Freeing Her (29 page)

“
Why not send it to
me?”

“
Uh, Mr. Hart, I don’t
want you to see it without her. Sir, it’s pretty bad.”

Kolson’s grip tightened on his phone.
“Exactly how bad?”

“
Much worse than I
imagined, and if I were to guess, I’ll bet that even Dr. Martinelli
has forgotten a lot of it. Or maybe forced herself to block it
out.”

“
Okay. Send it by courier
and we’ll go over it together.”

“
She’ll need you there
with her. If it were me, I’m not sure I’d want to review it
alone.”

“
Fuck me.”

“
That’s what I said when I
read it, sir.”

Kolson decided against mentioning it to
Gabby. He’d just call her up and ask her to eat dinner at his
place.

# # #

Gabby was surprised to find Kolson home
before her. He was waiting on her when she walked off the
elevator.

“
Hi, gorgeous.” He took
her briefcase and purse and handed her a glass of wine.

“
Hey, there.” She leaned
in for a kiss. “Mmm, that’s nice.”

“
Yes, always.”

“
Come.” He led her into
the den where the large gold envelope sat on the coffee
table.

“
What’s that?”

“
Your X-rays, along with
the radiologist’s report. They came in today. I haven’t read it or
looked at any of it. I waited for you.”

“
I see.” Her body
stiffened. “I’m … I …”

“
I’ve got you, and I’ll
always have you. You don’t have to look. I wanted you to have the
opportunity, but if you don’t want to …”

“
No. I do. It’s just that,
I …” She swallowed the thickness and rubbed the ache in her chest.
“The pain, not the physical but the emotional, you know. My
parents, how they …” She shivered.

He turned to her and said, “I’m here.
Gabriella, I believe in you. I know you as a person. I know how
much you hurt. Trust me. Let me be your strength.”

“
Okay.” She took a deep
breath. “Let’s do this.”

He pulled out the films but she said, “You
don’t have to bother with those. The lighting isn’t good enough and
the report will tell us all we need.”

He stuffed them back in and took out the
papers. They bent their heads together and started reading.

They read through it all. Gabby tallied
nineteen separate rib fractures, several bone fractures in her left
wrist and arm, several fingers, both nasal bones, and two broken
clavicles. By the end Kolson was wound up so tightly, he was ready
to spring.

“
That motherfucker has to
die. And then, so do your motherfucking parents. How could they not
see this?”

“
I hid a lot of it.” Her
voice was muted.

“
What?”

“
After a while, I hid most
of it. He’d hit me in places that didn’t show. So I hid it. The
stuff I thought would heal on its own.”

“
How the hell’d you do
that?” he bellowed.

She cowered from him and he immediately
reacted.

“
Shit, I’m sorry. The last
thing you need is to have to deal with a maniacal boyfriend.” His
hands plowed through his hair. “Fuck!”

She bowed her head into her hands, thinking
back. Most of it had been relegated to the furthest reaches of her
mind. But this had kicked it to the front row and it was doing a
standing ovation complete with confetti and streamers. Oh, how she
recalled the pain. How she could barely breathe as she would lie in
her bed at night. She crossed her arms and rubbed her sides, the
places that used to ache so terribly.

“
They accused me of making
things up so I hid it from them after a while. The bruises were
mainly in areas that were covered by clothes. They couldn’t see
them. Soon I stopped crying about it because it only caused me more
trouble.” Her eyes took on a haunted look. “I stopped crying
altogether. That was one of my psychiatrist’s goals. To learn to
cry again. Do you know I haven’t cried since I was fifteen?” She
gave him a weak smile.

“
Not at all?”

“
Never. Not even when my
dog, Ethel, died. And I loved that dog more than
anything.”

“
Why?”

