"I... I lost a son during the War."
"Miscarriage?"
She nodded, eyes haunted, voice was emotionless, "It was a lot to handle, and I wasn't very strong… before."
It was as close as she'd come to directly mentioning the abuse she'd suffered, and knowing how much she must ache and burn inside allowed him to put her need in front of his fury. "You were alone?"
"Before, during, and after."
He was quiet for a moment, and then looked at her, sure she needed to hear these things, and not just in her own head. "You should have died too, right?"
Tears welled in her eyes, and Angela controlled herself, not telling him that she sometimes wished she had. He already knew that. "I've assisted in over 50 births at the hospital. It saved me."
Marc gave her a gentle, comforting smile in the morning fog that still lingered around the Blazers. "I'm glad."
She smiled back, wondering who would die when they found her man. There was no way Kenny would miss the sparks that flew when their eyes met.
"Me too, sometimes." She stood up slowly, waving off his protest.
"You should rest."
"I'm fine, Brady. I just pushed a little too hard, that's all. I'll ease into it from here," she lied, smoothing her curls back. "This first time, ...I just..." she hesitated, not telling him the ache to hold her boy was almost as overpowering as her fear, and Marc finished it for her.
"You had to do it all, like me."
She tried to seal that gaping hole back up, not looking at him. She was maintaining a kind of radio silence with her son to keep Kenny from knowing she was even alive, let alone where she was, and the lack of contact was awful.
"I needed to prove that I could."
"Not to me."
"No. To me."
4
"We have to make a stop."
"Copy, on your six."
Marc wanted to tease her about her near perfect response, but made himself pay attention as he pulled into the deserted, gravel parking area of the Versailles, Illinois, RV resort.
The large lot was empty, not a single camper on any of the hundred concrete pads, and Marc rolled slowly past them to the main complex of shadowy cabins and sheds. He stopped near the largest storage building, eyes seeing an older spigot setup.
"You overheating again?"