by Alicia Scott
“I didn’t know who to trust. So I went back to the evil I knew, hoping it wouldn’t be as bad as before.”
For the first time, Jessica Gavornée wondered if she’d done the right thing. Shutting everyone else out, had she in fact created the same cycle her mother had? By running from everyone, she’d limited her options by limiting her avenues of help. Until in that one final instant, she’d faced her mother’s last choice and made the same decision.
Violence to end violence, blood flowing to blood.
Her head bowed down with the weight of the guilt. Mitch saw the gesture, and it broke his heart.
“Don’t,” he whispered, reaching down to catch her chin with his hand. “You can’t change the past, Jess. You knew two real bastards, and they made your life hell. But it’s not your fault. You survived. Now let it go, Jess. I told you in the beginning, you’ve got to learn just to let it go. Live in the darkness too long, and you’ll forget how to see the light.”
“I don’t know how,” she admitted brokenly. “Oh, Mitch, I just don’t know how.”
“With love,” he told her simply. “Mary Morgan/Jessica Gavornée/Jess McMoran, I love you.”
She looked so startled, he held his breath in his chest. Then slowly, ever so slowly, her face became composed and serious.
“Mitch,” she said, “I trust you.”
He nodded, still holding his breath.
“And I think I love you, too.”
He grinned, that wonderful magical grin that made her heart pitter-patter in her chest.
“I think it’s time for one last name,” he told her, stroking her arm leisurely. “Yes, I think Jessica Guiness would sound quite nice.”
She pretended to consider it for a moment, then beamed at him with a precious, new smile. “Jessica Guiness, the schoolteacher,” she told him.
“Quite nice,” he concurred. “What about Jessica Guiness, the mother of three?”
“Mother of two,” she determined.
“Deal,” he conceded, then drew her deeper against his chest. His grin grew lazy, his darkening gaze fastening upon her lips. “And Jessica Guiness, the lover of Mitch?” he whispered huskily.
“Oh, yes,” she agreed against his lips. “Quite nice.”
Then he kissed her, and neither one spoke for a long, long time.
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ISBN: 978-1-4592-8740-2
Hiding Jessica
Copyright © 1995 by Lisa Baumgartner
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