Page 123 of Hidden Tide
“Where?”
“Across the room.”
“I don’t need to be taken away.”
“I know. But you’re shaking.”
I look down.
He’s right.
I let him guide me to the window at the far end of the room. Fort Baker’s lights reflect across the black water. Beyond the bay, San Francisco glows beneath the fog.
Ben stands beside me without speaking.
“I was there when they betrayed Dad,” I whisper.
“You were thirteen.”
“I saw Lawrence Vail with a gun.”
“And you warned your father.”
“If I had remembered—”
“You survived something terrifying. Your mind did what it had to do.”
“Marcus Bell knew I saw them.”
“He knew enough to be afraid of what you might remember.”
I turn toward him. “What if I remember something that makes this worse?”
“Then we deal with it.”
“You always say we.”
“Because you keep trying to turn everything into I.”
A tear escapes before I can stop it.
Ben wipes it away with his thumb.
“You don’t have to be afraid alone anymore.”
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Neither do I.”
“You’re a Navy SEAL.”
“That doesn’t make me an expert on loving a woman who attacks armed men with furniture.”
My breath catches.
He looks as surprised by the word as I feel.
“Loving?”
