Dylan's Redemption by Jennifer Ryan Page B

enough to remember that’s all the help we gave you.”
    He stared down at the grass. His need to say it all drove him on.
    “The night of the prom, in the backseat of the car when you were naked, I saw the bruises on your ribs and back. I never thought twice about them. I dismissed them as nothing more than something that happened on the job. That’s what everyone thought. That’s what you wanted people to think.”
    “You were thinking of other things that night.” She gave him a half smile to lighten things up and get him to stop talking about it. “What does it matter now?”
    Serious, he refused to let her distract him. Finally allowing him to talk to her, he needed her to know she mattered. The past mattered.
    He wished he could find the words to make Jessie understand she was everything. He had to make her see they could build a future together.
    “When that guy showed me his bruises, well, they matched yours. I called your house to check on you. Buddy answered and told me you’d taken off. He wouldn’t give me any information and said you’d been gone for more than a week already. I tried Brian the next day, but he refused to talk to me. I lived in Georgia, tied to the military, I had no way to come back and try to find you. I called home. Mom confirmed you disappeared and told me about the rumors spreading through town, that almost everyone believed Buddy killed you.”
    He downed the rest of the beer, trying to wash away the pain of living with the belief she was dead. “I thought I was too late. I wanted to believe you’d done what you said that night—you disappeared. You had every reason to after what that bastard did to you day in and day out. But the rumors and circumstantial evidence supported the reason for your father and brother’s silence. I tried to hold out hope that you were alive, I Googled you, checked the police databases, and found nothing. I believed he killed you, Jessie.”
    “I’m sorry you thought I died. I tried to find you.”
    She didn’t offer anything more, so he kept talking. “After the military, I worked as a police officer in Atlanta. The domestic abuse cases were the hardest. They reminded me of how I’d let you down.”
    He wanted to tell her about his son, Will, but decided now wasn’t the time. A long, complicated story, they needed to put this subject to rest before they could move forward.
    “I became a cop because I didn’t want anyone else to suffer like you’d suffered without anyone helping them, without me helping them. I couldn’t help you, but I thought I could help someone else.”
    “I never asked for your help, Dylan. It’s been my experience people are more likely to turn a blind eye. They don’t want to make someone else’s problems theirs. I never expected you to do anything for me. Face it, when we were young, I had a wild crush on you.”
    “And now?” He hoped she knew just how important her answer was to him.
    “Now? For you and me, there is no now. There’s only a past I thought happened one way, but turned out to be a lie. I truly believed you didn’t care. Turns out you didn’t even know I tried to contact you. That hurts me more deeply than I can ever say.”
    Jessie took a swallow of beer and stared out across the cemetery, remembering the time she buried their daughter alone. Pop and Greg had been there, but not Dylan. She wanted to believe if his mother hadn’t lied, he’d have stood beside her and grieved as deeply as she’d grieved.
    “I’ve been angry with you for so long, I’m having a hard time getting used to not hating you.”
    “I’m glad you don’t. I want you in my life again. I’ve missed you so damn much. There were days when all I thought about was you and nights you haunted me into my dreams.”
    Every word held a wealth of hurt. He’d thought she was dead. No doubt, he cared. Jessie would have to account for what happened to Hope. Not today. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bring herself to