Of course he would have written to Aunt Maggie.She’d treated him as a person, not a burden, and he’d often told Chelsea he owed Aunt Maggie a lot.
She checked the dates.The last one was dated over a year ago.Did Ethan know Aunt Maggie had died?
He hadn’t been at the funeral.
She hadn’t known to contact him—though she would have asked her mother to do it.
Chelsea opened the last letter and scanned the contents.He’d joined the army straight out of school, but he mentioned little about it in his letter.Probably wasn’t allowed to.
He sounded happy though.She heard his voice in her head as she read his words.There was no mention of a wife or children, and she scowled at the flutter of relief that passed through her.
He had left her.
Why should she care what he did now?
But a part of her did care.She’d loved him intensely, and it had taken years to stop hoping he would realise he’d made a mistake and come back for her.No one else had understood her like he had.
Tap… tap, tap, tap.The soft knock on the front door had her glancing up.This is what thoughts of Ethan did to her.It sounded like his knock.
She exhaled to calm her racing heart and shook away the fancy as she approached the door, switching on the porch light.It was probably Darren coming to explain himself.
She opened the door wide and her breath left her body.
Thick dark hair, a little messy with an oleander leaf in it, brown eyes the colour of jarrah bark, and beneath a well-maintained beard was a mouth which turned up at the edges as if uncertain about his reception.She blinked to clear the apparition as her gaze lowered further.Broad shouldered, tight muscles underneath his black T-shirt, cargo pants that didn’t show the shape of his legs.
Surely she couldn’t conjure someone just by thinking of them.
“Hey, Chelsea.”
The same smooth tone she’d heard in her head while reading his letter.“Ethan?”Her head spun and she reached out to grab the door frame to steady herself but somehow missed it.She tripped, falling towards the floor, but before she hit it, Ethan’s strong arms encircled her and he helped her over to the sofa.
“Sit.”
He pressed her into the seat and she was too stunned to protest, but her body heated where his touched hers.She blinked rapidly again as he crouched next to her, concern in his gaze.“I’ll get you some water.”
He strode into the kitchen, knowing exactly where the glasses were.Of course he did.He’d practically lived here when he’d been in Honeybrook.
Her fingers brushed his as he handed her the cup.She sipped the cool water, allowing it to refresh her mind.“Thanks.”
Right, so he was definitely in front of her and not a figment of her imagination.Joy and love filled her, followed quickly by anger.He’d broken her heart.“What the hell are you doing here?”
He looked down at her for a long moment.“I came to visit Aunt Maggie.”
All at once her shock and anger dissipated, replaced by empathy.“Oh, God.No one told you she died.”
He cleared his throat.“The neighbour did when I arrived.”
What a horrible way to find out the woman he considered a surrogate aunt was dead.“I’m so sorry.I had no idea you kept in touch with her.If I had, I would have contacted you.”She moved past him to the roll-top desk and picked up the box she’d discovered.“I found this just now.”She handed it to him.“We didn’t go through her things after the funeral.Everything was too raw.”
With a slight frown, he opened it.Grief crossed his face as he stared, not saying anything.His fingers brushed each letter, the only movement he made.
His stillness cried out to her.He was only ever this still when he was sorting through his emotions.She’d seen it twice; once when she’d told him she loved him, and the second, when he’d read the letter to say he’d been accepted into the army.
Chelsea longed to comfort him the way she used to.“She kept all of mine as well.”
He glanced at her, tears glistening, and she couldn’t keep her distance.Yes, he might have hurt her when they were young, but he was hurting now.She took the box from him, placed it on the couch, and then wrapped her arms around him.
He stiffened and then he hugged her back.
