Home to Walnut Ridge (24 page)

“
Let them be, Trace,” Alex
said, hooking her elbow. “Let’s go in and throw some darts or
something. How about it?”

“
I guess,” she answered,
glad for something to bide the time. As they turned to go inside,
Tracey stopped. “Go on in, Alex. I just want to get Noah’s
attention and let him know we’ll be inside. Okay?”

“
Fine. I’ll order us some
wings.” Alex disappeared inside.

As Tracey turned around, a black sedan
with darkened windows pulled up to the curb right in front of her,
obstructing her view. Irritated, she moved so she could again see
Noah.

“
Tracey?”

She recognized the voice
before turning her head at the sound of her name.
Oh no.

The front passenger side window
continued to lower. “I can’t believe I found you,” Morgan said,
reaching for her hand.

She snatched her hand out
of his reach. “What are you
doing
here?”

He pulled on a black Vanderbilt
baseball cap and opened the door. Climbing out of the vehicle, he
carefully kept his back to the others still standing around. “I
need to talk to you. Come, take a ride with me.”

“
Don’t be ridiculous. I’m
not going anywhere with you. I can’t believe you’re here.” She
leaned to look inside the car where Morgan’s driver sat behind the
wheel. “Scott. Nice to see you again.

“
Hi, Tracey. Nice to see
you too.”

She didn’t miss the
awkward expression on his face.
No doubt
wishing he was anywhere but right here.
“Scott, you need to take the Senator back to‍—‍”

“
Tracey, we have to talk,”
Morgan said, moving closer. That’s all I’m asking. A few minutes. I
came this far‌—‌surely you’ll give me at least that
much.”

Tracey shook her head, furious he had
the nerve to show up like this.

“
No? Would you rather we
make a scene here in front of all these people?”

“
Morgan, please. Just go
home.”

“
Five minutes. Give me
five minutes then I’ll go. I promise.”

She blew out a huff then nodded toward
the alley beside the pub. As soon as she stepped around the corner,
Tracey turned to face him. “You have wasted your time coming here.
I’m not coming back. There’s nothing you can say or do to change my
mind.”

He smiled, digging his hands deep in
the pockets of his jeans, stepping closer. “Do you have any idea
how much I’ve missed you?” She started to leave, but he caught her
arm. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said
that.”

She looked at his hand still on her
arm. “Morgan, please.”

He removed his hand but remained
close. “I came because I needed to see you. That’s it. Pure and
simple. Since you left, I can’t think of anything
but‍—‍”

“
Stop it! That’s enough!”
she snapped, raising her hands. “You make me sick, you know that?
All that time I worked for you, I believed in you. I believed in
your fight for what was right and good and just in this country. I
was so grateful that you stood up for the family when no one else
would. And now look at you! Groveling in a dark alley, whining like
a stupid schoolboy.”

“
I know, I know!” he
shrugged. “It’s completely wrong. Don’t you think I’m aware of
that? Don’t you think it haunts me day and night, that all I can
think of is the one person on this planet who wants nothing to do
with me?” He yanked off his cap. “Tracey, it makes me
crazy.
But I never
asked
for this! I didn’t go looking for
someone‌—‌it just happened. Surely, you were aware of it too. I
could see it in your eyes. Always. You were there,
always
there at my
side‍—‍”

“
No! I never once thought
of you as‍—‍”

“
You can’t lie to me,” he
said, stepping closer. “I know you feel it too. You always wanted
us to be more than friends. You’ll never convince me
otherwise.”

“
Morgan, SHUT UP! We are
done here.” She turned on her heel, but he grabbed her, pinning her
against the wall, his hands locked on her arms with a strength she
never knew he possessed. He kissed her hard even as she jerked her
head trying to pull away from him. He kissed her with such force,
she couldn’t even cry out. As hot tears began to pour down her
cheeks, she could think of only one way to break free. She bit his
tongue as hard as she could.

