“We’ll be ready to leave in a minute,” Alex said quickly. “You said you hadn’t eaten all day. Here.” She rummaged in her waist pack and pulled some bills out of one of the compartments. “Go get yourself and Kevin something to eat, for now. We have more stuff in the car.”
Lori took the money, but it was to Kieran she looked again before she turned to go. Kieran’s gaze followed her, a deep crease between his brows.
“Does she know what you are?” Alex asked.
His eyes flashed back to hers. “No,” he said. “No one else has ever known.”
Except me, she finished for him. And Julie’s family. She felt the rekindling of warmth in her heart.
“There may be risks, Kieran.”
“I don’t care about risks,” he said. “Not when someone… needs my help.”
“You’re obviously quite a hero to her,” Alex said. “And with good reason. It sounds like you were the only one to ever defend her.”
“I failed.”
“You said you tried to get her to leave her husband, to go with you. It wasn’t your fault that she chose not to.”
“I forgot about her,” he said bleakly.
“You forgot most of your life.” She hesitated. “Do you think this is what’s been pulling you northwest, Kieran?”
His brows came together in concentration. “No. It was something along the way, but.. ” He paused, as if at a loss for words. “I still feel something there.” He looked northwest. Toward British Columbia. Maybe toward the mysterious place Julie had told her about with so little explanation.
“Does the name Lovell mean anything to you?” she asked.
“No. Should it?”
She looked toward the store. Lori and Kevin were emerging, Kevin with his mouth half full of a sandwich. “Never mind. We’ll have time to discuss it later, once we’ve taken care of Lori.” She sighed. “Calgary is northwest, but it’s still a good four hundred miles from here.”
They stared at each other. Alex felt almost as if he were caressing her face with his eyes as he might with his hands. She jerked away. Her feet seemed bent on tripping over themselves as she went back to the truck.
“I want to thank you for this,” Lori said, meeting her by the gas pumps. “You don’t even know me, and—”
“No need,” Alex said. “We’re going that way ourselves. Plenty of room in back for both of you to get some rest while we drive.”
Lori brushed her little boy’s cheek. “He’s drooping on his feet,” she said. “It’s hard on him…”
Kieran appeared and scooped Kevin up into his arms. The boy didn’t so much as whimper a protest at being handled by a stranger; he snuggled into Kieran’s shoulder.
“You’re good with him,” Lori said.
Lori was right. Kieran looked complete with a child in his arms. Just as he had with Julie’s nieces and nephews.
Alex turned her attention to the supplies that needed rearranging in the back of the truck. She was thinking crazy thoughts, none of which were helpful at the moment. “We’d probably better get going.”
Lori accepted Kevin back from Kieran. The two of them shared a long look as they held the child between them; their hands brushed in the transfer. With visible reluctance Lori took Kevin and settled him in the back of the truck. After a moment she scooted back to the edge of the seat, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.
“Hey, Kieran,” she said. “Did your friend ever catch, up with you?”
Out of the corner of her eye Alex saw Kieran go very still. “My friend?”
“An older man. A month or so after you left town, he came by. He was asking around the bar, looking for you. He wasn’t from around here, though. He said he’d known your parents.”
The silence was almost tangible. Kieran looked at Alex, his face like a mask.
“What was his name?” Kieran asked.
“He never gave it.”
Kieran stared northwest, withdrawing into himself. Alex frowned. A man who’d known Kieran’s parents. There was something here she ought to understand, something teasing the back other mind. “We can talk about this while we drive,” she said. “Kieran—”