First Real Kiss

I was the one missing—missing Sheridan. “No, nothing like that. What do you know about the long-term effects of her injury on the day of the Great Quake?”

“There were none.” King shook his head. “Unbelievably, she was left unscathed. All that inner strength! She went from paralyzed to able to walk, and even run. She even seemed to finally heal psychologically once she became a life coach. She was able to heal herself first, and then learned to heal others. She’s our miracle. I’m sure you realize that.”

She was mine, too. “Did any doctors talk to you about internal injuries?” I ratcheted up my courage and got to the point. “Such as to her reproductive system?”

King and Kendy Allen looked at each other in confusion and then alarm. King sat back, folding in on himself. “No,” he said.

Kendy wrung her hands. “What are you saying?”

I scrubbed a hand down my face. Sheridan hadn’t told them. She possibly hadn’t told anyone. It might not have been my place to share this with them, but I’d let the cat out of the bag so much that there was no getting it back in.

“You don’t have to spell it out.” Kendy shook her head, her voice thin, warbling. “Did a doctor tell you this? Did Sheridan? Because I don’t know where she would have gotten that information.”

“Did you never hear it directly from a medical professional?” I sat up a little straighter.

“Never once.” Kendy was firm. “And we asked direct questions, requested tests during and after her surgeries.”

King placed a hand on Kendy’s shoulder. “But did we tell her what we learned?”

Kendy frowned. “Of course not. We never wanted her to have any worries in that aspect of her life. No sense even introducing it to her impressionable mind. She was so sensitive, so suggestible during her teens, I thought bringing it up was playing with fire.”

Ah. That made sense. “You’re good parents.” Really good parents. But they didn’t know what they hadn’t known. “Would you …” No, I couldn’t ask them. “Would you talk to her sometime? About those things?”

“Are you saying Sheridan believes something different about …?” King looked stricken. Then he grabbed Kendy’s hand.

I told them what she’d said to me. Then I really went rogue and told them what I’d read in her journal. I laid it all out there like a big, dumb fool.

They might hate me for it. Sheridan might hate me for it.

But she might also love me for it. She might get past her misconceptions, or instead get the courage to take them on, if she had the support of her parents.

It was worth the risk. She was worth any risk.

I was in love with Sheridan Chandler. I wanted her to be happy, no matter what it cost me.

King placed his hand across his forehead, as if to keep his brain from exploding through. “Wow. That explains so much about her marriage to Case. I warned her Case had told me he didn’t want children, but she’d said she wanted to marry him anyway.” His voice quavered with emotion. “She was carrying that burden.”

Kendy was full-on weeping. “I should have had a frank conversation with her. Oh, I’m so sorry about this.”

“She probably needs a medical examination to believe it now, for herself.” I stood up. I’d done enough damage here for the day. “Let me arrange for that. I have an obstetrics colleague who owes me.” Big time. “I’m guessing being self-employed Sheridan might not have insurance. She can rest easy. It’ll be taken care of.”

I left, without a hug, and drove back to The Citadel.

I tried for the millionth time to call Sheridan. And then I texted into the void—telling her I missed her, wanted to talk to her, and would love to see her. Just when I verged on stalker status and when she could have probably gone to court and asked for an injunction-against-harassment against me—finally taking me to court like she’d thought I deserved from the beginning, I sent one last text.

I’ll stop haranguing you now. You deserve to be free. But you deserve to know the truth—that you are worthy of love.

Then I turned off my phone.

Please say she’d let me do the right thing, for once.