cleared his throat. “I thought of
him the same way.”

“You took care of one
another.” Andy breathed out a small laugh. “I would sometimes get jealous of
how much time the two of you spent together and even finished one another’s
sentences.”

Hunter gaped at her. “You
didn’t have anything to be jealous about.”

She
shrugged,
her cheeks red. “I know, it sounds silly, but those were things he and I should
have been doing.”

Hunter shook his head, unsure
what to say. “I’m sorry…”

She clasped his hand from
where it laid on the couch. “Oh no, don’t apologize. Trust me,
it’s
fine. I got over it, and the more you were around and I
got to know you, I couldn’t help but understand.
 
Besides, a husband and wife can’t share
everything all the time now can
they.
”

She didn’t really pose it as
a question so Hunter remained silent and wondered where her thoughts were headed.

“Did you know the only real
fight we ever had
was
about you?”

What the hell…? “What do you
mean? What was the fight about?” Hunter wasn’t sure he truly wanted to know.

They were all his family. He
hated the thought that he’d imposed too much and caused a problem between Andy
and Patrick.

“Seems silly to think about
it now, but remember when Patrick wanted to take that ski trip to Vermont?”

Hunter nodded.

“He wanted it to be a weekend
for us alone. He’d promised it would be.” She continued, and Hunter’s heart
sank. He knew what trip she meant. “Of course you didn’t know he’d promised me,
but you showed up the next morning and told him the renovations to the club
were complete. It would open the next week.”

Her gaze met his. “Patrick
was thrilled for you. He was so excited; it was as if it were his club. And
right on the spot, he…”

“Asked me to go to Vermont to
celebrate,” Hunter filled in, embarrassed. His hand tightened on hers.

“Yep, just like that. It was
also the weekend I wanted to tell him I was pregnant.” She chuckled. “I ended
up blurting it out over dinner the first night there. I was so angry with him.
I thought it would serve him right.”

“Andy, I didn’t know.”

“I know. And we ended up
having an even better time the rest of the weekend. You were both ecstatic.
Hunter…” She stopped, maybe hesitant.

Hunter reached out and lifted
her face with a finger on her chin. “Tell me.”

She clasped his hand in hers
and held it against her knees. He shifted closer.

“You were there my entire
marriage.” Her fingers covered his mouth, silencing him when he tried to speak.
“You were there for everything. And it’s okay. In a very weird and strange way,
one which doesn’t fully make sense to me, losing Patrick angered and made me
sad for various reasons.”

Hunter scowled. “What do you
mean?” he asked, from behind her fingers.

Her hand lowered and wrapped
around his again.

“I was angry that I’d lost
both of them. The two people I loved most in the world were just gone. And I
have been angry with God and everyone around me for still being here. But I’ve
come to realize I was angry because you’d also lost them.” Her eyes watered and
she gave herself a small shake. “You, who were an amazing uncle, brother,
needed them as much as I did. It made me angry that we’d both lost them. You
know my parents have always travelled and rarely ever remember that they have a
child. We’re similar in so many ways, you and I. I never really noticed it
before. But Peter and Patrick were
ours
.
Why did we have to lose them?” Andy drew in a harsh breath.

Hunter couldn’t fight it any
longer. He pulled her into his arms. She was right. They had lost the two
people most important to them and never grieved together.

Sobs racked their bodies as
they allowed themselves to let go. Hunter had never realized he hadn’t grieved
as he probably should have.

When he felt Andy’s sobs
lessen and his own had stopped, he pulled back and wiped at his cheeks. He
cupped her face in his hands and thumbed her tears away. Leaning forward, he
kissed her on the nose.

“Thank you,” he said gently.
“I didn’t realize how much I needed to grieve like that.
Especially
with you.
Besides Tony and Jeanine, no one else truly understands what
the last year has been like.”

She nodded. “You’re right. I
talked to them on the phone before I came here.”

He was glad she had remained
close with the
Sheavers
even though she’d believed
they blamed her for the losses they all shared. They loved her as much as he
did.

Desperate to pledge his love to
her forever but certain she wasn’t ready to hear it, he shifted uncomfortably.

 
“Do you want anything, Andy?
Something to drink?”
Hunter stood, desperate to hide his
true feelings.

She looked up at him, arms
folded in front of her. “Running, Hunter? That’s not like you.”

He speared her with a glare.
“I’m not running. I just thought we’d expended enough deep emotion today. You
obviously don’t agree.”

He turned toward his desk,
needing to keep his hands busy. When Andy’s hand grabbed his wrist, he knew she
wasn’t going to let up. As much as he wanted to discuss the future, fear of it
made him want to avoid it. But they had to resolve their issues in order to
move on.

Hunter’s heart hurt at the
thought of moving on and not loving her as she should be loved.

****

Her heart racing, Andy’s hand
tightened around Hunter’s wrist.

She’d come to see him in
order to clear the air and find out if they could say the things that really
needed to be said, in order to figure out the future.

But their desire for one another
had kicked in immediately and neither resisted. She’d wanted him—on top, under,
behind her—any way possible, as long as he was touching her.

