Secrets Revealed (Book 2 of the Men with a Badge series)

Secrets Revealed (Chapter 7)

Even though this is a short chapter (and I'm sorry for that), I want to dedicate it to all my fans! You guys are the best and make me smile when I read your comments and see that you liked the chapters enough to vote. This one is for you! Please enjoy and let me know what you think!

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Chapter 7

John pulled his truck down to the spot at the creek where they could have some privacy. He had already come to terms with all the demons he had faced with the help of a therapist over the last few weeks. He knew facing his wife and letting her in on what had plagued him for so many years and what was going on now would be hard on her but it was time she knew. With the help of his doctor, he finally realized that the death of the little girl wasn't his fault.

John got out of the truck then helped Katherine out. He walked her around to the tailgate and helped her up to sit on it. Tanking a deep breath, he started to spill out everything she should have known from the beginning.

"The easiest way for me to do this is to start from the beginning. Please let me finish before you ask any questions."

Katherine nodded and waited for him to begin. The first thing he told her was about the injury to the shoulder he received and how he got it. This time around when he talked about that horrible day, it wasn't as hard on him as the day he told Kyle. He would look up every now and again to see the horror in her eyes and he hadn't even got to the most tragic part; the part that plagued him the most.

He paused for a moment to take a deep breath then he began to tell her about the little girl.

"While my team was securing the POW, I noticed a little girl no more than six or seven sitting in one of the corners of the room. I couldn't leave her there baby. She didn't need to be in that filth." He paused, pushing back the pain.

"I picked her up and carried her out of the building. We didn't even know how she wound up there. As soon as we made it to the street, we were ambushed. Before I could make it to cover, a gunman killed the little girl then shot me in the shoulder. She died right there in my arms."

John looked up to see the tears in Katherine's eyes.

"That's the reason you had nightmares isn't it?" Katherine asked quietly.

John nodded not trusting his voice. He had always had the same nightmare. He relived that horrible day in his dreams every night he would go to sleep, if he managed to sleep.

"Oh god John, I'm so sorry." Katherine jumped down and buried her head in his chest.

John crushed his wife to him, needing to feel her warmth. Letting his wife in on the hell he had lived in for so long was quite possibly one of the hardest things he's ever had to do. His therapist told him it wouldn't be an easy thing to do but something that needed to be done.

Katherine looked up to him with regret and compassion in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry for what I put you through. I shouldn't have acted the way I did and said the things I said."

John grabbed her face and willed her to see reason.

"Baby, it's okay. If you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't have gotten the help I'm getting now. I've been seeing a therapist for the last few weeks about all this. I told you I would do whatever I could do save us."

John took that moment to kiss his wife with a new found passion. The emotion behind the kiss, he couldn't explain but it felt like he was kissing her for the first time. He savored the feel of her soft lips but pulled away a moment later. Their discussion wasn't done and he wouldn't allow himself to get sidetracked.