Remember When...

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2

Shane was at the bar with Owen and Murphy. They had arrived at the country club ahead of Ginger’s group and the possibility of being stood up still existed. It didn’t matter if they didn’t show, he’d found his wife and wouldn’t let her go without a fight. If he had to track her down again, it would be easier to do with the narrower search area… and the confirmation she was alive.

Calvin Bishop had called ahead to the wedding reception venue, so the staff knew what to expect. Being the only three people to walk into a room set for three hundred was odd. Turned out more guests were invited to the dinner than the wedding. People were probably looking forward to being there for the celebration that his arrival had shot to s**t.

They’d given staff permission to clean up the places that wouldn’t be used. So the employees were scurrying around the room putting silverware and linens away while he and his posse drank at the bar.

“What do we do if they disappear?” Owen asked. “They could take Ginny out of the country.”

“Then we leave the country,” Murphy said. “We did it. We found her. We know she’s alive. Do you think we would give up now?”

“No,” Owen said. “But they have the means to take her anywhere.”

“And we have the means to follow them,” Murphy said. “We know who has her now.”

Shane sipped his scotch and kept his eyes on the glass door. It opened onto a second-floor deck that acted as the main entrance to the function room they were in. Before they came inside, the Bishops and Ginger would have to park and ascend the stairs to the deck that wrapped around the upper floor.

Owen and Murphy carried on their conversation. Shane was listening, he was just more interested in anticipating his wife’s arrival.

“Has her?” Owen said. “You say that like they kidn*pped her.”

“Didn’t they?” Murphy asked. “She’s been staying with them. This Calvin guy convinced her to marry him and she doesn’t even know who she is. Who does that? You think if you found a woman at the side of the road you’d lock her in your parent’s mansion and make her marry you?”

“You think he forced her?” Owen asked.

“I think he didn’t try to heal her. He should’ve helped her find out who she was.”

“At the side of the road,” Owen muttered. “I hate that… reading that article gave me chills. It can’t be right though, right? I mean how did she get from the ocean to a road two miles from shore? It makes no sense.”

“None of this makes sense,” Murphy said and hit Shane’s shoulder. “What did she say when you were alone?”

Shane couldn’t take his eyes from the door; he was desperate to see her again. It felt odd to leave her with another man, to drive away from the church and wait there without her. He’d always taken care of her… until that night on the boat when he’d let her down. He’d promised himself that if he found her again, he’d never let her out of his sight.

But Ginger was adamant about him going ahead from the church without her. She said they would meet there and he’d believed her sincerity. She’d fought for them to have the dinner. Still, from the level of her obvious anxiety and how she’d avoided looking at him, he felt like she was hiding something. He couldn’t begin to guess what it was and he didn’t care. He’d accept her no matter what.

“I love her,” Shane muttered.

“Did you think you didn’t?” Owen asked.

Still, watching the door, waiting for her to come to him, Shane was consumed by her. She was all he thought about. All he had thought about since… as long as he’d known her. He couldn’t lose her again. Being apart caused him pain, actual physical pain.

“I’ve always loved her,” he said. “But today… I don’t care who this Calvin guy is, I won’t leave her.”

“We wouldn’t expect you to,” Murphy said, patting his back in a consoling gesture.

The sound of a car engine approaching piqued his attention. Although they couldn’t see the car, he closed his eyes, listening for it to go off. A second later there were footsteps ascending the stairs and then he saw her.

The bar where they were in the back corner had a lower ceiling than the rest of the space. The lighting was dim too, so although Calvin and the Boyd guy looked around inside, they didn’t seem to notice the trio at the bar.

Outside, Calvin stopped his group to address his mother and Boyd, leaving Ginger alone a few feet behind him.

“You see the way he turns his back to her,” Shane muttered. “He shouldn’t keep her out in the cold. They should’ve strategized in the car.”

Owen and Murphy were enjoying their own drinks, but came into his periphery, signaling they were intent on those on the outside deck too.

“She looks nervous,” Owen said. “Look at the way she’s twisting her own wrist.”

“You think he makes her nervous?” Murphy asked.

“I think this whole thing makes her nervous. Remember, we’re being discreet. We’re not going to overwhelm her,” Shane said, registering Ginger’s isolation. “He should be comforting her. He shouldn’t leave her standing there on her own.”

She was in the corner of the deck, three feet away from the huddled group. Her eyes darted around as she curled her hand around her wrist and shifted her feet. She was cold. She was anxious. And she was alone.

“She looks small,” Owen said.

She did and it pissed Shane off as much as it hurt him. “She said she doesn’t like to be touched.”

Murphy scoffed. “You two could never keep your hands off each other.”

“Have you noticed that he doesn’t touch her? They hold hands, but that’s it. He doesn’t put an arm around her, doesn’t touch her arm, or her body,” Shane said, analyzing what he was witnessing.

“Are you complaining?” Murphy asked. “You used to hate any guy touching her, even me or Owen. You were always selfish with her.”

He was and had no intention of changing that. Throwing the rest of his liquor into his throat, he slammed the glass onto the bar and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I’m going to get her.”

