“Yes,” he said, swallowing. He had to take his hand out of hers or he’d be pulling her closer to him. Why hadn’t he used the drive down to think about what he’d say if he did see Kim again? Instead, he’d spent most of the time on the phone planning the rock climbing trip he was going on in six weeks. Equipment had to be purchased and Travis needed to do some training. Wonder if there was a cliff he could climb in little Edilean? And did this backwoods town have a gym? He didn’t want his body turning to mush while he was here trying to figure out his mother’s problems.
He saw that Kim was still waiting for his answer. He hadn’t planned to ask for help, hadn’t even planned to see her again, but seeing her inside the tent, in that figure-hugging dress, had been too much for him. When she’d slipped out and disappeared into the woods, he’d followed her.
Now, he couldn’t keep sitting there in silence. Kim was going to think he was a moron.
“It’s my mother,” he said. “She’s living here in Edilean.” He fell silent again, not sure what to tell and what to keep back. He didn’t want to scare Kim away.
“What about her?” she coaxed as she tried to remember what she knew about his mother. When it had all happened, Kim had been too young to understand what was going on, but over the years she’d figured out some things. Lucy Merritt had been hiding from her abusive husband.
At the memory of the name, Kim gasped. “Lucy! Your mother’s name was Lucy. Is she Lucy Cooper, the woman who runs away every time I get near? She’s lived in Edilean for four years, but tonight was the first time I saw her, and even then it was only a partial view.”
Travis was genuinely surprised. He’d asked his mother about Kim a couple of times, but she’d always said that they traveled in different circles, then changed the subject. “I didn’t know that she hid from you, but I’m sure she would feel that she needed to. She didn’t see many people when we were here before, just that old man and your mother. And you.”
“Mr. Bertrand died the next year, and my mother would never tell anyone that Lucy was here.”
“What about you?” Travis asked. “If you’d recognized her, would you have told?”
“I—” Kim broke off. If she’d seen Travis’s mother here in Edilean she would have been on the phone to Jecca two minutes later. And she would have told her cousin Sara and maybe her new relative by marriage, Jocelyn, and she rather liked her cousin Colin’s new wife, Gemma, so maybe she would have told her. And she would have had to tell Tris, as he was Mrs. Wingate’s friend.
“Maybe,” Kim said in a way that made Travis smile.
“If this is your cousin’s house and Mom lived next door, it must have been difficult for her to hide from you.”
“She managed it,” Kim said but didn’t elaborate on the many times Lucy Cooper had escaped her view. Jecca had lived in Mrs. Wingate’s house for a while, and every time Kim visited, Lucy would magically disappear. Now Kim wondered if the poor woman had slipped into a broom closet. Whatever she did, Kim knew one thing for sure: Her mother had told Lucy not to let Kim see her.
Kim wanted to get the focus off her. “Is your mother here because of your father?”
“Yes,” Travis said as he leaned back against the bench. He was silent for a moment, then turned to smile at her. “I’m keeping you from your friends—and your relatives. Mom said everyone in Edilean is related to one another.”
“It’s not that bad, but close,” Kim said.
“Is that dress one of those . . . bride things?” He waved his hand.
“I was the maid of honor.”
“Oh,” he said. “Doesn’t ‘maid’ mean that you’re not married?”
“I’m not. What about you?”
“Never married. I work for my father,” Travis said. “The deal is that if I work for him he won’t pursue Mom.” He was telling her things that he never told unless necessary, but the words seemed to pour from him.
“That doesn’t sound pleasant,” Kim said and again wanted to reach for his hand, but she didn’t. She couldn’t imagine being in such a situation, but she thought how . . . well, how noble, heroic even, it was of him to sacrifice himself for his mother. Who did that today?
“It seems that now my mother wants to get married, but she’s still legally married to my father.”
Kim didn’t understand the problem. “She can get a divorce, can’t she?”
“Yes, but if she files that will let my father know where she is and he’ll do what he can to make her life unpleasant.”
“There are laws—”
“I know,” Travis said. “I’m not worried about the divorce. It’s the aftermath that I fear.”
“I don’t understand,” Kim said. The band was playing their last set, and she could hear people laughing. She wondered if Travis had ever learned to dance.
Travis turned to her. “Can I trust you? I mean, really trust you? I’m not used to confiding in people.” Every word he said was from his heart. This was Kim, the grown-up version of the little girl who’d changed his life
.