Part 33 (1/2)

Libby's answering laugh was strained. ”You're all crazy.” She wasn't in the least surprised when Sarah and Kate arrived, complete with pillows.

When she'd first come downstairs, she hadn't bothered with the lights, but sat alone in the dark, crying. Restlessness had set in and she'd been unable to remain still, pacing back and forth like a caged lion. Now she felt exhausted with grief.

”Libby,” Sarah said gently. ”You're wearing yourself out.”

”Ty didn't say a single word,” Libby burst out. She'd been so determined to be stoic, but now, surrounded by her sisters, she had to tell them how she felt-what she feared. ”Not one. Not to me and not to Jackson. He looked so devastated and so alone.”

”Here, honey, drink this.”

Rather absently, Libby took the cup of tea Hannah handed to her. ”Ty put his arm around me, but he was so broken I could feel it. I tried to help him, but he was in shock and nothing I did penetrated enough to comfort him. I've never felt more useless. He lost so much. Everything. And I couldn't help at all.” She blinked back tears. ”Tyson walked away from me and he didn't look back.”

Hannah dropped her hand on Libby's shoulder. ”You were in shock yourself, Libby, and you'd just expended a tremendous amount of energy healing your compound fracture. You have to cut yourself a little slack.”

”Not to mention fighting for your life,” Joley pointed out.

”Thank heaven you taught me that smas.h.i.+ng maneuver with the mace that time, Joley,” Libby admitted, striving to steady herself. ”I never would have gotten away otherwise. I used the flashlight.” She took a sip of tea. At once the soothing blend helped to calm her.

She looked around the room suddenly aware of what she had. The true gift she'd been born into. Sarah and Abigail were lighting several aromatic candles. Kate added logs to the fire. Joley dimmed the lights. Elle and Hannah tossed pillows on the floor so they could all lie in their usual circle together. Everything Libby's sisters did was all for her. The house was warm and filled with love. Her sisters had all come together-gotten up at four in the morning just to support her-to make certain she was all right. She was surrounded by love every minute of her existence. Whenever she needed it or wanted it, all she had to do was reach out and any one, or all, of her sisters would be there for her.

Tears filled her eyes. Setting the cup of tea aside, she slipped onto the floor, and put her head down and cried. ”It's been a week and he hasn't called me.”

”Baby.” Sarah stroked her head. Kate and Abbey rubbed her back. ”He'll call. He'll sort it all out. You know Tyson. He's a thinker. He has to make it all right in his mind before he comes for you.”

”It's just that I have everything that matters. And Ty has nothing. Everywhere I go, whatever I do, I have all of you behind me, supporting me.” She touched Joley's hand. ”Standing up for me and watching my back. He's never even had parents that understood him or made him feel loved. Sam was his everything, the one person Ty thought loved and cared for him. How can he ever be whole again?” Libby wiped at the tears running down her face. ”You should have seen him. Felt him. He was absolutely shattered.”

”Libby,” Sarah said gently. ”Tyson didn't lose everything. He still has you. He has to come to that realization and he has to do it on his own. You're the person who will give him the love and understanding he's never had. You're the person who will stand up for him and watch his back and support him. He hasn't lost everything; it only feels that way right now. But he's a strong man and he'll wake up one morning and know that you're his everything. And he'll come back to you. You have to believe that.”

Libby wasn't so sure. Sarah hadn't seen Tyson. She hadn't looked into his eyes or felt his pain. ”He didn't even look back at me when he walked away,” she whispered. She ducked her head and let herself cry, let the love of her sisters ease the terrible heartache.

Sarah's two guard dogs rushed down the stairs into the living room and whined at the front door. Sarah glanced at Kate, one eyebrow raised. She went to the window to look out. ”Libby. There's a man wandering around outside. He looks very lost and alone... and very much like Tyson.”

Libby jumped to her feet.

”Look for yourself.”

Libby rushed to the window, her sisters crowding around her. In the distance, on the path leading to the beach below, a man stood, hands in his pockets, staring out over the ocean. The breath rushed from her lungs. ”That's Ty. I have to go to him.”

Libby reached out to her sisters and squeezed their hands hard before racing outside. She ran down the walkway leading through the front garden to the courtyard overlooking the beach. She slowed down when she saw him, her heart pounding so hard she pressed her hand to her chest.

Tyson stood looking down at the sea. His tall frame was silhouetted against the sky and his hair blew in the breeze. His profile was to her and in that unguarded moment, she could read the unrelenting sorrow etched so deep into the lines on his face. As if sensing her presence, he turned to face her fully.

Her heart nearly stopped. She'd never seen such naked grief. Waves of anguish, of anger and confusion radiated from him, nearly overwhelming her. He looked utterly defeated, his face ravaged by the pain of his loss, of Sam's betrayal. In the week since she'd seen him, he'd lost weight, and there were deep lines of suffering carved into his face. His eyes were alive with heartbreak and dark with shadows.

Everything she was, the healer, his lover and friend, the woman in her, all responded with such intense compa.s.sion, such empathy, she had to fight back tears.

”Libby.” He said her name as if it were a talisman.

She went to him and silently wrapped her arms around him. Tyson buried his face against her neck. A shudder ran through him and he gripped her so tightly she knew she'd have bruises later. A sob of anguish tore from his throat. Libby closed her eyes as she felt his tears on her neck.

