Briar Valley: The Complete Duet

20. Zach

CHAPTER 20

ZACH

WHERE DO I EVEN START - MORGAN TAYLOR REID

Staring through the frosted glass at Willow curled up in a cramped hospital bed, my hands curl into fists. Killian is deathly silent at my side, his entire frame trembling with barely contained rage.

He looks like he wants to smash the entire hospital to pieces and burn whatever rubble remains when he’s done. I have no idea how he’s maintaining a shoestring of control. It’s like someone’s taken a melon baller to his heart and brutally scooped it out.

Micah is crouched on the lemon-scented linoleum floor with his back to the wall. He stares at his hands with streaks of oil paint still smeared over each digit. None of us have spoken since the doctor left over an hour ago.

We’ve just stood here since then, stunned and confused, unable to utter a single word. I’m not sure what we were expecting. When I saw that blood gushing out of her, I knew things were bad, but this situation is far more fucked-up than even I realised.

Did you know she was pregnant?

Which one of you is the father?

I’m sorry for your loss.

Killian grunts in fury before his fist sails into the wall. “Fuck!”

Cracking the white plaster, he leaves a smear of fresh blood behind as his knuckles split upon impact. The pain doesn’t even register. The brown-haired nurse in the nearby booth startles, but she quickly looks away when I shoot her an apologetic look.

Cradling his bleeding hand, Killian lets his head drop in complete defeat. Even the usually confident stance of his shoulders is slumped, unable to bear the anguish of the mess we’ve found ourselves in.

“Kill,” I warn him.

“Don’t start,” he hisses.

“Keep your cool. We don’t want to get thrown out.”

“How the fuck did this even happen? When?”

My mind filters back over the past several weeks. I can hardly remember a time when Willow wasn’t with us in Briar Valley. She grabbed my attention from the very first time I laid eyes on her broken smile and sad but hopeful hazel eyes.

I’ve been borderline obsessed with doing everything in my power to inspire that smile ever since. She’s on my mind twenty-four hours a day. It goes beyond being attracted to her stunning looks. I love her personality too, along with everything else about her.

“She’s been with us for what? Six weeks?”

“So, she was still with him seven or so weeks ago,” he finishes, looking nauseated. “The timing checks out.”

Then the awful truth is undeniable. Willow was pregnant with her husband’s child when she arrived in town, beaten within an inch of her life. I’ve seen enough to know that he must have been a piece of shit, else she wouldn’t be here.

The doctor advised that miscarriages in the first trimester are common. Some people don’t even realise they’re pregnant until it’s too late. It happens more often than we realise, especially under stressful circumstances.

She’s been under a lot of stress in general, between the arduous journey to find us to the messy process of navigating a brand new country and life. Killian told us about Lola’s little secret too. That must’ve been the icing on the cake.

“I didn’t get the impression they were…”

“What?” Micah finally speaks.

“Happily married, let alone trying for another kid.” I shrug, trying hard not to let my jealousy take over. “She said they were getting divorced, for fuck’s sake.”

“From what she’s told me, I’m starting to think a lot of what happened in their marriage wasn’t consensual,” Killian utters in a terrifying voice. “Like, at all.”

Rising to his feet, Micah casts a solemn look into Willow’s room before stalking away without another word. I watch him slide a pack of cigarettes from his pocket as he disappears outside to get away from this conversation.

He hasn’t smoked in years, but I don’t have the heart to stop him. Everything about this is royally messed up. We’re facing something far darker than any of us realised, and I fucking hate myself right now for not realising it sooner.

“Bastard,” Killian curses. “Dammit!”

“Cool it. The nurse is looking at us again.”

“How am I supposed to cool it? This asshole could have been assaulting Willow. God knows for how long. I bet she didn’t even know she was pregnant.”

“I know, alright?” I snarl at him. “But we need to be calm.”

“You be fucking calm!” His voice cracks, breaking his bubble of rage. “I promised her that I’d keep her safe. I swore nothing would hurt her, Zach. And this still happened.”

“You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

“I don’t give a shit. I’ve still failed her.”

“We all did.” I gulp down the lump in my throat. “We should’ve known the story about the car accident was complete bullshit. That didn’t stop us from swallowing it though.”

“I thought that giving her time was the right thing to do,” he says reproachfully. “I was trying to respect her privacy, but we should’ve been straight up with her from the start.”

“And said what? Did your husband beat you up?”

“I don’t know,” he snaps. “Maybe.”

“You know that would have scared her away in a heartbeat.”