He screamed then caught himself, one
hand reaching for his mouth, the other gripping her arm and
wrenching it behind her back.

“
Morgan, LET ME
GO!”

“
TRACEY!”

Through her tears, she saw Noah
rounding the corner in a blur.

Still, Morgan wouldn’t let go, yanking
her arm up higher until she cried out in pain. Suddenly, Noah
cold-cocked the senator right on his nose as the sound of cartilage
cracking popped in the night air. Morgan spun backward and fell in
a heap on the ground. He tried to lift his head then dropped it,
out cold.

“
Tracey! Are you okay?”
Noah pulled her into his arms briefly, then held her at arm’s
length. “Are you hurt?”

Tracey couldn’t control the sobs
wracking her body. She melted into his embrace in a puddle of
tears.

At the sound of footsteps, they both
looked up.

“
Oh no.” Scott rushed to
the senator’s side. “Is he‍—‍?”

“
No, he’s just out,” Noah
said, still holding Tracey close to his side. “But you probably
ought to get the car so we can‍—‍”

“
I’m on it,” Scott said,
already taking off for the vehicle.

“
TRACEY!” Alex cried,
rushing to her side. “Someone told me you’d been‌—‌oh my gosh, is
that Senator Thompson?!”

Buddy was right behind
her. “Tracey Jo, what on earth is
he
doing here?” He quickly knelt
down and lifted Morgan’s right eyelid then his left. He turned to
face his daughter with a proud smile. “Did
you
do this?”

“
No,” Noah said, “the
pleasure was all mine.”

Buddy stood up and reached out for
Noah’s hand. “Then thank you. For Tracey Jo and for me!”

As the black sedan pulled into the
alley, its headlights illuminated the scene. Morgan moaned, raising
a shaky hand toward his broken nose.
“What . . .?”

“
Never you mind, Senator,”
Buddy said as Scott joined them. “Your chauffeur and I will get you
back in the car.”

“
Huh?”

In a matter of minutes, they’d
deposited the injured senator into the back seat of the sedan.
Scott made his way back to the front seat and started the engine.
Just as Buddy was about to shut the back door, Tracey reached for
it. “A minute, please?” she asked her father.

“
Sure, sweetheart.
Whatever you say.”

As he stepped out of the
way, Tracey leaned into the car. “Scott? Take the good senator
home‌—‌to his
wife
.”

“
Gladly,” he answered,
shifting to reverse. “Take care, Tracey,” he said with a ready
smile.

“
You too,
Scott.”

With that, she slammed the door as the
car backed out of the alley then disappeared.

Chapter 21

It was close to an hour before Tracey
and Noah could finally be alone. Back at the house, they’d
patiently chatted with Buddy and Alex before those two said
goodnight and went upstairs. With the sudden quiet, Noah felt
strangely shy in front of her. They both started to say something
at the exact same time.

“
Sorry,” he said, “you go
ahead.”

“
No, you
first.”

“
I was just going to
suggest we go out on the back porch and make a fire. Are you up for
that?”

“
Sounds nice. You go
ahead, and I’ll bring us some coffee.”

By the time she joined him with two
mugs of steaming coffee, he’d managed to build a blazing fire. They
settled down on the cushioned wicker sofa‌—‌the same place they’d
sat not so long ago when they researched the Lincoln teacup
together.

She handed him a mug. “It’s decaf. I
hope that’s okay.”

“
It’s perfect.
Thanks.”

Tracey sipped from her mug, her eyes
focused on the fire.

“
I was beginning to think
we’d never have a chance to talk,” he said, placing his mug on the
table. “Seems like at least twelve hours since I first saw you
sitting in City Hall.”

She pushed her hair out of her face.
“I know. Strange, isn’t it?”

She took another sip of coffee then he
gently took the cup from her and set it down. He took her hand in
both of his. “Tracey, there’s so much I need to say to you, I don’t
even know where to start.”

She smiled, searching his eyes. “I’m
not going anywhere.”

