Melody couldn’t seem to warm up, although she had become warmer as he sat beside her before getting cold again. She wondered if it was from speaking about the memories so thoroughly for the first time. She wiped away the tears with her sleeve, but they wouldn’t stop. She finally gave up trying to make them.    

     “My sister died last July when a drunk driver hit her car,” she told him as she leaned back again. “My dad was diagnosed with cancer a few months before that.  My grandmother died that January. Mom lost her job last Fall, too. Things already weren’t good for us. Now this. 

     I feel like it’s my fault. Like I’m responsible for more suffering and havoc in my family.”  

     She started to cry out right then. She had believed what she said since it happened, but she had never said it out loud. She had never admitted it to anyone until that moment.   

     Kai gripped the swing tightly. He wanted to hold her and it was the hardest thing not to follow his heart.  

     “You didn’t do this to yourself,” he said, hoping at least his words would help.  

     “I was stupid,” she sobbed. “I never should have let that guy hang out with us, and I never ever should have drank anything he gave me. I know better but I did it, anyway, just so I wouldn’t hurt his feelings.”  

     She started to cry harder and he reacted on impulse. He slid over next to her and pulled her into his arms. When she fell against his chest and held onto his shirt, he flinched. That was the last reaction he expected from her in her condition.  

     He relaxed against the back of the swing and let her lay against him as she cried, caressing her back and arm compassionately. He had no idea how long it would last, but he would hold her until she was through. From the sound of it, he realized she had never really grieved from either her assault or her family’s numerous misfortunes. 

     Paul, who had been watching from the window, leaned out the door. Kai lifted his hand to signal he not say anything and return inside. He could see his team sitting near the window and assumed they’d heard it all. She didn’t need to know she had an audience. 

     Melody didn’t want to stop crying. She wanted to have it all out of her system once and for all. The comfort she felt in his arms was more gratifying than she had expected. She had needed this kind of affection for so long. 

     She didn’t care anymore what was right or what might be expected of her as the role of a victim. She allowed herself to cry the way she hadn’t even when her sister died, and it felt good.  

     After quite some time of laying against him as he held her, her crying began to calm. She felt better and only allowed an occasion whimper to escape along with sniffs and a few tears.  

     She took a deep ragged breath and slowly released it. He handed her a handkerchief and she blew her nose. She wanted to say something to him, to thank him for his kindness, but she didn’t want him to think she no longer needed him. Instead, she lay there quietly and shut her eyes. His body was warm and strong. His hands were gentle. 

     “Are you hungry,” he finally asked.

     She sighed and held onto his hand that had brushed her hair from her wet cheeks. It was a reflex action, and she stared at it not knowing what to do next. 

     Kai tenderly wrapped his fingers around hers as she took his hand for comfort. He wanted to continue holding her as he began to hold onto this feeling overwhelming his heart. He looked back at the window and his men moved away to give him privacy. 

     “I don’t mean to rush you, sweetheart, but I think we should get back inside,” he told her. 

     She leaned away and looked up at him with reddened eyes. She hated being reminded of the danger and hated that it took away this moment. 

     “You need to get dressed, and I believe there’s hot breakfast waiting,” he smiled. 

     As he watched for her reaction, he could see a softness and vulnerability in her eyes that weren’t there before. Getting her to talk had done more than give her a shoulder to lean on. It had given her someone with whom to share her burden and someone to whom she could show her weaknesses. 

     He swallowed the lump in his throat over the responsibility it gave him and one he found eager to accept.