Chapter 2

J ustine checked her reflection in the mirror before tightening her stomach muscles, making herself tense up in order to overshadow the reception she might receive walking into the church. The walk took five minutes, and she smoothed her skirt down before moving up the stairs in her five-inch heels. The light click of them against the tile in the vestibule alerted people to her presence and she saw the shock on her brother Noah's face when he spied her.

"Justine!" he said loudly gaining the attention of the better part of the church. She gave him a smile, a real one this time, although it was nowhere near the smiles she once wore and found herself crushed in a bear hug. "It's about damned time you showed your face around here. I should swat your butt for worrying Mom and Gram so much."

"Wow, can you ever tell you're now a dad," she teased him as their sister, Madison, and brother, Kevin, reached them.

"Look at you," Madison gasped taking in her dress and heels. "If you weren't wearing makeup I'd think you were still thirteen playing dress-up."

"Would you stop it?" she sighed hating her perpetual youthful looks now.

"Not a chance Shorty," Kevin stated hugging her to his side. "You have ten years' worth of ragging due. I've had to deal with being the youngest around here since you disappeared."

"You'll always be the youngest boy so deal with it," she mused sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oh yeah you've sure grown up," Noah said rolling his eyes at her before looking towards the side stairs with a smile. "Mom, Dad, Kevin caught something I think you might want to keep."

"We have enough fis…Justine!" her mother exclaimed hurrying to her side when she realized Kevin had his arms around her. "Look at you…you're not my little baby anymore."

"I haven't been a little baby for a long time, Mom," she said grateful for the reprise before confronting her father.

"You'll always be the family's baby Justine," Madison warned watching them closely to see how their father reacted.

"So you finally decided you have a family still did you?" Richard questioned his youngest daughter as the room quieted.

"Dad, I've always admitted I was part of the family. I simply was busy with life and work," she stated while her mother slid an arm around her waist to look at her husband.

"Richard Crawford, don't you stand there pretending you're not just as happy as I am," Valerie said giving him a long look.

"Of course I'm happy to have my little angel home," Richard said breaking out a full smile that surprised her before he enveloped her in a massive hug that brought tears to her eyes. "Don't think you're running away again young lady."

"Dad…"

"Don't Dad me," he replied stepping back to look down at her. "You are not about to run out of here and not show your face for ten more years. Where have you been? Why couldn't you bother to come home even once?"

"I was going to school and working. I needed some down time and coming here wouldn't give me that," she said hiding the truth of what she really was avoiding.

"Well you'll have all afternoon to tell us what you've been up to," he stated before ushering her into the sanctuary spying Tyler's parents coming into the vestibule. She could easily tell which members of the family were currently feuding the most by the way they avoided looking at the others, and her father was deftly avoiding Tyler's father Grant.

She was met with a plethora of more hugs and greetings from their extended family before she found herself sitting between her parents. Tyler chose the moment just before the service began to walk into the sanctuary and she held in a groan seeing the only available seat on the other side of the church would put him directly in her line of sight. Hadn't she suffered enough? Did she truly need to have him within her view for the entire service?

The sermon didn't register to her, not the words said or the feelings behind it the way it used to, she was too busy keeping her breathing steady as she gazed at Tyler's face. His profile had gotten stronger in the last ten years; the slight boyishness was gone and replaced with a rugged handsomeness that threatened to steal her breath. His shoulders were wider, the muscles evident beneath his jacket and she recalled the feeling of his long body against hers this morning.

It was the last thing she should be thinking of, not only was she sitting in church with her family, but also hadn't she just lived through the worst ten years imaginable? She didn't want anyone or anything to begin to pick at the scabs formed over the wounds it'd left. Blood still oozed when pressed against them, and it would be nothing compared to what would happen if the families found out about their past.

Her father would kill Tyler if he discovered that far from leaving home his perfect little girl, she had given herself completely to Tyler. Wanted nothing more than to go away with him that night. She hadn't because she had overheard the argument between her parents, what the Andersons were attempting to do that they were arguing over because her father was livid. How he wanted to strike out before Grant Anderson had the chance which had her mother warning him she'd never forgive him if he tried something that ruthless.

She'd left the house, slipping through the woods to find Tyler, warn him that they should stay away longer than they'd first planned, but when she snuck up behind the old garden shed at his house, she'd overheard his parents in their own argument. She'd moved back through the woods to sneak over to his window without his parents seeing or hearing her movement to talk and found him reading to his little sisters. Her heart ached when she saw what she'd be taking from him.

He adored the twins, despite the eleven-year age difference. Spent the rest of his free time with them. If she and Tyler had married that summer, told everyone, that would all have ended.

"Did you drive here?" she heard her mother ask and realized everyone was standing, ready to leave.

"I walked from the hotel," she replied, and her mom smiled more.

"Then you can ride to Grams' with us," her mom stated, and she knew arguing right now wouldn't be wise. The larger part of the family was already outside, and she realized that the church was certainly a house divided. The Andersons were standing on the right side lawn while the Crawfords were on the left just as it'd been inside the building, and it dinted her a little more.

