Island of Secrets and Scars

Cameron sucked in a breath, pulling in the once familiar scent of antiseptic and the lavender detergent she’d used in her former life mixed with a warm fragrance she could only describe as Ian. She’d thought she’d forgotten how warm and intoxicating he smelled. Apparently, she’d been wrong. With his arms wrapped tightly around her, he rubbed his large hands up and down her back. She squeezed her eyes tighter as new tears assaulted her. Tears, not for her daughter or even Brodie, but tears for the life she’d walked away from and the man she’d once believed loved her.

Placing her hands on the solid wall of Ian’s chest, she pushed away. Ian was her past. He needed to stay there. Yes, he’d shown up today and saved her daughter. Maybe that could be enough to stop hating him, but it wasn’t enough to forget he hadn’t loved her or wanted their daughter. Straightening, she swiped at her remaining tears.

“It never crossed my mind they’d send you.” If it had, would she have still called? Yes. To save Ara and Brodie, she would do anything—even give up a few of her secrets.

A muscle in his jaw jumped. “It never crossed my mind I’d find you when I got here,” he countered.

Fair enough.

She sighed. “Thank you for coming. For saving her.”

“You could’ve done it. You would have if you’d needed to.”

She didn’t want him to soothe her. She just wanted to thank him, then put him on a boat and send him away from her home.

For years, this island had been her refuge—from him, from her past. It could hardly serve as a sanctuary with him present.

Without answering, she pushed from the couch, then started across the room to the door. “I’m going to see if she’s awake, if she—”

“Are you just going to pretend?”

At his words, she stopped in the doorway.

“You’ve been gone for five years, Cam. Fiveyears.” His voice cracked, causing him to curse under his breath. “Don’t I get anything? An explanation? A—”

Glaring at him over her shoulder, she replied, “I owe you nothing.” Maybe her words weren’t entirely true, but he certainly had no right to demand anything from her.

He shoved to his feet. “Nothing?” he yelled. “How about the life we planned? The future you took away when you left?”

Anger surged in her veins. “You didn’t want that future, that life. You certainly didn’t want me. I did you a favor.”

He stumbled back as if her words physically struck him. “You did me a…” Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head. “Are you fucking kidding me? You crushed me, fucking gutted me. How can you stand here so goddamn cavalier and claim to have done me a favor?”

Tears swam in his eyes and filled his voice. Her own eyes blurred with the emotions rising within her, but she wouldn’t let him sway her. He could say what he wanted, claim to be heartbroken. She knew the truth. She’d seen him with Mallory and heard his declaration. No words he said now would mean anything to her.

“Thank you for coming. Thank you for saving my daughter. I can’t repay you, but I’ll forever be grateful.” She turned to flee.

He wrapped a large hand around her bicep and jerked her to face him. “You can repay me by explaining why the hell you left. I don’t understand. I searched for you. I mourned you.”

“I’m not dead.”

His gaze scraped over her body. “Obviously. I thought differently.”

She nodded. “Hang on to that thought.” She wrestled her arm from his grasp.

“We’ll be here for the next few days. Don’t think I’m leaving without answers.”

“I don’t have answers for you. I’m here. I have a life here. You might be around for the next few days, but that doesn’t mean I have to have anything to do with you.”

“Doc… Doc… Where’s Doc?”

Keso. Thank God.

Her body sagged with relief at the sound of Keso’s voice coming from the front of the clinic. He was safe. Alive. Every time someone had entered the clinic with news throughout the day, she’d feared she’d hear Keso had suffered a fate like Brodie’s. Relief only lasted a moment before panic took over. Her gaze swung from the doorway to Ian. Her former fiancé narrowed his eyes, obviously seeing something on her face he didn’t like.

He moved closer. “Cam, what’s wrong?”

She backed away and into a solid wall of male. Keso spun her around, then crushed her to his chest. “Gracias a Dios,” he murmured against her hair.

She wrapped her arms around his lean waist and held him to her. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself a moment to just listen to the strong, steady beat of his heart. The familiar, reassuring sound had often been the last thing she heard before drifting off to sleep those first few months on the island. That steady thump thump assured her everything would work out, despite what nightmares from her past may have appeared.

Keso pulled away, holding her at arms’ length. His green eyes roamed her face and body, inspecting her for injury. “I was so scared. I worried you and Ara were on the beach—”

At the mention of their daughter, tears again filled Cameron’s eyes.

Keso’s grip tightened on her shoulders. “What? Doc, what is it? What happened to Ara?”

When she opened her mouth to assure him their daughter was fine, only a sob escaped. She struggled to rein in her emotions, but she kept seeing the plane exploding and fire raining down. The panic and fear she hadn’t allowed earlier invaded. Her body shook. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Ara’s fine.” From somewhere behind her, Ian’s voice answered Keso’s question. “Cam’s understandably upset, but I assure you Ara’s okay and resting well.”

Keso’s body had stiffened when Ian called her Cam. No one on the island called her Cam. She was Doc. Doc C to some. Occasionally Cameron to Keso, but she couldn’t recall the last time he’d called her anything but Doc.

“Who are you?” Keso asked.

Oh shit. Cameron forced herself to straighten. She had to get control of this situation. Keso knew everything about the relationship she’d been running from when she met him. Everything except the name of the man who had wrecked her heart and that he was standing right in front of them.

“Ara was hurt by some of the debris,” she blurted, cutting through whatever response Ian intended.

“Debris? What the hell?” Keso’s attention returned to her.

She breathed easier. “We were on the beach. She and Creek were hiding. When Luci found her, a piece of metal was stuck in her side.” She swallowed the fresh batch of tears ready to fall. The sight of her baby bleeding and hurting, unable to move because of the metal impaling her, would forever be seared in her memories.

“Cam stabilized her.” Ian took over the storytelling. “Until my team and I could arrive and remove the obstruction. Ara has two cracked ribs, some major bruising and quite a gash. But I believe she’ll make a full recovery with minimal scarring.”

Ian’s voice dipped at the mention of scarring. Beneath her borrowed clothes, Cameron’s own scars tingled.

“You’re team? You’re from the States?” Keso spat those last words, not bothering to hide his distrust and distaste for anything and everyone American.

Ian’s brown eyes narrowed. “That’s right. I’m a doctor from—”