Before Killian can bark at me again, we’re interrupted by my phone pinging with a text message from Lola. She’s been stuck in the downstairs waiting area with Albie ever since we arrived several hours ago.

“Crap. She’s messaged again.”

Killian shrugs. “Let her wait.”

“We should update her.”

“Lola is the last thing on my damn mind right now. She’s been lying through her teeth to all of us and hiding Willow’s mother from her. She can fucking wait.”

Reaching into his coat pocket, Killian pulls out the two British passports we passed around a little while ago. He showed us the names that don’t match the people we know. It’s another question mark on the list of concerns we’ve ignored.

Willow was serious about disappearing before she arrived in Briar Valley. Enough to pay for high quality false identities. After seeing them, I’m fairly confident she was the one who burned off their fingerprints. It’s all beginning to add up.

What kind of monster is she running from?

Why didn’t she tell us the truth in the first place?

We had enough sense to use the false name on Willow’s passport to check in at the hospital, rather than foil her carefully laid plans. The dawning realisation that we’re dealing with something far more sinister than we realised has us all floundering.

“She told Lola that she was married at sixteen.” Killian stares at the passports. “I think that was true. We’re dealing with a predator here, not some disgruntled ex-husband.”

“What makes you think that?”

“She’s fucking traumatised, Zach. Isn’t it obvious?”

It is—blindingly so. Even when I touched her and made her come on my tongue, she almost didn’t seem to know what to do with herself. The inexperience is so obvious. No one has ever made her feel like that.

“That could be for a lot of reasons,” I argue.

“You didn’t see the way she reacted to me.”

“I saw enough the other week when we… you know, hooked up. You’re not the only one she’s interested in, even if she did end up in your bed first.”

“You mean when you were trying to fuck her after she’d kissed your bloody twin brother?” he argues back. “Not sure that’s something to be proud of, kid.”

“You’re a fine one to talk after what I walked into the other morning.”

Killian hesitates, replacing his next bitter retort with a sigh. “We’ve really screwed this up with her, haven’t we?”

His humourless laugh knocks the fight out of me. We’re sizing ourselves up against each other like that even matters anymore. It’s irrelevant. When Willow wakes up, she’s going to need all of us to get through this.

Admittedly, this isn’t the first time I’ve thought about our current predicament. I grew up in Briar Valley. That opens your mind to so many things, and the prospect of sharing Willow doesn’t sound all that crazy to me.

I clap him on the shoulder. “Look, I think we can agree this is bigger than we thought. I’m willing to bet that her shitty ex is the reason Willow arrived in such a state.”

He nods. “I’m certain of it.”

“What else do we know about him?”

“Lola caught her googling some jumped-up realtor from the States a few weeks ago.” Killian’s face contorts with anger. “Willow got shifty and wouldn’t answer any questions.”

“Nothing at all?”

“She clammed right up. It’s like she’s protecting that scumbag. I think this goes beyond some messy divorce. She’s running for her life and I’m willing to bet he’s the reason why.”

Leaning against the wall, I sag under the pressing weight of exhaustion. Adrenaline and the crappy hospital coffee we drained earlier have both worn off, leaving me tired and fucking terrified of the moment Willow’s eyes will open.

“One of us should go and update Lola.”

“Hard pass,” he declines.

“Please, Kill. I don’t know what to say to her.”

Killian sighs again. “Stay with her.”

“Yeah, I will.”

He reluctantly shuffles down the corridor, disappearing from sight. I gather myself and slip back into Willow’s hospital room. They’ve set her up for a transfusion, and various wires are poking out of her lifeless body.

I sit at her bedside, taking her hand in mine. There’s so much I want to say, but none of it feels like enough. I’ve lost so much in my life, and I know the pain she’s going to face.

“Hi, babe.” I brush hair from her face. “I know we’re a bunch of idiots. None of us realised the truth sooner… but regardless, all three of us care about you so damn much.”

The drip of fluids and antibiotics being fed into her IV port punctuates my whispered words. Her heart rate monitor ticks away in the background, but she doesn’t stir.

“Whatever it is you’re not telling us, it’s okay,” I offer softly. “All I want is to see that beautiful smile again. We can get through this together. I promise, it will be alright.”

Squeezing her hand, my forehead meets the bedsheets as my eyes fall shut. Her breathing is a steady, reassuring meditation that almost lulls me to sleep. It’s been hours of non-stop panic and worry since we arrived at Highbridge’s small hospital.