Owen caught his arm and his attention. “They’ll argue she’s not yours to get.”

That truth infuriated him. He whirled around to aim that rage at the wrong person. “If he was doing his job, I wouldn’t have to do it for him!” he said. Owen was stunned. Damn, Shane knew he shouldn’t be taking out his stress on his friend. Pulling his arm away, he slapped a hand onto Owen’s shoulder to lean down and look him in the eye. “I looked you in the eye like this on the day I married your sister. I told you I would never let anything bad happen to her. I promised you. Remember?”

“Yeah.”

“I failed… It doesn’t matter how many times I say I’m sorry, it means s**t. I’m going to spend my life making it up to her… and to you… Until she tells me to go to hell, I’ll be on her… I’d give my life for hers, you know that, right?”

Owen nodded.

Murphy nudged them both. “My brother the romantic… who knew?”

“Ginny knew,” Owen said, but Shane barely heard him because he was heading for the door.

Before he got there, Calvin came inside with everyone else in his wake.

“Okay, we’re going to sit down and talk,” Calvin said.

“Yeah,” Shane said, noticing how Ginger’s head was down, though she kept stealing glances at him. She had to be curious. He couldn’t imagine how terrifying it must be for her not to have a clue who she was or what she’d been through. Yet, there he was, stomping into her life with her brother and his, telling her he was her lover. “That’s why we’re here.”

“We’ve called a specialist doctor for Claire,” Calvin said. “He’s the best. He’s going to meet us at his offices tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Shane said and chose to look at his wife instead of the guy doing his best to keep her in the background. “Bit, if you want docs here now, I’ll get you docs here now.”

“You can talk to me,” Calvin said. “And stop calling her Bit, she’s not your Bit anymore.”

It was habit. Shane would stop as soon as Ginny told him to, not a minute before. “Ginger, do you want medical help?”

“I said you should talk to me,” Calvin said, crowding in closer.

Shane wasn’t known for keeping his cool when pressed. He’d had an even tougher time holding onto his temper since he’d been without Ginger. His wife always knew how to calm him down. This guy was asking for it, standing between him and the woman he loved. Shane had never let anyone do that. No one ever dared stand between him and Ginger. It just never happened; he didn’t like that he might have to get used to it.

“And I’m asking my wife if she wants medical help, what’s wrong with that?”

“Don’t call her your wife,” Calvin snapped.

Murphy came in closer, angling his shoulder in front of Shane’s. He knew his brother and everyone had to be sensing the tension.

“Please,” Ginger said. The gentle tone, that she couldn’t know she’d used to calm him before, was immediately soothing. “I’m asking a lot of all of you, I know. I could decide to forget my past and ask you gentlemen to leave.”

“Ask away, Bit,” Shane said. “Won’t make me walk out that door.”

Curiosity seeped into her gaze and it wasn’t broken even when Calvin blustered. “Uh, we’ll call the police if you think about outstaying your welcome.”

Shane sensed a shift in her mood when she next spoke. “I could also accept that I should belong with my brother and my husband and leave with them now. Relieving those in my current life of the burden of caring for me.”

Oh yes, there was his Ginger. Although he tried to restrain it, his lips contorted to a smile. Nothing would make him happier than if she asked him to take her home. And he’d just like to see this Calvin guy try to get in his way.

“You would never do that,” Calvin said and tugged her hand to get her attention back on him. “Would you, dearest?”

Shane scrutinized the look they exchanged. Yes, there was something in that. If Ginger was hiding something from him, Calvin knew what it was.

“Should we sit?” Owen asked, doing his own bit to diffuse the tension.

The circular table had been set for seven. Calvin took Ginger over to seat her at the table between him and his mother. That was fine with Shane because he was directly opposite her and could catch every one of the glances she stole at him. She might not want him to notice, but he did. He wanted her to notice him, wanted her to look her fill.

Wine was poured for everyone at the table, starting with Calvin.

When the server got to Ginger, she put her hand over the top of the glass. “No thank you,” she said and the server left.

Ginger picked up the water jug to pour some out for herself.

“Do you want something else to drink?” Shane asked, wondering why Calvin hadn’t offered. “You still like rum and coke?”

“Oh no, I…” There again was that look exchanged between her and Calvin. And Diane, his mother shook her head behind Ginger’s back. “I don’t drink.”

“At all?” Shane asked.

Owen laughed. “Since when?”

“Since… ever,” Ginger said. “I don’t drink. Is that a problem?”

Shane shook his head and Owen curled his lip to silence his amusement. “Nope… just never figured my sister as a teetotaler.”

Maybe that was the secret. Calvin seemed to have a lot of control over Ginger and Shane didn’t like it. Control could mean intimidation. It could mean violence. Shane had been rough with his girl when it aroused her, but if he found out this guy was touching Ginger in anger, he’d take him apart.

“What’s the point of this meal?” Boyd asked, impatient as the first course was served. “We’re all here, someone should start.”

Ginger cleared her throat, yet it was Calvin who spoke. “We want to know what happened. What happened the last time you saw Claire?”

Shane would answer all of Ginger’s questions, but he wanted to be sure it was what she wanted.