LITMIR.BIZ

       Five

      Hutch froze. He’d been a million miles away. Simone’s question caused him to flinch inwardly. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of an excuse to deflect it quickly enough.

      “Why?” he asked bluntly.

      Simone turned on her side and tucked her hands beneath her cheek. She was drowsy. He could hear it in her voice and see it in her eyes. “You were gone for a long time. Two tours of service. Why didn’t you come home after the first one?”

      It was a logical question. That had been the assumption all along. Still, when the time came, the thought of returning to Royal and confronting Simone had seemed far more dangerous than anything he would face abroad. So he had stayed.

      A month later, he’d met Bethany.

      Sensing that Simone wouldn’t be dissuaded, he steeled himself for the pain and remorse that choked him when he allowed himself to remember. “I was introduced to Bethany just as I signed up for a second rotation. All the medical staff I had worked with were headed home. Bethany was one of the newbies.”

      “A nurse?”

      “No. A doctor. A pediatrician. Bethany was the daughter of medical missionaries in Central America. She had never lived in the United States full-time until she went to college and med school. She adored children. Wanted five or six of her own one day. In the meantime, her goal was to save as many as she could in Sudan, specifically West Darfur, the state where we were stationed.”

      “Admirable.”

      “You would have liked her, I think. She was only five foot one, but somehow you never noticed that about her, because her personality was so compelling. She was passionate about her work and truly believed she was fulfilling her destiny.”