It took me ten full minutes and heaving up the breakfast I’d consumed on the flight for me to compose myself. By the time I returned to Dina’s lounge room I felt weak, but the worst of the nausea was gone.

Dina stood when I entered. “Now, child, sit. You didn’t let me finish. Appreciate what I just told you was a shock, but you don’t honestly think Gabe could kill a man unprovoked now, do you?”

I lowered myself into the armchair, grateful to be seated again. “Honestly, Ms. Thompson, I don’t know what to think anymore.” Unprovoked or provoked—did it make a difference?

“Dina, child. None of this Miz or ma’am nonsense. Gabe was protecting someone. That’s why he did what he did.”

My stomach was still churning and I didn’t bother to hide the tears pooling in my eyes. Gabe had been trying to protect me too when he beat up Levi, but did that make it right? I felt disloyal even thinking it.

“That foster daddy was a bad, bad man. As well as laying his hand to the kids under his care, he regularly beat up on his wife. From the little Gabe told me, she was a quiet, scared sort of woman who loved the children she took in. It was almost like that horrible man didn’t like her giving her attention to anyone but him.

“Anyway, the night that Gabe was charged, the daddy came home real nasty-like. Drunk way too much and wanted to throw his weight around, so he started in on one of the boys in his care. Got so bad the other boys started laying into the daddy to get him off-a the child. But Gabe says it was like the devil was in the man that night and he just wouldn’t stop. Next thing they know, the momma come in with a baseball bat and start hitting her husband with it to get him off-a the children.”

Dina’s own eyes were swimming with tears now. “Poor woman never stood a chance. That bad man took that bat right off her and took her down with it. That’s when my boy could take no more. Now, he’d learned how to fight real good, and if the devil was in the daddy the righteousness of our good Lord rained down on that bad man through the fists of my Gabriel that night. By the time the police arrived, the daddy was a right mess on the floor, and thank all that is holy that poor woman was still breathing.”

“Gabe saved his foster mom?” I couldn’t hide the hope in my voice.

“All the boys there that night attested to that.” Dina’s face twisted in disgust. “Didn’t stop the police charging Gabe, though. All they saw was a delinquent boy turning on the good folk that had taken him in.

“I still thank the Lord the boy was fifteen and only charged with juvenile assault. Did jail time too, and where’s the justice in that? Picked on his whole life and then finally stands up for someone, and he ends up behind bars.”

“How long was he in jail?” Despite all that I had heard I still found it hard to imagine Gabe in jail. Now I knew his ability to blend in and fly below the radar had more to do with pretending he wasn’t dumb at school. It was survival.

“Only six months. Then on probation for a time. He did everything right, but of course what child has a chance after an experience like that? He dropped out of school and took any job he could that didn’t require references. Dishwashing, cleaning toilets—he did whatever he could to get by.”

“And playing drums.”

Dina’s smile was gentle. “Playing drums suited him. He could be around the music he loved, but stay in the background. Everyone’s looking at the Johnnie Walshes of the world, not the guy in the back. Who knew he’d end up in the world’s hottest rock band.”

“As Gabriel da Silva,” I finished.

“Yes, that was me who told him to change his name. He didn’t need no reporters hunting around trying to dredge up his childhood. Boy’s already been through enough. We also figured out that his record could be sealed because he was tried as a juvenile, and I thank the Lord above we got that done before he hit the big time.”

I wiped a tear from my cheek and sniffed. “Has he told anyone about his past?”

“Only that girl he was with for a time, but that’s a strange story there. One he’ll likely tell you about in his own good time. All I’ll say ’bout that is she preferred him when he was an injured baby bird that needed looking after, not a grown man making a name for himself in a famous rock band. Until now, no one else but me or her knew about Gabriel Sloane, Miz Chloe Kemp.”

“Then how did Levi know?” I thought aloud. Levi had known the truth about Gabe and used it against him. Judged him on it, no less.

