Gil responded.
I’m good. So tired I don’t think I’ll have trouble sleeping. House is tight. System armed. I’ll be sure Em has a weapon before she goes to bed. I’m sleeping on the sofa. We’ll figure out the rest of it tomorrow, or later today.
A few more “okays” and “laters,” and finally his phone stopped buzzing. Emily joined him on the sofa. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“So you said.”
“Is she okay?”
“Already asleep. Will you tell me what happened to her?”
Gil considered his twin for a long moment. “Not the details, but the big picture, yes. Ivy can tell you as much or as little as she wants tomorrow. Fair?”
“Fair. Now, spill.”
Gil told her everything, from the discovery of the counterfeit bills to the moment they found Ivy’s door open. From there, he glossed over the details, telling her Ivy had been held hostage and her injuries were a result of that. Emily was sharp as a tack, and it took her about three seconds to put two and two together and realize Ivy had been tortured.
Her eyes filled with tears. “How awful.”
Gil closed his eyes and dropped his head back on the sofa. “I wish we’d gotten there sooner, but I’m thankful we got there atall. If they’d ... if I’d found her after . . .” Gil couldn’t finish the thought. If they’d violated her, killed her. If that’s how he’d found her?
No. He couldn’t and wouldn’t let his mind go there.
Emily squeezed his arm. “Did she say anything about, well, anything else?”
“Not really. We mostly skated around it. I told her I had questions, but they could wait. You saw her. And trust me, she looked a lot worse when I found her. It was hardly the time or place for an inquisition.”
Emily didn’t respond for several minutes. When she did, he wasn’t surprised that they were on the same wavelength. “Part of me wants to be mad at her. Part of me is so happy to see her again that I don’t want to rock the boat by bringing up the past. I’ve missed her, and I want her back in our lives.”
Gil managed a grunt of agreement but didn’t open his eyes.
“Gil. Look at me.”
He lifted his head and forced his eyelids to cooperate so he could focus on Emily. “What is it?”
“I’m worried about you.”
“Me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, you.”
“I’mnot the one who was tortured tonight.”
“No. You’re the one who’s been tortured for years. By the way she left. By her silence. She could have written. Mom and Dad haven’t moved. They would have forwarded anything from her straight to you. But she didn’t. And now she’s asleep in your room, and you’re hovering over her like she’s a wounded chick when she’s actually a ticking bomb.”
“Again, she was tortured today. No matter what she did to me, I don’t have it in me to treat her badly. And you’re one to talk.You dropped everything and drove down from DC so you could see her.”
“I’m not here for her, you idiot. I’m here for you.Shewill recover.” Emily’s expression went grim. “But if she breaks your heart again, I’m not sureyouwill.”
He rested his head on the cushions. “I doubt she’s interested in my heart, Em.”
“I don’t think she ever lost interest in your heart.”
“Em, you aren’t making any sense. One minute you say she’s an emotional bomb set to detonate and destroy me. The next, you’re telling me she never stopped loving me. It doesn’t work both ways.”
“Oh, yes it does.”
Gil didn’t argue the point. Partly because he was too exhausted to think and partly because Emily might be right.
