Her Galahad by Melissa James Page A

Ralph here will ever be close friends again."
    She giggled, then bit her lip.
    "Let's go back inside. I think I'll need to fix your cuts this time." He held out a hand to her. After a long moment, with obvious wariness, she put her torn hand in his.
    "Good idea, getting self-defense classes," he said, rubbing his thumb over her ripped hand with tender care, trying to ignore what the feel of her warm, golden skin did to him. "If Beller tries anything on you again, he'll never know what hit him."
    She looked in his eyes, hers filled with weary defensiveness. "I know what you're flying to do, Jirrah, but you can't save me. You can't heal me. My past won't go away because you want it to. And neither will yours." She withdrew her hand from his, walked into the house and returned with her bag and the keys. Moments later the van started up and revved away in a cloud of dust.
    "Good one, moron." Sam appeared so magically beside him Jirrah suspected he'd been listening all along. "She wasn't anywhere near ready to hear about the jerk findin' her. Now she's alone, and you don't know where Beller is!"
    Jirrah coughed out the dust flying in the air from her sudden exit. "She just needs space. She'll be back soon." At least he hoped like hell she was safe. Hoping the isolated location of Marshall 's Creek was enough defense against Beller turning up here, especially while she was alone and defenseless.
    "Don't bring up his name again." Sam looked at Jirrah, hard; and he knew Sam not only understood, he was on Tessa's side, one hundred percent. A natural enough switch, since his sister Jenny's experience with a violent boyfriend a year before. "She might never be ready to talk about it till it happens."
    "I know. But she needed to know I understand."
    "Fair enough." Sam shrugged. "So whatcha gonna do with her?"
    "Find our daughter." His words were flat with accusation. Sam started in genuine shock. "She had a kid? What do you mean, find her? Did she lose her somewhere?"
    "Yeah," he retorted. "Somewhere between going to my funeral and going home from the hospital, the baby disappeared."
    Sam's jaw dropped. "Eh?"
    In a few graphic words, Jirrah described Tessa's life during the time he'd been in lockup.
    "Crikey." Sam's brow rose. "How did they set all that up—and, more importantly, how the hell did they get away with it?"
    "That's what we need to find out, before they start again."
    "So that's what you're gonna do now?"
    "Yep. Find Emily, at least—and get my name cleared."
    "And after?"
    "How the hell would I know?" Jirrah demanded, unsettled and irritable with the questions. "I only saw her yesterday for the first time in six years."
    "It only took you six seconds last time," Sam said quietly.
    "I'm not the stupid kid I was then," he retorted.
    "S'pose not." Sam's answer was vague, as if he was thinking of something else. "So what's the story with the baby?"
    Jirrah told him in a few succinct words. "I'd say the papers Duncan left me are real—they've adopted her out. We're going to Sydney to find out if Emily's alive, where she is now, if she's safe and happy. We owe it to her to find out that much."
    "What're you gonna do with the kid after you find her? Just leave her where she is?"
    "I don't know! How the hell would I?We don't know where she is, if she's happy or not!"
    A hand fell on his shoulder. "Bit of a strange day, eh?"
    Jirrah laughed without amusement. "You could say that."
    "What's gonna happen with Tessa?" Sam asked, still quiet, thoughtful. "Looks like she still trusts you, eh?"
    "Maybe." He sighed, thinking of her panicked reactions every time he touched her. "If it was her fault I was put inside, it's my fault she went through this. I believed the worst about her because it was easier to believe." He wheeled around. "I knew how warped Beller was—I'd heard the stories. I knew what he could do to Tess—probably did do—sickens me. I should have called from prison, made sure she was all right." Sam gaped at him. "Have