"Mom don't forget you brought the breakfast dishes today," Noah's wife Olivia said as they began to move across the lawn towards the cars.

"Thank you honey," Valerie said handing the car keys over to her as she pulled her husband back inside the building.

Justine moved into the lot, but she wasn't sure which car was theirs. Her father liked to trade them in regularly for the newest model and the insignia on the keys simply showed they were for a Toyota. She clicked the unlock button hoping to see the lights flash but there were too many rows to see all at once.

She moved to the next row and hit the button again, her heart jumping when she heard Tyler's deep voice come from behind her, "It's the last one on the next row over."

She turned her face towards him, wishing she hadn't when she discovered the look in his eyes. "Thank you—I'm surprised you bothered."

"Let's just call it the last favor I ever do for you," he stated taking in her outfit, wondering what she wore underneath as memories of the past flowed through him. He'd been fighting himself since he'd seen her outfit when he'd walked into the church. The sweetheart neckline highlighted the soft swells of her breasts, the heels lengthened her legs, showing the slenderness of her calves and ankles making him wonder how she managed to stay upright in them.

"Sure," she said walking away from him.

He hated seeing her do it. As much as he knew that he should just let it go, let her go, the sight of her voluntarily leaving him yet again, hit him hard. It stopped the incredibly stupid ideas such as kissing her from flowing through him, but it didn't begin to diminish the anger that'd been simmering since seeing her earlier.

Unfortunately he had to follow her in order to reach his truck and he couldn't stop from asking, "How long do you plan to be in town for?"

"I haven't decided yet," Justine said, hitting the unlock on the keys once more, seeing the lights on the SUV at the end of the row flash. "Don't worry Tyler, I got the picture this morning that you want as little to do with me as I do with relationships."

"What's wrong Justine? Did someone finally break your heart the way you shattered mine ten years ago?" he questioned, and she stopped, turning around to look at him suddenly, nearly causing him to crash into her.

"Do you honestly think my heart didn't break when I left you? Look me in the eyes and tell me that's what you think. Tell me that it's seriously what you think, and I'll leave town right now. It's obvious you don't want me around and wouldn't care about blowing up my world to get back at me so if that's what you're after, then just say so and I'll go," Justine said, barely holding onto her anger, shattered at the thought that he'd ever try to hurt her.

"If your heart was as broken as mine you wouldn't have stayed away from here and me for ten years , Just. You would have come back two weeks in because nothing else would have helped make it better but each other."

"It took me years to stop from hurting every time I thought of you Tyler. I spent every day wanting to be here with you until I found something that made me stop thinking about it, okay? I wanted to meet you that night, but I just couldn't do it to our families."

"Your parents' acceptance meant that much more to you than I did?" Tyler questioned, anger pounding through his veins, not only for her choosing her family over him, but for her thinking he'd ever stoop so low as to hurt her by revealing their secret. Not only would it blow up his world as well, but he'd never tell anyone simply to hurt her—not even at his angriest had he ever thought of revealing their truth to anyone.

"No, your parents' acceptance of you and your sister's health meant more to me than my own happiness," she said making his forehead knit together in total confusion because there's no way she could have known about Hailey's health issues. He hadn't even know about them when she left. "So I left, alone. It was the only way to guarantee that the two sides didn't kill each other because of us."

"What would you know about any of my sister's health, Justine?" he asked, cursing under his breath when he saw her parents hit the edge of the parking lot. "This isn't finished Just. I want to know what you meant by that."

"Room four-eighteen, sometime after eleven tonight," Justine said knowing it was past time to get the rest of the story out there, for him to know without a doubt that he'd meant everything to her no matter that a future between them was impossible.

"Fine," he said sliding between two vehicles to reach his truck, letting her get into her parents' SUV without them spotting him.

The afternoon was long for her, between all of the family, their questions which she did her best to avoid answering, and her tiredness from not sleeping she was ready for bed by eight. She gave up the pretense of reading at ten after and curled up on the bed for a nap.

It didn't take long for the memories of the last five years to turn into dreams, which quickly turned into a nightmare that had her bolting up on the bed in panic. She could handle the memories if only they didn't lead to the nightmares, but every night since they had. Now she just wanted them to stop for one night—just one night of peaceful sleep was all she needed.

A knock sounded on the door, and she got up glancing at the clock to see it just after eleven. Tyler was always prompt, something she'd loved about him since she was always early—well she had always been early until the night that started the nightmares.

She pushed those thoughts aside and opened the door after ensuring that it was indeed Tyler behind it. "Come on in," she said after seeing the hallway behind him empty.

"What did you mean about my sister's health Justine? You left town before I even found out that…"

"That Hailey needed a kidney transplant and none of you were matches?" Justine offered when he stopped.

"How did you…"

"The night before I left—before we were supposed to leave together I overheard an argument between my parents about the fact that your dad was trying to overturn the contracts he had in favor of his own being used."

"What's new about that?" Tyler asked knowing the two men went behind the other's backs constantly to try to edge the other out.

"Nothing but your dad was being more aggressive about it, and I headed to your place to warn you that we should probably stay away a little longer than we originally planned."

