“You don’t know that.”
“I do, Ruby, because if someone loved me and I passed away, I wouldn’t want them to do this. Think about if the roles had been reversed. Would you have wanted your husband to follow you? Would you have wanted this for him? I don’t think you would have.”
My heart broke further as I considered what he said and what Chase would have wanted. I wish he had lived and I had died, but I was spared and forced to face the torment of this grief alone. He had been my gravity, and now I felt like I was floating through life without a reason for landing.
“What would you want him to do, Ruby?” He grasped my shoulders and lightly shook me.
“I’d want him to live.”
“Thata girl.”
I watched as he smiled proudly, but inside, I still felt broken. Moving on felt like an insurmountable feat that I wasn’t sure I could survive. “I just want him back,” I cried, breaking down as sobs racked my body and I clung to the stranger that held me in his arms. I was a mixture of sadness, but also slightly relieved that he’d shown up when he did. He saved me, but that part of me that was relieved was surpassed by the other part of me that was in agony over the thought of continuing this life alone without Chase by my side.
What was the point of living without him?
And why was God intervening now?
Chapter Three
Grief and sorrow shucked off her in waves. For almost an hour, I held the beautiful widow in my arms, her thin body shaking from the sheer force of her sobs. I refused to move. I wasn’t going to let her go through this alone—not anymore. Instead, I let her cling to me as she purged every emotion and ounce of grief that was plaguing her.
When she finally quieted down, I realized she’d fallen asleep in my lap, and I couldn’t help but admire her broken beauty that was screaming for help.
Very carefully, I moved her off my lap and fit my arms underneath her sleeping body until she was lifted into the air. She cuddled even closer against me, sighing when her ear rested against the spot on my chest where my heart was beating to an unfamiliar rhythm.
I felt strangely drawn to her, like I was supposed to intervene and step in when I did. She whimpered when I laid her down on the mattress and covered her with the comforter. Her room was a mess, and I needed to clean her up and report the incident, so there was a record of it happening. This was the part of my job that was never pleasant. I felt like I was sharing a part of them that they didn’t want to be seen. Luckily, Scorpio’s woman was the new town sheriff, and I knew she could be discreet about everything if I notified her.
“This is Juliette,” she said, after she picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, Juliette, this is Cap.”
“Oh hey, Cap! How’s it going? I’m here with Duncan if you need to talk to him.”
This was the awkward part. “Actually, I need to talk to you.” There was a lot of noise going on in the background, and I realized she was probably at the clubhouse.
“What’s up?” she asked when the sound in the background died down. “Is everything okay?”
“No, not really. I’m at the residence of a Mrs. Ruby Tyler. She…” My voice trailed off as I took a step out of the room, noticing that Mrs. Tyler was stirring on the bed.
“She tried to kill herself?” she questioned, obviously knowing where I was going with this.
“Yeah, but I stopped her. I need you to come down here if you can, but, if at all possible, not bring your squad car or anything else that might be threatening to her. I have a feeling that she’s a bit skittish.”
“Understood. Do I need to bring a paramedic with me?”
“She really should go to the hospital. I’m hoping a woman might be able to help me convince her to go.”
“I can bring Archer with me, if you like? He’s just bullshitting with Pincher in the corner. They’re not really doing anything.”
“Sure, that might be good. I think I got most of the meds out of her system, but it wouldn’t hurt to be one hundred percent sure.”
There was a bit of a silence before Juliette spoke again. You could tell there was more worry in her voice than there should be. “How is she?”
“Broken. Shook up. The usual. How long until you can get here?” I rattled off the address to her, hoping it wouldn’t be too long.
“I should be there in about ten minutes, give or take.”
“Okay, see you then.”