Ecstasy in his arms was
unbelievable. She was always a needy lover, but gave back as good as she got,
and he met her stroke for stroke.

 
“Come sit back down, please,” she requested
softly.

He hesitated when she tugged
on his arm, but finally relented. She ran her hands over the couch and really
looked at it for the first time.

“This must be the hideous
brown
“better in the garbage”
couch Patrick
told me about,” she commented.

Hunter sat and frowned. “It’s
been with me for years. I can’t part with it.”

Though she’d tried to lighten
the mood, Hunter sat rigid, his gaze averted.

“Sometimes we need certain
things in our lives that no one else understands.” Andy hesitated,
then
took a deep breath. “Like you. I want you in my life
more now than ever. I should never have taken my pain out on you. Made you feel
worse than you were already feeling.”

Hunter’s gaze widened and his
jaw clenched. He nodded. “I need your friendship in my life, too.”

The poor
man.
He looked so dejected Andy had to keep
herself
from chuckling.

“That’s not what I meant.”

He tilted his head and
frowned. “No?”

She shifted closer until
their knees touched. She laid a hand over his. “For the last year you’ve been
there for me. I might not have wanted you to be, but you were. And the last six
months…” She paused and shook her head sadly. “You’ve pushed me to get back
among the living. Even if it was to go out and get my hair done. You wouldn’t
allow me to curl up and waste away. I fought you every step of the way.”

“You think?” Hunter smirked.

She squeezed his knee and
pointed her index finger at him. “Don’t be a smartass. The point is you took
care of me. Hell, I would never have groceries in the house if it wasn’t for
you bringing some by. I really let my grief take over my life. I want you to
know, as I told Tony and Jeanine, I’m not going to live like that any longer.”

Hunter tucked her hair behind
her ear. She thought her heart would thud out of her chest.

“That’s great news. I’m sure
you’ll find all the strength you need to make it happen.”

“I think I will.” She looked
over at the photos lining his mantle, then back at him. “I will forever miss
them. Peter will always be my first child and that void in my heart will never
be full again. And I love Patrick. He’ll always be with me. We shared some of
the very best years of my life. He was
my everything
,
you know that, right?”

She looked at him, imploringly,
hoping he understood.

Hunter shifted,
then
nodded. “Yes, I know. He was your one great love. The
two of you were wonderful together.”

“Until I pulled myself out of
the dark and agonizing place I was in, I would have agreed with you that he was
my one great love. But I’ve come to learn that maybe there’s more than one love
for everyone.”

He shook his head. “Patrick
was your soul mate. I’ve heard you say it a million times over the years.”

She nodded; frustrated with
herself that she wasn’t explaining it to him well. He didn’t get it. “Yes, I do
think he was my soul mate, but I don’t think he’ll be the only one in my life.”

Hunter’s eyes bulged. Andy
nearly laughed. He looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of his gorgeous
head.

“You mean you’re going to
start…dating?”

She chuckled. “Don’t sound so
shocked. But no, I’m not going to start dating.” She took a deep breath and
forged on. “I’m already seeing someone.”

“What the fuck? Andy, we
just…when…”

Andy pushed him back into the
corner of the couch when she realized he was about to bolt off it, anger
pouring off him.
 
She should have worded
things better. “No, relax. Let me finish.”

“I don’t believe it. I’ll
kill him!” Hunter’s fists clenched at his sides.

“Hunter, look at me.” She
cupped his cheek. “Don’t be dense. I’m talking about you, you dolt. I want to
see where you and I will lead.”

His body jerked. “You mean,”
he swallowed, “you and I are dating?”

She nodded and dropped her
arm. Nervousness zipped through her body. “Yes, if you want to. I know we kind
of started backward.
The night at the club, earlier.”
She paused then said, “It was amazing. As much as I tried to keep things
impersonal, you still wormed your way into my heart. It was as if that night, I
allowed myself to open up.” Her gaze met his. “Your presence in my life, in my
heart, blossomed into the realization of how important you are to me.”

His hand clasped hers tight.
“You deserve better than finding some guy to have sex with who will never treat
you like a lady should be treated. That night, today, meant more to me than you
know.”

Deep inside, Andy knew Hunter
had always loved her as more than a friend. But until the words left his mouth,
she wouldn’t put him on the spot. He’d kept his feelings to himself and allowed
Patrick his happiness. He’d been true family to Patrick. His selflessness made
her adore him even more.

“I’d love us to take it one
step at a time. I trust you. I don’t know what the future holds for us,
Hunter.” She wanted—needed—him to know that more than anything.

Andy couldn’t say for certain
where they’d be in
three,
six or a thousand months,
but she did love him. They’d started as great friends and had become so much
more.
 
The time away made her see things
so much more clearly. But she still wanted more time to heal and truly forgive
herself for everything.

Hunter smiled and pulled her
toward him. She laid her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her
and cuddled her close.

“One step at a time it is.”
He tucked a finger under her chin, and she leaned her head back. “We don’t have
to rush anything.”

Andy looked deep into his
eyes. They were alight with joy and his smile was contagious. “No, we don’t
need to rush anything.”

“We’ll simply be together.
I’d love to take you to dinner. Just the two of us,” he suggested.