Page 44 of The Defiant Curse

“I like it. Ethan will too.”

The way she said it…he heard it in her voice.

“You miss him?”

Elizabeth did, but for a bigger reason.

“We didn’t part well. We had a fight, this case interfered, and words were said.”

Michael listened as she touched the mahogany desk and walked around the room.

“He said he lost faith in me, and that…it hurt. I feel like there’s a wall between us, and coming here probably hurt him too. I’m sure he’s blaming himself.”

Michael was worried.

“Are you and Dad going to be okay? Because we don’t want to play ‘who gets custody of the grown kids’.”

She shrugged.

Oh, and that said it all.

Now, Michael was even more twitchy.

“I mean, yeah, we will be, but it still breaks a piece of the foundation away, Michael. I’m hoping when I go home, he’ll forgive me for just walking away for myself. I told them I was tired of carrying everyone. Now, I can see how that might be taken.”

He hugged her.

“Hey! They get it. Ethan knows. He’s not a stupid man. Anyone who loves you can see the burden you carry. We just don’t know how to carry it for you.”

Did he?

She wasn’t sure.

“It’s different with Callen and Chris. We didn’t have a disagreement. We parted ways in good standing. I didn’t get to make that right before I raced out of there. I regret that. I really do.”

Getting up, he went to her and held her.

“He knows, Mom. He knows.”

She hoped so.

That was one more thing she was carrying, and probably the heaviest. She and Ethan had been at odds once before. It was when he told her to leave, and that their marriage was over.

Now, here she was, across the ocean, and he had to be freaking the fuck out. The last thing she wanted to do was stress any of them out.

“Worry about you. The rest will fall into place.”

She needed to know.

“Promise?” she asked.

He ran his hand up and down her back.

“On my life.”

Well, she would have to put faith in that because she was worried about so many things.

“What’s next?” she asked, needing to keep going for her sanity's sake.