Blinding Trust by Jennifer Foor Page A

to be nothing. My family had no history of breast lumps or cancer.
    I decided not to tell Colt or my mother about the mammogram. They were both so worried about the Noah situation tha t I didn’t want to concern them. Colt wouldn’t notice that it was on my mind, since we were already dealing with other problems. Plus, I didn’t want to worry the family if it wasn’t necessary. They would all band together and make the situation ten times worse than it was. Ty and Conner may even ask to do their own examination, which in turn would cause Colt to have a heart attack. Joke or no joke, he hated their crude sense of humor.
    I got home a little after one, since I had to go to the grocery store. Since I’d left Colt a note telling him where I was going to be, I didn’t seem surprised when he hadn’t called to check on me.
    As I started carrying the heavy bags in the front door, I saw him sleeping on the couch, with ESPN blaring. The slam of the metal door caused him to sit up straight. He jumped up and grabbed the bags out of my hands. “Is there any more?”
    “Yeah, it’s in the back.”
    We walked into the kitchen, where Colt left me to go get the rest of the groceries. While starting to put them away, I looked down at our large kitchen table and thought about our beautiful family. As much as I didn’t want to, I started to cry. I felt like out of nowhere everything was crumbling around me. We’d been such a perfect family, never taking one another for granted. Noah had never given me lip or a hard time. My girls were the cutest little things. I suddenly became overwhelmed thinking about us being broken.
    Colt’s strong arms wrapped around my waist as I turned to face him. He held me close, not saying anything at first. After he let me get it out, he kissed the top of my head. “You know I hate when you hurt, Savanna. I wish I could make things easier for you.”
    “I know. I shouldn’t be so upset about it. I just feel like I’m losing him and I hate it. He just doesn’t understand how much he means to me. The thought of losing him is just killing me inside.” It wasn’t just Noah. It was everything.
    Colt kept holding me and kissing me on the top of my head. I knew he was thinking of what to say, but the words just wouldn’t come to him. He couldn’t understand what I was going through, even the parts that he knew about. Noah was always going to be his flesh and blood. “I hate to say this, darlin’, but maybe you need to talk to Ty. If anyone know s what you’re feelin’ it’s him.”
    I was utterly shocked that he would suggest that. Colt and Ty were close, but when it came to me, Colt always kept his guard up. He wasn’t jealous of our friendship, it was more like he just was aware of our history. “He will just say I’m being a baby and to get over it. You know how he is.”
    “Actually, when it comes to you, I’d think he’d be pretty nice about it. He cares about you and you obviously need someone you can talk to, especially if I have to leave town. It would put my mind at ease if I knew that you had someone that understood your side of it all.”
    “I appreciate that, Colt. I know you don’t like admitting that.”
    “It’s water under the bridge, Savanna. You’re my wife and he is our cousin. If you can’t turn to your family then something is wrong.” Colt grabbed the rest of the groceries and started loading them up in the pantry. For just a second, I forgot about everything I was feeling and thought about being caught with him that Thanksgiving a while back. It was those moments in my life that I cherished. I could have done without the getting caught part, but the moment was unforgettable.
    “You do know that after all these years, you have nothing to worry about. My whole world revolves around you and our children. I’d never stray from that.”
    He cocked an eyebrow and brushed the hair out of my face as he got close. “I never said you would.”
    He leaned in and kissed