“What happened to your face?” she asked, focusing on her brother. He was easier to deal with than Shane. “Or is that classified?”

Trevor inclined his head sideways. “He punched me out.”

“What?” Her gaze darted to Shane, who looked fine, not a speck of blood on him. It didn’t make sense. Trevor was deadly with his fists, and he wasn’t the type to let another guy hit him and get away with it. “Did you two…fight?”

“If you can call it that,” Shane said, his voice cold. He jerked his chin at Trevor. “Tell her.”

Trevor dragged his huge hands through his hair. He breathed out hard—not quite a sigh but not quite a sound of exasperation either—and swallowed a few times.

Ginger’s heart began to race. She’d seen Trevor do that a few times, and inevitably the news was bad—once, when she was in high school, he’d had to tell her somebody had run over their dog. “What is it, Trevor? Did something happen to Mom and Dad?”

He shook his head. “They’re fine.”

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. If they were okay, whatever Trevor had to say was probably not a big deal. “Just spit it out.”

“The photos you were talking about.”

Every cell in her body stilled. “What about them?”

Trevor broke eye contact and looked down. “I was the one behind them.”

She blinked a few times, then laughed a little tremulously. “What?” He’d always wanted to be a comedian, except none of his jokes were funny. Maybe he’d gotten tired of doing whatever he’d been doing and decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy again.

“The pictures…” He sighed. “I didn’t mean anything bad to happen.”

A giant claw seemed to squeeze her neck and chest. “You didn’t mean—? What did you think would happen when you sent pictures like that?”

“I just thought it was shitty that he”—Trevor gestured at Shane—“didn’t appreciate you. You guys had been together for so long, and…well, he kept dragging his feet about proposing and, you know, doing the right thing. So I thought I’d show him that you had other options. I wanted to let him know if he didn’t act soon, he was going to lose you.”

“That was your plan? Make me look loose so Shane would try to chain me down?” Her voice started to rise. “You wrecked over a year of our lives!”

Trevor shook his head sorrowfully. “I didn’t know the pictures were like that. I had a guy make them and mail them, but I hadn’t seen them until now. They were just supposed to show you having a good time and men looking at you, checking you out with, you know, admiration and all, to demonstrate you had other options. Not like you hanging all over them.”

“You have no idea what you did. I told you to stay away from our relationship.” Trevor had always been too protective, but this crossed the line. “I thought the man I love didn’t want me anymore—wouldn’t want our baby either.”

“Well, if you had been pregnant, I would never ha—”

“I was pregnant!”

Trevor paled. “What?”

She pointed a trembling finger at him. “I was pregnant, and I lost the baby on my way back from South Africa. That was why I missed my connection in Amsterdam and stayed there for so long.”

“Oh my god, Ginger. I didn’t know…”

“I didn’t tell you—or Mom, or Dad—because what would be the point? By the time I came back, I was finished with my medical treatment, and the doctors said I was fine—physically. But you…you wrecked so much.”

He buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking. “I’m so sorry.”

She looked away. She felt…hollow. How could her brother have done this? “Me, too.”

“Ginger—”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave now. Unless you have any more confessions about how you destroyed something that’s important to me.”

Trevor reached out, but she scooted back like his hand was a viper. His face crumpled, now a complete ruin. Debbie took one glance at Ginger, stepped around her and escorted him outside.

The door shut behind them, leaving Ginger and Shane alone.

* * *

Debbie sat next to Trevor in the stairwell. She didn’t trust him to be on his own without doing something stupid—men could be hot-headed and dumb at the best of times, much less when they’d received a blow as nasty as the one Trevor had just gotten.

He buried his face in his hands and sobbed, the sound pulling deep from his gut. She’d never heard a grown man cry like this. She looked up at the ceiling, blinking away her own tears. All that pain and hurt, and all because Trevor was overprotective of his sister. She couldn’t even kick his ass for Ginger.

“Did she suffer a lot? Her baby…” Trevor asked, his voice thick. “Jesus, what the fuc—what am I saying? Of course she suffered.”

“She had some pain, but she also had an excellent team of medical professionals who did everything they could to make her comfortable.”

He shook his head. “I killed her baby. If she hadn’t been flying, it would’ve been okay.”

“Maybe, and maybe not. Sometimes things just…happen, and it’s nobody’s fault.” It was such a comforting mantra, such a good guiding principle, for easing one’s shattered soul.

He wept some more, then finally said, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being there for my sister. Now I know why you went to Amsterdam and took her on that ‘shopping spree.’”

Debbie gave him a lopsided smile. “It was nothing.”

“I should pay you for that.”

“Shut the fuck up. I did what any good friend would’ve done. The sightseeing cheered her up, so that’s more than enough for me.”

“I’m glad she had you there.” He sniffed hard and stared at a spot straight in front of him. “She’ll never forgive me, will she?”

Debbie shook her head. “If you really think that, you don’t know your sister very well. She’ll forgive you soon enough. The girl’s just not capable of holding a grudge.” She put a hand on his back. “But you gotta do something here, okay? You have to make up your mind that you’ll never, ever meddle in her life like this again.”

“Jesus, never.” He looked at her, then clutched her free hand. “I swear it.”

Debbie nodded. “I believe you. Now let’s give our couple some time to work things out.”

They stood up slowly, like a pair of old people. “They’re going to get back together, right?” Trevor said.

“I don’t know.” She frowned. What Trevor had done was so big, she wasn’t sure exactly how Shane and Ginger would deal with it. “Let’s hope so.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ginger’s legs quivered, then folded beneath her. She extended an arm to catch herself, but Shane wrapped his arms around her before she could hit the floor.

She closed her eyes at the sweet sensation of having his body pressed so tightly against hers. Nobody else could make her feel so protected and wanted and cherished.

Except…she wasn’t sure about what he felt anymore. Her brother had done incalculable damage to them both, but especially to Shane. If he hadn’t sent the fake photos, Shane would’ve never left the States or had the accident or lost his memory. He’d missed out on so much in the past year—his brothers’ engagements and his sister’s marriage.

And then there was their baby. Shane had always wanted children. He adored them.

He ran a thumb over her cheek. “Stop crying, Ginger. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

“Already feel sick.” She squeezed her eyes shut as more tears flowed, and pressed a fist against her heart. “It hurts.”

“I know.” He kissed her forehead, then swung her up and carried her into the bedroom. He put her down on the bed and curled around her, warming her cool skin. His shirt was soaked now, but she couldn’t stop crying.

“You must be so angry,” she said through the lump in her throat.

He merely sighed and rubbed her back. Ginger clenched her hands. He was probably too angry to even talk about it. She couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if their positions had been reversed.