Chapter Twenty
Aweek passed and the four of them got used to living in the safe-house together, while the manhunt for Adrien continued.
Since they were closed inside the safe-house, they listened to the news on the radio and TV, hoping for something, but nothing was ever said. Samuel assured them that it was fine, that they had opted to keep all of this out of the news and if it was really important, then he would have a call from Jacobs, but so far, there had been nothing worthy of their attention.
Camila worried though, about things she couldn’t do anything about. One of those ‘things’ was Tansy. She may not have killed her herself, but she still very much felt guilty about that and about living in her home and using her things.
“Sweetheart, her body was recovered, and her family members were contacted,” Samuel assured her. “Tansy had a proper burial.”
“How do you know?” Camila asked, resting her cheek on his chest. “How can you know that?”
Samuel rubbed her back and placed a kiss on her head. “Because I am the one who arranged for it all.”
Camila pulled back and looked up at him. “You did?”
He pulled her close and nodded. “When…” he paused and took a settling breath, then continued, “Do you remember that first night here?”
Camila nodded.
“Do you remember your nightmare?”
“No,” she whispered.
“You were so upset, you kept repeating her name. When I heard Jacobs mention she was the owner of the farmhouse, I realized. I couldn’t let what Adrien had done go. I had to do something to make it right, somehow. Not that anything could really make it right. Paying for the funeral, arranging for her family to fly in on my private jet, giving them something for their loss— that I could do. So I did.” He rubbed her back in gentle circles.
Camila’s heart filled with love for the man who held her. “You’re a good man, Samuel Kane.”
“I know we weren’t able to be there, but I did send a family representative in our place. He assured me it was a beautiful ceremony and she has been laid to rest in a nice plot under a willow tree.”
“Thank you,” she murmured with a sigh. As kind as his actions were, she was still lost in her head, worrying about things she couldn’t control. She barely ate for most of the day, but Samuel didn’t let her get away with it for too long. The next morning when Camila woke, she was still feeling a bit depressed and rather grumpy.
“Come on, love, time to get up.”
“Don’t want to,” Camila complained burying her head in her pillows.
“Nope, I’m not going to let you wallow. Come on, help me with breakfast.” He pulled her up from the bed.
Camila grumbled a little, but went with him, following him down the hall. “You didn’t have to wake me up extra early just to make breakfast,” she said with a sigh, lying down with her arms folded on the table.
Samuel sighed as well. “I did have to, because it seems like you’ve forgotten. You can't go a day without food. You’re eating for more than just you, sweetheart.”
“I didn’t go without food yesterday,” she mumbled. “I did have some eggs in the morning and a glass of milk in the afternoon…”
“You can't call that eating, Camila, sweetness, because you barely touched those eggs, and milk is not food.”
He went back to cooking, and she didn’t have anything else she wanted to say, so she just sulked and waited for him. Minutes later, he brought a plate for her over to the table and sat down across from her. He had his arms folded over his chest with a stern expression on his face. It felt a lot like when her mom used to do it to her when she was really little, to get her to eat stuff she didn’t particularly like because it was the only food available.
Am I being too childish?
With that thought in mind, and Samuel’s gaze on her, she picked up her fork and started eating. Actually, she was starting to feel a little hungry, anyway.
“How is it?” he asked.
She nodded as she took another bite. “Good, as always.”
“And your stomach?”
She tilted her head, confused. “Um, fine, I guess?”