She tilted her head. “Babe? Tell me.”
I turned to Taylor, swallowed. I loved this woman so much. I knew now what I had to do. We had made a covenant with each other.
I took her hands in mine. “I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
“What . . . truth?”
I shut the bathroom door, locked it, and then turned back to her. I asked her to sit down on a stool that was in front of the vanity. I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then told her everything—starting with the strange text from someone named Greta the night Joe had been abducted and culminating in Greta’s help rescuing her father earlier today. Taylor took it all in with wide eyes, mouth open, and repeatedly exclaiming “What?” with every new and stunning revelation. I wasn’t sure how she would process the shock, disappointment, anger, and relief that were hitting her all at once. Reliving it all over again still left me feeling breathless.
She ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t . . . I don’t even know what to say.”
I knelt in front of her. “I’m so sorry I kept the truth from you. I didn’t know what else to do. I was trying my best to balance my own shock and desperation with my desire to somehow protect you and the girls from all of this.”
She looked up at me, eyes still wide, mouth agape. “I can’t believe any of this. Everything I thought I knew about my life . . . has all been . . . upended.”
“I know. Please don’t be mad at me.”
Her eyes softened. She put her hands to my face. “Mad at you? How could I possibly be mad at you, Alex? You just risked your life to go save my father. He’s only alive because of you and everything you did the past few days.”
“Well, he’s my father, too.”
We embraced and kissed, and I felt five days’ worth of heavy burden release from my entire body. The tension I’d been carrying in my neck and shoulders finally relaxed. It felt so good to let it all go. I never wanted that brutal chasm between Taylor and me again.
“My mom really knows nothing?” she asked.
“She only knows about Greta, and even that is limited.”
Taylor exhaled. “I think my dad was right to shield her. My mom is not wired like me. She’s emotionally fragile. I’m not sure she could’ve handled it.”
“Right or wrong, I know he did it out of love.”
She nodded. “What do I do now? This is completely overwhelming. I mean, I’m angry at my dad. But I also understand why he did it. I need time to process it all.”
“We have a five-hour drive ahead of us.”
“Then what? I walk in there to see my dad and act like I’m clueless?”
“I think you’ll know when we get there.”
FORTY-SIX
Around five hours later, I finally pulled my Tahoe into a nearly empty parking lot in front of the Valley Regional Medical Center. Even though it was well after midnight, Olivia and Nicole were filled with so much energy and excitement that their seat belts could hardly contain them. Carol had the biggest smile permanently etched on her face, and it seemed like all the color had come back into her cheeks. My mother-in-law had clapped and sung songs with the girls the entire drive down to Brownsville.
Sitting beside me, Taylor was also smiling but was still somewhat subdued. I could tell that the wheels had been spinning in her head the entire way. I had no idea what my wife planned to do when she walked in to see Joe for the first time. But I trusted that whatever decision she made would be the right thing for her and her dad. And for us as a family.
Parking in a row up close, we all jumped out of the vehicle. We had to call after the girls to keep them from running inside the hospital without us. But Carol wasn’t too far behind them. I’d never seen my mother-in-law move so fast. Walking up to the main doors, Taylor reached over and grabbed my hand. We already knew that Joe was on the second floor, so we rushed into a waiting elevator and pushed the button. I noticed my mother-in-law checking her makeup in the reflection of the elevator door. My girls were like pogo sticks, bouncing up and down inside the elevator. I felt the need to remind them that Papa was not in the best condition.
“Girls, be sure to go easy when you see him, okay? Papa has got a lot of bumps and bruises. So no jumping on him, or you might hurt him. And don’t be too scared if he has bandages all over him.”
They both nodded.
Carol leaned over to me and Taylor. “Joe told me the doctor said he has five broken ribs and a broken clavicle. He’s going to have to take it easy for a while.”