Blind Promises

26. Rich's Moment of Weakness

An hour later, freshly showered and clothed, she walked out into the suite. She was still working on the hair, she'd asked a few times if they thought a haircut would help out, change her appearance, that sort of thing. They'd said no, that it was fine, to leave it alone, she'd blend in better. Long hair was a pain.

Rich was watching TV shows about buying houses in Alaska. He hadn't acknowledged her but he finally sighed, "Stop, you're going to rip half of it out and damage the rest. Come here."

Okaaay. She sat in front of him and passed the brush when he reached for it. With meticulous precision, he smoothed every snarl, tangle, and nest. He kept brushing it a bit longer, she gave him a hand towel to wring the water out, he brushed some more. He was quiet, pensive. Gwen wondered, "What happened?"

"Kelley filed for divorce."

Gwen hadn't realized he wasn't already divorced. She climbed into his lap and hugged him tight, the normally unemotional man broke and wept, his grief was scalding. Time passed, Liam came out confused and angry when he found Rich on her chest. She silently chastised him, told him to cut it out. There was no room for jealousy between them. With a gentle kiss to his head, she raised his face so she could see him, "I'm so sorry, Rich. I was unaware that you weren't divorced."

"Nope. I'm a fucking tragedy. My baby girl is in Georgia full time, I only get to see her a few weeks a year. The woman I thought I'd be with forever just served me divorce papers. I fucking figure she's met someone new." Rich was rocking gently, it wouldn't be a bother if it wasn't uncharacteristic. He'd squeezed her to himself, his large biceps trapped her in the circle of his arms, she reminded herself peacefully that she was safe. No other place was safer, she owed Rich that much. "God damn it!"

"Rich, loosen up a little, man. She's not a doll, you can literally squeeze the life out of her," Liam whispered into his ear. He held onto his friend's head a while, what he said she couldn't hear, Gwen just put her head into his neck and cried with him. Everything was still too new and her emotions were so raw. She never questioned what they did for each other, it was too much of a relief when the screaming stopped or the sobbing in the middle of the night. Cooper was a big help, but if it were not for their bond, she was uncertain what would become of either.

In the morning light, the papers didn't look as bleak as they had the day before. Rich had let her wrap herself around him in the moonlight while he tried to sleep. Their whispers weren't as covert as Liam thought they were, he'd learned a long time ago to control his breathing and mimic a natural soft snoring pattern. He wondered how long it would take before he would let Rich know his vision had returned. He may not have to, it wasn't likely she would be able to keep her mouth shut.

The girl was a contradiction in so many ways, it was easy for her to believe in his grief for a love that had been dying for a long time but she couldn't believe Liam had cared deeply for her from the very beginning. Rich knew it, could tell when he picked Liam up off the floor of the diner, his panic, the sound of the deep-chested roaring of her name when she wouldn't answer him. "Liam, she's knocked out, she hit her head when I grabbed her, she's okay. A small head wound, maybe a concussion but she's alive and will remain that way. Stop screaming, the dog is starting to panic, too."

Only then had he calmed down enough to get himself together, he held her to himself until the situation was cleared. She didn't know that though, maybe if she accepted that proposal he'd write about it in a letter for her wedding day.

They slept on in the shadows, tangled in one another, only a couple of limbs to extract himself from. He'd done it enough to know how, even when she woke to ask where he was going, he just told her nowhere. Ridiculously, she'd go back to sleep as if that was acceptable in light of him walking out of the room. Coffee woke them up an hour later, there were things to do and schedules to maintain no matter what was going on in his personal life.

New England sounded like a nice change of pace, the afternoon would find him standing in front of a house he loved to visit. Clapboard siding and rolling grass that was hardly ever mowed, a beach with sand the size of pebbles.