“
I don’t know. I can’t.
Sometimes it feels as though it’ll happen, like the burn is right
in my eyes, but then it goes away. My psychiatrist thought it was
because of the trauma I endured and that once I let it all go I
would be able to face everything again. But my opinion is that it
has to do with vulnerability. It was safer for me not to cry. I
built such a solid wall that I got used to stopping the tears.
Whatever the case, Danny knew it. He would punch and kick me and
try his damnedest to make me cry. But I wouldn’t. I think that’s
why I had so many broken ribs.”

“
Goddamn him!” Kolson
wanted to punch something. Anything. Just to let off the building
steam. He stuffed everything back in the envelope. “Let’s get out
of here for a while.”

“
Fine with me. But
where?”

“
Hang on a second.” He got
up and went to his office. In a few minutes he was back again.
“Come on, let’s go.” He offered his hand and she grasped
it.

“
Where are we
going?”

“
It’s a
surprise.”

They rode the elevator down to the garage
and got in his car.

“
Any hints?” she
asked.

“
We’re going for a little
ride. We both need a change of scenery.”

They pulled up in front of HTS.

“
Isn’t this where you
work?” she asked.

“
Yeah, this is my
building.”

“
You taking me on a
tour?”

“
Kind of.” He pulled into
the underground garage and rode the elevator up. And up. When they
got out on the top floor, a helicopter awaited. The rotors were
spinning; it was windy and extremely loud. He took her hand and
pulled her to the passenger door, where a man stood holding it
open.

They climbed inside and Kolson handed Gabby
a headset and turned it on. He put on his own and they were greeted
by the pilot.

“
Good evening, Mr. Hart,
Dr. Martinelli.”

“
Hi, Steven. Thanks for
coming on such short notice. We won’t take up much of your time.
Only about an hour or so.”

“
Not a problem at all,
sir. So you want the greatest aerial tour of Manhattan,
sir?”

“
Give my lady the best
show you can.”

“
Coming right up. Enjoy
the ride, Dr. Martinelli.”

“
Thank you,
Steven.”

“
My pleasure,
ma’am.”

Kolson buckled Gabby’s harness and the craft
lifted off. She gripped his hand as they went. “Oh my God! I can’t
believe you.”

He grinned at her.

Gabby gawked out of both windows as Steven
began his flight pattern over the seven boroughs of New York. Her
head swiveled while Kolson laughed at the picture she made.

“
You’re going to have to
pick a window and stick with it or you’ll end up missing the
views.”

When the sun lowered, he ended the tour with
the borough of Manhattan as he flew along the skyline, beginning
with the Statue of Liberty. Kolson pointed out each of the highest
buildings in their magnificence, including the new World Trade
Center, the Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building. He
was lost in the expressions that flitted across Gabby’s features,
from amazement to pure joy. And all Kolson wanted to do was imprint
those expressions on his mind forever. He had his phone out the
entire time doing exactly that. Snapping picture after picture of
her, he captured her in various poses looking at the scenery,
laughing, smiling, wide-eyed, and awed. And then it hit him. There
was no falling anymore. That was a has-been. He was madly in love
with this woman. And he would stop at nothing to protect her, even
if it meant killing Danny Martinelli.

Steven set the aircraft down gently on the
roof. When Gabby unbuckled her harness, she threw herself at
Kolson. “Tell me you have more tricks up your sleeve. That was a
blast.”

He wrapped her in his embrace and nuzzled
her neck. “I have tricks all right, but most of them involve
nakedness and a bed.”

“
Hmm, I’ll take those too,
Mr. Hart.”

“
Yes, you will, kea, and
I’ll make sure you love every single one of them.”

“
Thank you, so much,
Kolson. That was fantastic.”

“
Come, let’s go home and
eat. I’m starving.”

Gabby had a silly grin on her face all the
way home. When they got back to Kolson’s, though, reality
invaded.

“
I know we couldn’t keep
it out forever, but you know what? I’m not going to let what
happened to me ruin my future. I’m just not going to allow it.
Danny has already taken too much from me. He’s not going to get any
more.”

“
What are you
saying?”

