Found (Captive Heart #2) Read Free

in the car, and—”
    “Babe?” Tucker cuts me off. “Relax, please.”
    I smile sheepishly, because I realize I’m rambling. “I’m sorry. Gosh, I just … I couldn’t wait to see you. How has everything been?”
    I wave my hand around the room as if prison is a summer camp instead of a government facility of corrections.
    Tucker shrugs. “It hasn’t been easy. But it also hasn’t been incredibly hard. This is a minimum facility, non-violent offenders or people awaiting trial. It’s not as scary as I’ve heard some other facilities are. But I’m trying to keep to myself, help out where I can or am asked to.”
    His face is paler than usual and I can make out the dark circles under his eyes. “Have you been sleeping?”
    Tucker looks down at his hands. “I’ve been trying to, but … I feel so on-edge all the time. Like I need to be watching out for something.”
    “That will fade with time,” I say, even though we both know it probably won’t.
    “I love you.” His brown eyes hold all of the emotions we both wish we would let out on each other’s bodies.
    “I love you, too. So much.” I hear my voice crack and have to blink away the tears. Tucker doesn’t need my tears to add to his baggage.
    “So you feel better? Are you home now?”
    “I feel okay, still a bit groggy and slow but a lot better than when you first checked me into the hospital. I never thanked you for that by the way … you sacrificed everything for me. You didn’t have to do that …”
    Tucker’s hand snakes across the table, laying so close to my fingers that I can feel the warmth coming off of them. “Yes I did. You’re my world, Char, and I could never lose you.”
    We’re silent for a beat. “So … have you talked to your mother?”
    I knew he would ask about her. “No. And I won’t ever again. What she did to you … to us …”
    “I know. Believe me, I know. I just worry about you. With me in here … I just want to make sure you have a support system out there.”
    “You’re my support system.” It’s the truth.
    “Charlotte, I know … but, come on, I’m going to be in here for awhile and they could ask you to testify against me, and—”
    “So marry me.” The words pop out of my mouth before I can even form the thought.
    Tucker sits back, stunned. “What did you just say?”
    And then I start to ramble again. “I was thinking about it on the ride here. They can’t ask me to testify against you if I’m your wife. I can’t be involved if we’re married. And how great would that look at trial. I don’t hate you. In fact, I love you and we got married to prove it. And Tucker, we’ve wasted so many years, too many years. You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted, the only family I’ll ever need.”
    He still looks like I’ve told him I’m from the future and our children are aliens. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you this? And fuck, Char … proposing in a prison visitation room? You deserve better than this. No, we … we can’t get married right now.”
    I don’t let his chivalry deter me. “Why not?! I’m with you through this, through whatever comes. And you love me, right?”
    “You know I do.”
    “Well then let’s make it official! I love you. I want you to be my husband and I’m done waiting.”
    He stares at me for what feels like ten minutes. I know he was waging war with himself in that stubborn skull of his, but I just chewed on my lip, praying he would agree. I suddenly knew I’d never wanted anything more than I wanted this.
    “Okay. Let’s get married.”
    I let out a shocked little gasp and Tucker stood.
    “This woman has just agreed to marry me!”
    But we weren’t in a fancy restaurant with happy patrons. Hell, he hadn’t even presented me with a ring.
    The inmates and their families only grumbled and shook their heads at us. The latest fools who believed they could beat the odds, and the system.

4
Charlotte
    I should have known then how naïve and stupid we