His rush of emotion was visceral, almost too much to handle. Tenderness, anger, worry, all tangled up together and froze his vocal cords for a moment. When he could finally find his voice, he asked, “How can you classify your life as a failure?”
She waved her hand, as though trying to brush his words away, but still replied, “I know I’ve done some good, professionally, but in my personal life, I’ve failed. I let my dreams fade away instead of fighting for them, and let Warren dictate what I could and couldn’t have. I fell into the trap of trying to be the perfect doctor and the perfect wife and didn’t really spend the time to think about where I’d end up.”
“What did you want and didn’t get?”
He was almost afraid to hear her answer. Somehow already knew what she’d say.
“I wanted a more balanced life, with time to spend doing things other than working and networking. More time outdoors or traveling. And...”
She looked away, out over the ocean, as though no longer willing to face him.
“And what, sweet girl?”
“I wanted a family.”
Mina spoke so softly he shouldn’t have been able to hear her, but he did anyway, and the words ripped through him. Strange to think it was something they’d never talked about over all the years of exchanging confidences, something she’d never mentioned and he’d never asked.
With hindsight, Kiah realized he’d probably been dreading hearing she was pregnant with Warren’s child, hence his reticence.
Was it horrible to be glad it had never happened, even if only because Mina could make a clean break from the worm without the constant tie of being the mother to his children?
But that wasn’t what she needed to hear right now, and he knew it.
“You can still have a family, Mina. You’re still young.”
It shouldn’t hurt so much to say it, but his chest literally ached as the words left his mouth.
She shook her head, trying to smile although her lips trembled a little. “It feels as though it is too late. I don’t know if I ever want to marry again, and I’m still trying to come to terms with getting along without my hand, and figuring out what the future holds, career-wise. By the time I sort those things out...”
He wished he could tell her it would all work out, that he would make it work out for her, but that would be a lie. Instead, he said, “You’re getting there, I can see the changes already. Take it one day at a time. See where things go. But if you want a family, I know you’ll make it happen. That’s always been your biggest strength—your determination, and the drive to get whatever it is you set your mind to.”
Her lips quirked. “According to Warren, no man in his right mind would want a washed-up surgeon with a disgusting stump and no prospects.”
Kiah couldn’t stop the curse that rolled from his lips, and the anger that overtook him too swiftly to be fully contained. Reining it in took every ounce of his control, and it was still vibrating under his skin when he replied.
“I don’t want to hear anything that jackass had to say, and you need to put it out of your mind, too. You’re the most beautiful human being I know, inside and out. Any man with a lick of sense would grovel at your feet if he thought it would give him a chance with you.”
Even me.
Her lips parted, as though she would reply, but instead, she looked around and said, “I think I want to go for a swim after all. Come with me?”
Surprised by the sudden end to their conversation, and knowing how self-conscious she was about her missing hand, he immediately agreed. And pride, along with another emotion he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—name overwhelmed him, as he watched her unbutton and take off her blouse, and then walk, head up, back straight, down to the water.
“Auntie!” Charm came loping over, a huge grin on her face. “You’re going into the sea?”
“Yep,” Mina answered. “You coming?”
“Last one in is a rotten egg,” Kiah shouted, running past them, too full of joy at Mina taking this huge step not to let some of it out.
And he roared with laughter at their twin cries of “Not fair!”
Once she’d made up her mind to stop hiding her arm, it felt as though a weight had lifted off her chest.
She’d told herself, over and over, that she was fine.
Healed.
Back to the way she’d been before the accident.
But it had been a lie.
Now she knew she’d never be that person again. Accepted that reality. Working again had helped to show her how much she still had to offer. And Kiah’s words, said in a way that brooked no argument, made her really think about how much she’d allowed Warren’s hateful words to affect her self-esteem. With the light of truth and anger in his eyes, Kiah had illuminated the self-serving lies her ex had spewed so as to make what he was doing seem logical.
The confidence Kiah always had in her, his assertion of faith that she’d get her life back on track, meant more to her than he could ever know. He always knew exactly what she needed to bolster her self-confidence, and let her know she could be, and do, whatever she put her mind to.
Revealing herself fully had taken that assurance to another level.
Sure, there were some people who stared, and Charm had no problem telling them her friends had asked about Mina’s lack of a hand, and even wondered how she could still be a doctor.
“I told them that you use your head, and your other hand, to make people well again,” she said, not even realizing the profundity of her comment. “You don’t have to be perfect to do whatever it is you want to, right, Auntie?”
“You got it, kiddo.”
Charm’s surety in her abilities warmed her heart, and seeing the pride on Kiah’s face made it all