Dina sighed and reached for her coffee. “Ah, my mistake. It was that ex-girlfriend of his that slipped and told Levi, and look how that’s turned out. I’m the only one from his old life he keeps in touch with and can’t say I blame him for wanting to put it behind him. Can you believe that damn boy tried to buy me a house when he became rich? I told him what he could do with his big wads of cash, don’t you worry.”

I laughed through my tears, so glad this amazing woman had come into Gabe’s life, and I said as much.

Dina gave me a dismissive wave. “Oh, don’t you start. You’re as bad as he is. I’ll start to believe the world really is a bad place when we have to thank people for basic kindness.”

I reached over and grasped her hand. “But his story could have been so different. Who’s to know if he would have lost his life to drugs or ended up in jail for another crime when he was older?” Because of parents who had failed him and a system that had let him fall through the cracks.

She squeezed my hand. “No way of that happening. You take my word. That boy was always going to rise above. I saw it back then and I still see it now. He’s his biggest enemy.”

I nodded sadly. “He doesn’t think he’s worthy of any of it. His success, his career. He doesn’t think he deserves me.”

That was the first time I’d confided in anyone about that. Dina released my hand and patted it kindly. “Then you’re in his life for a reason, child. Help him rise above.”

I sat back. “That’s the thing. I think he needs to do it on his own to appreciate his true worth. He doesn’t believe me—anyone—when we say we believe in him.”

“Stubborn boy he is, I know. Pride is important to a man and he’s in sore need of a good dose. Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Yes.”

“Do you love him?”

It was a good question. Did I still love Gabriel da Silva—Sloane? After all Dina had told me, and when Gabe didn’t have the strength to explain it to me himself?

“Yes,” I replied without hesitation. Was I naïve? Perhaps. Was I young? Yes. But I knew without a doubt in the world that my heart was Gabe’s. “But I don’t know if he loves me.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He’s never told me.”

Dina pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Never told me either. It was in the things he did for me. The cups of tea, the dinners, the way he never lost touch once he became a man. Always did right by me.”

I recalled, right from the beginning, Gabe’s unwavering loyalty. His need to protect me from Johnnie, helping me when things with Mama took a turn, the way he was there without question when Damon was in hospital. He was always there by my side. “He does right by me, too. Except now. He won’t let me in.”

“Then let him go.”

“What?”

At my raised voice, a faint smile touched Dina’s lips. “Let the man figure himself out first. Set him free and when he’s ready, he’ll find you.”

“But, but—”

Her smile turned knowing. “But you’re afraid he won’t come back.”

“No, I’m afraid I’ll hurt him,” I whispered. And myself. I’d hurt myself if I let him go. “He’s been so scared of losing me.”

“The sort of love you’re talking about can’t be lost, child. This I know.”

“I . . . ” I let my voice trail off. I couldn’t let go, could I? It could break him. It would break me.

“You think I’m crazy?”

“No, I—”

“You doubt your strength and his. You’re young. It’s there in you, you just have to trust it and find your own paths.”

“But shouldn’t I be there supporting him?”

She raised a shoulder in an offhand shrug. “Not if he won’t let you.”

I raised my gaze as Viktor loomed in the doorway. He tapped his wristwatch.

I sighed. We had a flight to catch. Viktor had made it clear we wouldn’t be staying in Minnesota long.

I stood up and gave Dina a grateful smile. “Thank you so much for agreeing to see me.”

“It’s been a pleasure, Miz Chloe Kemp, Hollywood actress. I wish it had been under happier circumstances.”

“It’s Chloe,” I corrected, and she laughed one of those big booming laughs I knew I would always enjoy hearing.

As I went to move toward the hall, she came over and engulfed me in a hug. “Good luck, child. Giving him the time and space he needs doesn’t mean you don’t love him. It’s the exact opposite, trust me. Don’t give up on my boy.”

Her last words made tears sting in the corners of my eyes. “Never.”