"And?" he questioned when she stopped, sitting down on the edge of the bed to straighten the covers. He moved over to the chair and pulled it forward stopping her movements as he stared into her face. "What changed your mind Justine?"

"You," she admitted with a sigh. "I overheard your parents outside by the shed talking about Hailey—that she wasn't getting better, and they had to look outside of the family for someone who might be a match. I was surprised because you hadn't said anything to me about it…"

"They didn't tell us, they kept the depth of her illness to themselves until they took Hailey up to Seattle for the kidney transplant. We knew she was on medication, but we just thought it was a regular infection up until then," Tyler said shaking his head. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you just leave town?"

"Your parents got into a fight. Your mom said he was just going after my dad because he was too afraid of what might happen. He came back saying it wasn't fair that we had everything, and he couldn't get one little thing to go his way."

"What?" Tyler said confused.

"I wasn't sure what he meant by it at first either, not until your mother said it wasn't his fault that Hailey was blood type O…half of my family is blood type O, Tyler."

"While most of us are either A or B, which is why none of us could donate a kidney to Hailey. Dad was going after your dad's livelihood because he had what Dad needed," he said as she looked away from him.

"Yeah, your mom said maybe they should just put it out there—ask for the town to be tested but your dad was adamant that none of the Crawfords would ever come near his family—that he would never ask them for anything. I was trying to figure out what to do knowing all of that and I found you reading to Hailey and Isabelle. Your parents were already on the verge of losing their daughter. I couldn't stay and run away with you—have your mom lose you too or you lose what might be the last bit of time with your sister," Justine said looking back at Tyler.

"So you leave me a note and just disappear? Damn it Just we were going to get married! Don't you think I deserved a little more than a note saying we couldn't ever change our families' opinions, and you were sorry?" he demanded as she bit the inside of her lips together to stop from showing him the depth of the pain she still felt about the decision.

"I couldn't face you Tyler. I knew if I did, I wouldn't be able to leave. Even if we didn't run away and get married then it would have been harder on us. The way tensions were mounting made it impossible to see any other solution."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he spat out at her, the cursing telling her just how angry it'd made him because he'd always done his best to avoid it around her which she'd always thought was silly, but sweet. "You knew my sister was potentially dying and you left me a ‘Dear John' letter, Justine. Did you ever wonder what would happen to me if I lost her and you all at the same time?"

"Yes…which is why I couldn't let that happen," she said, reaching out to take a folder off the nightstand revealing the expanse of skin between her top and shorts.

Tyler couldn't believe how difficult it was to stop himself from reaching for her even after she'd just admitted to him that she'd known the potential heartache she'd left behind for him. He took the folder she handed over and glanced down at the top page. It was a medical lab report that was only half-understandable with his knowledge of botany biology. "What is this Just?"

"Keep reading," she said turning to the next page for him.

"These are your medical records," he said, looking up at her before going back to the first page understanding the comparison perfectly now. "You're O negative?"

"Mom and Madison are both A negative, they boys are all O positive. I'm the only one in even the extended family who is O negative actually," she added as he stared at her.

"Hailey's O negative. They had to wait for a new delivery of O negative before her surgery because there was another happening…fuck Just. Don't tell me…" he started to say, staring at her harder when she didn't respond, before going onto the next page in the report. " You gave Hailey your kidney? Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"Your parents—your father would've never accepted it and mine would've never allowed me to do it, and they certainly wouldn't have accepted us afterwards. I had the doctor lie to your parents about the kidney donor being dead when I found out that I was a perfect match for her."

"What am I supposed to do with this news now Justine?" he asked, closing the file as he gazed at her in wonder.

"Nothing—other than try to forgive me for causing you pain," she said, hating the tears that hit her seeing the hardness around him ease. So much of her wanted him to take her into his arms and just hold her as she hadn't been since she'd left, but that would be disastrous. More so now than them coming out ten years ago would have been. "You have no idea how much pain I was in Tyler. The physical pain from the surgery was nothing compared to how much my heart ached for you."

"I wanted to hate you. Every single day I told myself I hated you—each morning I'd wake up determined to not think about you, but you were already on my mind, and I'd make myself try to hate you, but I never could," Tyler stated moving quickly before she could stop him.

The instant his hand slid into her hair she should have stopped him. It was entirely possible for her to stop him despite the size difference, but her body refused to cooperate. The touch of his lips against hers enflamed her senses and she couldn't begin to stop it from happening.

His hands skimmed down her sides reaching for the hem of her shirt, and she barely allowed him to break off the kiss to take it off her. He pulled her onto his lap, and she slid her hands over his shoulders gripping his muscles tightly, drowning in the feelings his hands on her skin aroused.

"Tell me to stop Just," he said pulling back to drag in a breath.

"I can't. I never could," she whispered letting out a light moan when he fused his lips back to hers. She pushed at his shirt, and he lifted her into his arms after discarding it, laying her out across the bed with a frenzied kiss. He hovered over her, and she reached up, sliding her hand around his neck pulling him down to her, "Come here."

"With pleasure, Just…always," he added in a deep, hungry whisper before his body covered hers, stopping any new thoughts beyond sating the delicious need coursing through her from forming.