“
I want to drop all of
this and move on.”

“
Oh, Gabriella, I think
that’s a huge mistake.”

“
I knew you would. But I’m
happy now.”

“
Listen to me. He’s not
ever going to stop trying to get to you. You understand what that
means, right?”

“
I guess.”

“
That leaves you with no
choice.”

“
But …”

“
No buts. He’s not going
to let you go. Not until something worse happens. And one of you
gets hurt. And you getting hurt is not an acceptable
outcome.”

Their discussion weighed heavily on her; she
had to agree with Kolson. They ate in relative silence and then
headed to bed. He made passionate love to her, driving her mad with
his possession of her body, until she was so weak she couldn’t
move. Then she fell asleep, only to wake in the dark of the night,
dreaming about Danny. As she lay there, she cursed him for all the
trouble he’d caused, turning her life upside down. Why didn’t he
simply go away? Why did he persist in these crazy actions? She
started to think up ways to get rid of him, but then knew they’d
never work. The worse thing that could happen is that she’d get
caught and end up going to prison herself.

“
What is it,
kea?”

“
Bad dream.”

“
Tell me.”

“
Just an old
nightmare.”

“
Roll on your
stomach.”

She did, and he massaged her back. It was a
soft caress that soothed and lulled her back to sleep.

The next morning while they were eating
breakfast, Kolson’s phone buzzed and he cursed when he saw who was
calling.

“
Kestrel.” Pause. “No, I
haven’t decided.” Pause. “I know the party’s in a week. It’s on my
calendar.” Kolson looked at Gabby, questioning. She nodded. “Yes,
we’ll be there. Tell mom. What time? I’ll tell Gabriella. Any other
word on Kade?” Another pause. “None here either. I guess we’ll see
you next week.”

He ended the call. “Birthday party for dear
old Dad at their place next Saturday at seven. Kestrel says hi.
Cocktail attire and I don’t like this one bit. I abhor that fucking
place.”

“
I’ll hold your hand the
whole time.”

“
Is that a fucking promise
because I swear to God …”

“
Hey! That’s an oath.
Okay?”

She extended her hand to him and he clutched
it.

“
You can’t know what went
on in that place, Gabriella. You can’t possibly know. A fucking
shit show.”

His eyes were riddled with pain so she
pushed her chair back and straddled his lap. Taking his face in the
palms of her hands, she said, “I’ll be with you every step of the
way, holding your hand, and I won’t let you go for even a second. I
swear this to you.”

Kolson looked at her, and finally spilled
it. “I love you, Gabriella. Did you know that? Absolutely,
unequivocally, with everything in my heart. I didn’t think I was
capable of loving anyone. But you, you’ve short-circuited me, taken
me apart, bit by bit, placed yourself inside me and rewired me,
made me whole again. You’ve reconstructed me, kea, and you don’t
even know it. There are times when I can’t imagine how I ever
breathed without you. You are the most perfect human being God ever
created and to think He sent you to me. I marvel at that
constantly. And then I start to freak thinking you’ll be snatched
away from me, or somehow you’re a fantasy I’ve conjured in my
fucked-up mind. Because you don’t want anything from me. You only
want to give. And you only want the happy. And that’s why I adore
you.”

She touched her lips to
his. “I do want something from you—I want you and only you. I can’t
believe we found each other, either. I love you too, Kolson Hart,
for the way you make me feel, like I mean something, like I
am
something. I love the
way I feel when you’re inside of me, how you make me feel like my
missing part has found its rightful place again. You bring me hope
that I never had before and joy that never existed. I love how I
feel when I curl up next to you at night, right before I fall
asleep. For the first time ever, I feel safe. And I feel empty when
your arms aren’t around me. I love the way you breathe against my
neck and the way your eyes darken and the colors get all mixed
together when you’re inside me. I love you for freeing me, but most
of all, I love all the bits of you for being you. And I’ll love you
always, not just in the good but in the bad too.”