He gives her a look. “Sounds like I am.” Handing her a bottle of water, he watches while she drinks it, then goes to get a cool washcloth. He’s draping it over her brow when there’s a knock on the door.
“It’s about goddamn time.” Jaw tight, he stomps through the suite.
Seconds later, a smiling man with deep brown skin and a shock of white hair enters the room. “Ms. Truelove, I’m Doctor Rodrigo. I’m the staff physician on site.” He takes his place next to her while Solomon stands with arms crossed at the head of the bed like an overprotective bodyguard. “I understand that you fainted.”
“I did.” She palms her stomach. “I was taking short breaths instead of long, and I forgot my water, and then I—” She snaps her mouth shut, stopping her idiotic ramble and exhales. “I just want to make sure my baby’s okay.”
“I’m sure he is. Shallow breathing can make you lightheaded, especially when you’re pregnant.” The doctor opens his bag and smiles. “But let’s check you over, just in case.”
As Doctor Rodrigo settles into his exam routine, taking her vitals and asking general questions about her pregnancy, Tessie watches Solomon in amusement. He paces the room like a concerned, caged animal.
It’s only when the doctor snaps his bag shut that Solomon comes to a halt. “They’re okay, right?” he asks, his body a brick, his hands fisted at his sides.
The doctor chuckles. “They’re just fine.” To Tessie, he says, “There’s nothing to be concerned about regarding your baby. It appears you just overexerted yourself.” He gives her a reproachful glance. “Vacations are for relaxing, not exercise.”
She laughs. “I know that now. Thank you so much.”
He smiles and stands. Looks to Solomon. “Make sure your wife gets plenty of water and rest.”
Solomon nods and extends a hand. “I will. Thank you.”
The doctor heads to the door and closes it behind him.
Only Tessie stares at Solomon.
He turns, catches her staring. “What?”
She licks her lips. “You didn’t tell him.”
“Tell him what?” He moves to the side of the bed.
“That we aren’t together.”
He clears his throat. His piercing blue eyes sear into hers. “I didn’t want to.”
“Oh.”
The blunt admission catches her off guard. Has her feeling like fainting all over again, only this time, in the best kind of way.
“Tessie?”
“I just. . .” She touches a hand to her temple, hoping to regain some sort of control of her hammering heart. “Feel kind of dizzy again.”
Sitting beside her, he pins her with a serious look and says, “Rest. Now.”
Exhaling heavily, she arches a brow. “Doctor’s orders.”
“My orders,” he growls.
She shivers at his bossy tone. The one that tells her he’ll take care of her and then some.
Without words, he helps her change. After removing her tight clothing, he slips a worn T-shirt over her head. She smells the beer on his breath, her scent in his beard. As she settles into the pillows, she’s hit by exhaustion and relief. Coming down from the adrenaline, she rubs a tired hand across her face, then her belly, feeling Bear’s reassuring kick.
Solomon places his hand on her forehead, and she leans into his cool, comforting touch, closing her eyes. And she feels it, his massive hand unfurling like a flower to cup her cheek in his palm.
When she opens her eyes, he’s still staring at her. Still frowning.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
His throat works, then he finally forces the words out. “I was scared, Tessie.”
She blinks. “You were?” She can’t imagine anything scaring the guy. Well, maybe a supply chain shortage on flannel shirts. But not her. Not the object of his daily scowl.
With his index finger, he traces a line across her cheekbone. “I was.”
Confused, she tilts her head. She’s never seen his face like this. “The baby’s okay. I’m okay.”
“I should have gone with you today,” he says, an edge to his voice.
She leans up on her elbows. “Solomon, you don’t like yoga. It’s fine.”
He looks to the window, his expression far away, a muscle jerking in his jaw. “It’s not fine.”
“Yes, it is fine, and it’s not your fault.”
He scrubs his face and nods. “It feels like it.”
The conversation from this morning dawning, she lays a hand on his arm. “Is this about Serena?”
He drops his gaze to where she’s touching him, his expression pained. When he finally looks at her, he gathers her hand in his and swallows. “I want to tell you about how my wife died. So you know.”
In that, Tessie hears his unspoken words. So you understand why I’m like this.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. It’s time I told you.”
“Then I want to know,” she says, squeezing his hand.
She scoots forward on the bed, closer to Solomon. Deep in her soul, she knows this isn’t something he talks about. She wants him to know he can open up with her.
“Serena and I, we got married young. I told you that,” he rasps.
She nods.
“We had lived in Chinook our entire lives. I had the bar, and she was a park ranger. We worked long hours, odd shifts. For a few months, she had been distant, more quiet than usual.” He runs his thumb over Tessie’s knuckles, glances to the window again.
“The night she died, we got into a fight. And Serena and I didn’t fight. Our marriage was. . . good. Maybe not always perfect but. . .”
“What is.”
He turns back to her, his voice rough. “Right. What is.” Solomon drags a hand down his dark beard, quiet for a long moment. “She had these grand plans to see the world, and to me that’s what they were. Just plans. But that night, she brought up the possibility of moving. She wanted to leave Chinook. She was bored, she wanted to travel, and who could blame her? But I had my bar, my family. I couldn’t leave. I wouldn’t.” He swallows thickly. “She told me I was selfish. I told her if I was so damn selfish, then she could go by herself.” He flinches. “And she did. She walked out. She was pissed at me, and hell, I was pissed at her.”
Tessie sits quietly, listening, letting the man in front of her take his time to process his emotions.
“I didn’t go after her.” He raises haunted eyes to hers. “She was stubborn. We both were. It felt like she had dropped a bomb on me. I sat in that damn house and stewed. But then an hour passed. It was too dark, too cold, and she didn’t have a jacket on. So I went looking for her.”
Tessie holds her breath, waiting.
“I found her,” he says, balling a fist. “On the side of the road. A car had hit her during her walk.”
Tessie covers her mouth. “Oh my God.”
“They drove off. They fucking drove off and left her there.” A wave of fury rolls through his body, stiffening his posture. “I got her to the hospital, but it was too late.” His throat works the words out. “She was gone.”
It doesn’t feel like enough, but still, she says it. “I’m so sorry, Solomon.”
A muscle flexes in his jaw. His voice one of hard admonishment directed at himself. “I let her walk off. I let her leave, and she got hurt.”
In that moment, Tessie understands Solomon better than she ever has. His protective nature. His secluded cabin in the woods. Why he’s asked her not to run off, or at least tell him where she’s going. The panic in his voice as he chased her down the beach. His worry as she came to today. It was too close. She was a reminder of his wife, a reminder of someone walking away from him yet again.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Tessie says, the tortured look on Solomon’s face combusting her heart. “For any that.”
He dips his bearded chin. “I didn’t give the best of myself to her. I worked too much. I was a bad husband.”
She shakes her head, refusing to let him do this to himself. “Did you hit her? Cheat on her?”
He lifts his head, pain flashing in his eyes. “No.”
“Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
“Then that sounds like a good man to me.”
“I wasn’t there for her when she needed me.” His big shoulders slump. “Today. . . if you had been hurt. . .” His voice turns ragged, thick with emotion. “It terrifies me to think about losing you.”
His admittance has her heart flopping like a fish on land.