“
And that’s a good thing.
First, I need to apologize. It was wrong of me to take off and
leave you that day on the ride.” He paused, searching for the words
he’d rehearsed all the way home. “The thing is, you deserved an
explanation, but I was so freaked out by the accident,
I . . . well, I just bolted. It’s what I’ve always
done whenever all that stuff‌—‌all those memories from Melissa’s
crash‌—‌starts flooding my mind again. But seeing that little red
car and‍—‍” He cleared his throat. “What I’m trying to say is, the
whole scene made me feel as if I were reliving that day my wife
died.”

He blew out a quick puff of air,
wishing his chest wasn’t feeling so tight again.

“
Noah, you don’t have to
tell me right now‍—‍”

“
But I do, Tracey. I have
to. It’s never going to get any easier, and you have a right to
know. Because I can’t have a future with you if I can’t deal with
my past. It’s as simple as that. And up until now, whenever the
memories got too vivid or the nights got too long, I’d just climb
on my bike and disappear. But this time, I realized how futile, how
stupid that is. I was just running away. And not just from my
inability to cope; I realized I was running away from any
possibility of ever living a normal life again. And while I was
gone this time, I realized that’s got to stop.”

She turned to face him, tucking her
foot beneath her leg, her hand still in his. “Then let’s make it
stop. Together. Tell me what you need to tell me, Noah. If it takes
all night, that’s fine. Just tell me.”

And so he did.

Noah told her every single
detail of that rainy day in April. He told her about the arrogant
judge who made him late for his appointment with Melissa and their
realtor. She’d found the perfect loft in Soho and wanted him to see
it. Noah told Tracey about the taxi driver who couldn’t speak
English, and the traffic jam in midtown Manhattan. He told her of
making a run for it in the pouring rain and coming upon the
accident. He told her how he felt when he first saw the mangled red
Volkswagen and prayed it wasn’t Melissa’s. How it felt when he
spotted the daisies in the car and the vanity plate that
read
My Lil’ Bug.

Tracey squeezed his hand, urging him
to go on.

“
A policeman gave me a
ride to the hospital. I kept praying she was okay, but knowing she
couldn’t be after seeing the damage to her car. They finally gave
me a moment with her . . . but she was already gone.
My mind was crazy with grief, and I couldn’t stop crying. I can
still hear the sound of my cries bouncing around in that emergency
room.”

He stopped, taking a moment to wipe
his tears and catch his breath. With a long ragged breath, he
continued. “Before I left, the attending physician asked if I
wanted to know if the baby was a girl or boy. At first, I had no
idea what he was talking about.” Noah coughed and blew out another
breath. “See, I hadn’t known . . . she hadn’t told
me yet.”

“
Oh, Noah,” Tracey
whispered.

“
I
think . . . well, I think that’s why she was so
urgent about showing me that loft. I think that’s how she was going
to tell me‌—‌show me where we’d put a nursery. She was always doing
things like that. Surprising me.” He swallowed hard. “But I
couldn’t speak, so I just nodded for the doctor to tell me. And he,
uh, he said it was a boy.” He tried to smile but couldn’t. “Later,
I decided to name him Bradley—that was Melissa’s maiden name.
Bradley Bennett. I put that on his gravestone. Next to his
mother’s.”

Tracey laced their fingers, gently
squeezing his hand. “It’s a beautiful name.”

He grew silent, trying to
figure out how to go on. He took another deep breath and eased it
back out. “Tracey, what I need you to know—what
you
need to know—is that I loved my
wife very much. And when I lost her, I completely lost my will to
live. Which is why I turned my back on everything I’d ever known
and just left. I’d never even ridden a motorcycle before. But one
day, on nothing but a whim, I traded my BMW for that Harley out
there and just took off.

“
And to make a long, long
story at least a little shorter, a few months later I found myself
working as a roadie in Nashville, met some other bikers, and one
weekend took a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains and met a guy named
Buddy Collins.”