”I'm here, Ty. I'll always be here,” she whispered, her own tears streaming down her face. She held him in her arms and let him cry until he was worn out from his grief.

Tyson straightened, looked around him and blinked at her, as if he had no clue how he got there.

”Come on, let's go down to the beach,” she urged, knowing he wouldn't want to face her family so ravaged.

Tyson took her hand as they walked side by side, the sand under their feet and clouds drifting overhead. As far as the eye could see, the ocean continued its ceaseless ebb and flow. They walked a mile before he spoke.

”I had nowhere else to go, Libby. The house is gone. Sam is dead. I didn't know what to do. I just stood in the morgue, staring at his body for hours and I didn't know what to do.”

The wind touched their faces, ruffled their hair and tugged at their clothing as they continued down the beach. A seagull screamed overhead.

”Why didn't I know? I'm supposed to be a genius, and I didn't know. Didn't guess. He needed help. How could I have been so f.u.c.king blind that I missed that?”

She remained silent, knowing he had to be able to talk, to work things out for himself. He wasn't to blame. Sam was a sociopath. No one close to him had known-or guessed. Had Tyson known, he couldn't have done anything about it, no matter how smart he was. Sam had been beyond help.

Tyson stopped abruptly and faced her, both hands raking through his hair in agitation. ”I failed him. I didn't see what was right in front of me. I was too busy with my research and I didn't care that he was stealing money from the estate. I never once addressed it with him. I should have, Libby. I didn't think it really mattered, but I should have called him on it. I let things go too far.”

She put her hand over his heart in silent sympathy. The empath in her wanted to weep forever. The healer wanted to take it all away. The woman who loved him, let him talk, let him find his own way back. It was one of the most difficult things she'd ever done.

”Sam hired those men to beat him up. Jackson found the men. Sam hired them. My G.o.d.” He shook his head. ”I failed him, Libby. And I could do the same thing to you.”

Tyson stared down at her, his mind reeling with the blows he'd taken recently. He'd put her life in danger by his own blindness. All of his life he'd had blinders on and now it was too late, the one man in his life he called family, the one he'd counted on, was dead. He couldn't bear to lose Libby, not out of neglect, not out of stupidity. He was supposed to be a d.a.m.ned genius and yet he'd observed nothing.

He framed Libby's face with his hands, thumbs sliding over her face in a long caress. ”I couldn't bear that. I spent a lot of time thinking about my life and what it's been like the last few weeks with you. I'm a wreck, I know that and I'm coming to you with so much baggage I can't imagine why you'd want to take me on, but I need you, Libby. I swear, I'm losing my mind. I need you, baby. I need you with me.”

He'd trained himself to believe he didn't need anybody, yet he couldn't function, couldn't think straight. His life was a mess. He had nothing to offer her, not even his mind anymore. It was as f.u.c.ked up as the rest of him, but he needed her and if she turned her back on him like every other living person, he had no idea what he would do. He felt naked and vulnerable standing there, stripped of everything he was, everything he'd believed in, his very soul in tatters.

Libby brushed the tears from his face with such tenderness it turned his heart inside out. ”You'll always be my choice, Ty. I love you with everything I am and I have absolute faith in you. Whatever happens, we'll handle it together.”

”How could you have faith in me? I don't. I almost got you killed. Even there at the end, I went back for him and he would have murdered you right in front of my eyes.” He would never be able to close his eyes at night without reliving that moment. ”I couldn't lift my body out of the hole and get to you. I just hung there helpless, watching him pull that trigger.”

Libby caught his face in her hands and forced his eyes to meet hers. ”I love you because you went back for him. Because that's who you are, Ty. That's the man I'm in love with and will always be in love with.”

”Are you sure, Libby? I don't know what the h.e.l.l I'm offering you.”

”I know exactly what you're offering. Tyson, you're everything I've ever wanted. No one has ever made me feel complete before. In all honesty, I didn't think it was possible, that maybe there was something wrong with me. When I'm with you, everything in my life is better.”

Tyson swallowed hard, bent down to brush a kiss over her lips, his throat working as he fought back emotion.

”I love you, Ty. Nothing is going to change that. What happened with Sam was a terrible tragedy, but it isn't your fault.”

She turned back in the direction of the path. It was high tide, the pull of the moon was strong, lending the sea a wild fury. They walked along the beach while the waves rushed at them, foaming and frothing, rolling over and over.

”Maybe not, Libby, but there were signs. If I'd been a different person-more attentive to people rather than to my work, I could have gotten him help. I should have seen it. He was gambling like crazy, using the credit cards at first, then dipping into the cash we kept at the house and eventually even the bank. He began embezzling, probably out of desperation.”

Libby wrapped her arm around his waist, tucking herself beneath his shoulder in a gesture of solidarity. She did the best she could, warming him, staying close, trying to keep from interfering with her own diagnosis of Sam. Tyson didn't need to hear it. He needed to talk-and she let him.

”There were signs all along. As I became aware of his gambling problems, I decided it was unfair of me to put more temptation in his way by having him handle all the financial responsibilities for me. It was laziness on my part, letting him attend all the details, so I tried to pull it back over these last few months. I hired a full-time accountant to put us both on a budget. Sam didn't like it, but he went along with it.”