knew she couldn’t pull shit on these women.
“Nice job in there,” Grace told her now. She pulled the door closed behind her. “They really needed that.”
“They’re hurting,” Avery said.
“They’re better now that they know you’re still in,” Grace assured her. She sat on the edge of the bed by Avery’s feet. Drea was on the other side, curled up on a pillow, her tattooed arm resting lazily above her head. Avery leaned back against the pillows as the pill began to work. The throbbing pain receded, replaced by a low- level ache she could most definitely handle.
“Do you guys want to be alone?” Drea asked.
Grace shook her head. “You seem to be in as deeply as we are,” she told Drea, before turning her attention back to Avery. “I didn’t know if I should give you these or not.”
For the first time, Avery noticed Grace had something tucked under her arm. She was holding three of the journals that Avery instantly recognized as part of Adele’s set. The woman had liked writing in a certain type of journal, with a certain pen, and she seemed to have never wavered from that. That in and of itself comforted Avery. It had probably comforted Adele too—it was something that never changed in what had to have been a tumultuous existence.
“Why not?”
“These should’ve gone before the others,” Grace admitted.
“I thought there was . . . something missing.” There had been, physically, a full year in which Adele hadn’t written anything. Avery thought a lot about what could’ve happened during that missing year. “I’d hoped she’d fallen in love.”
“She did. But something else happened to her too.” Grace held the journals tight against her body, still unwilling—seemingly unable—to part with them. “I didn’t want to scare you.”
And just then, Avery knew exactly what had happened to Adele. Drea seemed to know too, even though she didn’t know who Adele was. The room stilled and Avery reached out for the journals. Slowly, Grace relinquished them.
Avery put them in her lap, traced the leather bindings with her fingers. “Was she raped on a job?”
“Yes.”
“And the men knew?”
“She only told Darius. A year later,” Grace said.
Drea gave a low whistle under her breath, then said, “Tough broad.”
“She was,” Avery agreed, making a note to let Drea read some of the journals. She didn’t know exactly what the doctor’s deal was, but suspected Jem would, soon enough. The very fact that she’d basically saved Avery’s ass was enough to win her Avery’s devotion.
“I didn’t . . . Dare didn’t tell you because I didn’t want him to. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to tell you what happened to me,” Grace started.
“Grace, no . . .” Avery breathed.
“Dare didn’t tell you everything. He kept a big part of it private. You all knew how bad my time with Rip was, but . . .” She paused. “It was Rip’s men,” she explained. Avery knew Grace’s stepfather—and Gunner’s father—had locked her in the basement rooms of the mansion and tortured her for a year, but she hadn’t thought that he’d be capable of having his own stepdaughter raped. “It happened a lot that year. And it still comes up to bite me in the ass, and I hate it. And I know Landon didn’t rape you, but he still took something from you. I just want you to know, when I say I understand, it’s not just lip service.”
Avery grabbed her hand, squeezed it hard.
“I’m not saying I’m fine. I’d be lying,” Grace continued. “But I needed you to know I’ve been there. I know what you’re feeling. We’re all sticking together, but you and me, we need to rely on each other during the tough times. Because we’ll each have them.”
“Every time I close my eyes,” Avery started, was unable to finish. “It’s nothing compared to what you went through.”
“Do not even go there, my love. What we both went through was horrible.”
“Do you have nightmares?”
“Yes.”
“Gunner does too. But I don’t think they’re all from me. I think . . .”
“Living with Rip is enough to do that to anyone,” Grace whispered.
“I guess we’ve got our very own support group,” Drea said softly.
“Ah, dammit.” Grace took the doctor’s hand in hers. “The Fates have a way of bringing those we need right to our door.”
“Or they have Jem do it,” Drea said, and that got a laugh from all of them. “My ex is abusive, just like my parents. You’d think I’d have learned to avoid the wrong kind of people.”
“I think maybe you’ve finally found the right kind of people,” Grace told her. Avery noticed that she sounded so sure of herself, wondered if Grace’s sixth sense was kicking in something fierce about Drea, or if, like Avery, she just sensed that the doctor needed them.
Either way, it didn’t matter. For the moment, they had one another.
Chapter Twenty-four
Jem made a few calls and the next morning, he got an e-mail file he printed out for Gunner to see.
“These are Maria Landon’s hospital records from the night she gave birth,” Jem told him.
Gunner took the seat next to him. “I hope you don’t run out of favors anytime soon.”
“No chance of that,” Jem assured him. “Doctor’s notes indicate that the second birth was a surprise.”
“How the hell can you read that chicken scratch?” Gunner asked.
“Been reading hospital records my whole damned life, Gun.” Jem ran his finger along the lines of scrawl. “Okay, yeah, so second baby came five minutes later. Doc was delivering the placenta when Mom started yelling and contractions started again. Said baby was blue when first delivered but roused quickly. No permanent damage.”
“Yeah, right,” Gunner muttered. “How would we know if they’re identical or not?”
“Look, DNA testing wasn’t done back then. Obviously, there wasn’t an ultrasound or no one would’ve been surprised. Doc notes that twins shared the same placenta, but that’s not always an indicator of anything. Nurse noted that footprints looked alike.”
Gunner leafed through the file and pulled out the inked markings from the two boys and held them up, side by side.
“Why the hell wouldn’t Landon have mentioned the fact that he’s a twin to you?” Jem asked. “I mean, an identical twin’s not exactly run-of-the-mill.”
“I guess he never thought the guy would try to impersonate him.” Gunner thought back to what Landon used to say about family. From his first moments on the island, when Gunner stood stiffly in Drew’s office, not sure what the hell to do, Landon had gone out of his way to be kind.