Killian was drenched in her blood by then, despite the towels we sandwiched between Willow’s legs for the car ride. He didn’t complain once. I’m not sure I could have sat there, covered in her blood, without losing my shit a little bit.

The door to the room creaks open. I look up, expecting to see Killian return. My twin brother’s devastated eyes find me instead. He takes the empty seat on the opposite side of the bed, seizing Willow’s other hand.

“The doctor said she’ll be awake soon,” he says in a small voice. “They want to keep her in overnight for observations, but she can go home tomorrow if everything’s okay.”

“Where’s Kill?”

“Convincing Lola not to march in here.”

I shake my head. “That’s the last thing we want Willow to see when she does wake up. This is going to be hard enough to explain as it is.”

“Listen, do you think we should move her?” Micah worries his heavily-chewed bottom lip. “Out of Lola’s cabin? She’ll need peace and quiet to recover.”

I’m surprised to hear such a thoughtful idea come from his lips. It’s been a long time since Micah appeared to care about anything but his lifeless hunks of clay and oil paint. The emotion buried in his eyes is too intense to hide.

We’ve always been in tune with each other’s feelings, even as kids. Our father always called it a twin thing. It’s like I knew when Micah needed me or if he was hurt.

When Dad died and he shut down, we lost that precious connection. But right now, surrounded by the sick and dying, I can feel it flaring to life again.

Micah has spent his whole adult life hurting and I can finally see a way out of that onslaught of pain. Willow is his antidote. She’s bringing him back to us.

“You really do like her, don’t you?”

He glances away. “What if I do?”

“She likes you too, Mi.”

“I’m not the only one though, am I?”

We’ve made such a mess of this by ignoring the impending problem for weeks. I was happy to joke with Willow about being a team player, but now we’re at that crossroads, I’m not willing to walk away without her.

“We need to sit down and talk as a family.”

Micah sighs. “That should be a fun chat.”

I look at the sickly pallor of Willow’s bird-like features. “She can’t stay at Lola’s like this. We need her close, where we can keep an eye and help her if she needs it.”

“The other cabin is still empty,” he suggests.

“You really think Killian will go for that?”

Micah shrugs. “Why not?”

“He hasn’t looked inside it for years, not since we moved across the street after the funeral. It probably needs a tonne of work and renovations.”

“We have a spare room until it’s ready.”

Considering, I nod. “I’ll talk to Kill.”

“And what about… everything else?”

Our eyes meet over Willow’s still form. The vivid green depths of our irises perfectly match each other, but we’re so drastically different. I didn’t just lose my father all those years ago. On top of that, I lost my twin too.

He’s right here, but the shy kid I used to play on dirt bikes with outside our childhood home is long gone. We haven’t been real brothers for years. Yet since Willow turned up, there have been glimpses of the person he used to be.

Small flashes of the person I once knew—the odd smile, a hint of life gleaming in his eyes again, socialising and agreeing to eat dinner with us some nights. Willow has snuck into our lives and shaken everything up without meaning to.

“I’m not going to back off, Mi. I like Willow a lot.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“We live in Briar Valley. Things work differently.” I straighten the wire flowing into her arm. “Maybe we can make this thing work between the four of us. It’s something I’ve thought about.”

“You mean like… Doc, Rachel and Miranda?”

“Maybe. We could give it a try.”

“I don’t know, Zach,” he worries.

“All I care about is seeing her happy again.”

Micah grips Willow’s hand. “I want that too.”

“Then we figure this shit out before she wakes up. We can move both of them into the cabin and figure out what the fuck has happened to Willow. Together.”

“You know, it’s weird seeing you take charge instead of Killian.”

I’m never one to put myself in control or call the shots. Killian’s been our protector and caregiver since he was eighteen-years-old, but right now, he’s as broken as anyone about what happened to Willow.

Someone else has to make this decision. I refuse to waste another second pretending like we don’t all want the same thing. Her. Regardless of what it will cost us.

“You’ve got shit to sort out too if this is going to work.”

He falls silent. “I know.”

“I mean it, Mi. You need to get help. We can’t live like this forever. I love you, brother, and I’m tired of watching you throw your life away.”

I half expect him to bolt from the room and run all the way back to Briar Valley to hide out in his studio. But Micah stays put, nodding to himself.

“I will, Zach.”

“I mean it. You need to go back to that therapist and actually try this time.”

Holding firm, I make him look into my eyes as he nods again. This is non-negotiable. If we’re going to be there for Willow in the weeks to come, he needs to lead by example and accept the fact that he needs help.

“Alright, it’s a deal. Let’s get Killian in here and plan what we do next.”