“Danny?”

“You are Chris, right? And you are playing a trick on me.” Danny visibly trembled as she spoke.

“Danny it’s me, Kit.” 

Danny shook her head in response, her now long hair flying over her head, covering her face. “They said you were dead. Chris-,”

And just as if the at the sound of his name he had been summoned, Chris angrily burst into the room. Kit waited for the happy, excited welcoming hug, but didn’t get it. Instead, Chris snarled at him, walked over to where Danny was, pulled her to her feet with her arm and dragged her out the room.

“What the hell?” Kit yelled. He pulled on his trousers and followed them out. But by the time he got outside all he saw were taillights as the car skidded off.

Kit jumped when he felt a warm hand on his arm. He turned to see Sarah, a concerned look on her face. 

“I guess, she didn’t tell you. She’s marrying him the day after tomorrow.”

Numb, that was the only word Kit knew to describe what he felt. He waited for betrayal and anger to set in but it never did. On the drive to the airport, Sarah explained to Kit everything that Danny had been going through the past year. He couldn’t help but blame himself for it. If only he hadn’t stayed away for so long. If he had at least given her a call and told her that he was alive. What he didn’t understand was his twin brother’s reaction at finding him alive. It was as if he already knew.

What he also didn’t understand was why Reno had gone out of his way to hide his sister away days before her wedding. But what concerned him more was that Danny had gone back to drinking and Chris wasn’t doing anything about it to stop her. Kit was well versed in Chris and his antics to control people who rebelled against him. Kit just hoped that letting Danny drink wasn’t Chris’ way to keep her by his side because no one else would let her.

Kit had gone to the house and after twenty minutes of calming down a shocked housekeeper, he was able to get the location of the engagement dinner. He didn’t think about anyone else’s reaction when he went to the restaurant. He only had one thing on his mind and that was to take back what belonged to him. 

He hadn’t prepared himself for the reaction his family would have to his back to life routine. He barged into the room, two waiters trying their best to dissuade him but failing. When he walked in, they were all sat together like one big happy family. The gasps, the cries and his name being called out as they hugged him didn’t distract Kit from his target. Everyone but Chris and Danny were on their feet congratulating him for being alive again.

Chris had his hand over Danny’s and she had her fingers curled around a glass of brandy. One look at Reno and DJ and Kit could see that they were slowly defeated and just about to give up. But then when they looked at him, he saw hope, as if their sister’s salvation had just walked it. Kit pushed his parents aside and with three strides got to where Danny sat. Chris stood up blocking his path.

“What are you doing?” Chris asked.

“You don’t seem too happy to see me, considering I just came back from the dead.”

“You weren’t dead. You were in Brementon playing nursemaid to other injured soldiers,” Chris smirked.

“You knew!” Danny screamed.

It was obvious that she had already drunk one too many. Kit grabbed the glass in her hand and threw it against the wall. “What are you doing?”

“You knew he was alive and didn’t say anything,” this time it was their mother who asked.

Kit’s eyes were glued to Danny, she sat, her back straight and her eyes glued to the wall in front of her. This was the moment that worried Kit most about Danny when she was silent. He was yet to figure out everything that went on in her head.

“The only reason I found where Reno had hidden Danny was because I was tracking Kit,” Chris said to their mother nonchalantly.

Kit’s gaze didn’t waver, not even when he heard the sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh when their mother hit Chris. “Danny,” he called out to her.

“Danny and I are getting married,” Chris announced to the room, but Kit knew it was directed at him.

“You can’t,” Kit said.

“Why, because you said so?”

“No, because she’s my wife.”

Kit felt the air shift as the whole room went silent and still. For a moment he thought that the battle was over, that it was time to take his wife home.

“There is no baby, there never was,” Danny mumbled. “You didn’t give me a chance to explain. And you were so willing to marry me-,”

“I don’t care,” Kit blurted out. Kit had wondered where their child was when they were back in Hawaii. Sarah had explained that too. He felt like an idiot for not confirming the pregnancy before dragging her to the justice of the peace. But the marriage was now in his favor. “Let’s go home.”

“I care,” Danny stood up, and angrily pushed him. “I care that I almost died thinking that you were gone. I care that you decided to stay away instead of being with me. I care that once again the Marine code came before me.”

“She doesn’t want you,” Chris said as he put his arm around Danny.

Danny shook him off and stepped up to Kit. Kit saw it all now, what he had put her through. What he saw at the beach didn’t hurt as much as the look in Danny’s eyes did right now. Betrayal.

“Christian, my Kit,” Kit cupped her cheek and caught her tear with his thumb. “My Kit, I love him, I still love him,” hope swelled in his chest only to have a pin stuck into it. “But he keeps leaving me.”

Danny was mad that he was alive. After hearing what she went through, he too was a little mad. If he was dead then there would have been an actual point to all the pain she went through. Kit thought of giving her a chance to fall in love with Chris, just as her brother had requested. But that was too hard for him. She was the reason he came back to life and he wasn’t willing to let go. He was just about to reject Chris’ request when Danny said something he never thought he would hear in his entire life.

“I’m leaving with Chris.”

***

I’m leaving with Chris.

“I must be stupid,” Danny mumbled to herself once she was in her room in Chris’ apartment. She was just so mad. How could he stay away for so long when he knew she was desperate to see him? Danny had decided to leave with Chris as a way to punish Kit, but instead, she felt like she was punishing herself. 

“What are you doing here? You are a married woman.” Danny grabbed her purse and slipped on her sneakers. She was impulsive and irresponsible. It was something Kit had grown to know about her. Turning up at his house hours after she had rejected him wouldn’t be surprising to him at all. Danny got to the front door and froze, her hand over the handle.

“…I went to Hawaii for some time off, a boys’ trip. Do you think I expected to meet the only woman I would love?” here she was her father’s daughter uttering the same words that he had almost eight years ago to her mother. However, she couldn’t lie. Danny loved Chris in her way. As Kit’s brother. He was there when she needed Kit the most. His resemblance to the man she was in love with gave her comfort. But now, Christian, her Kit was back. She couldn’t go on using Chris the way she had been doing for the past year.

“Danny, where are you going?”

Danny froze at the sound of Chris’ voice. He caught her trying to sneak out of their apartment again. What excuse was she supposed to use now? “I’m going to see my niece and nephew. I want to help Eve out. It’s the first night with the little Dennis home.” 

“Are you sure?” Chris walked out of the light of the bedroom and into the darkness of the living room. He looked so intimidating. “It’s ten o’clock at night. You are going to see my brother, aren’t you?”

Yes. “I don’t want to argue Chris. I told you this before we got together in the first place. I will always love Kit.”

“I got that. Your outburst during our engagement dinner, ‘I love him, I still love him.’” He mocked. “It was ridiculous and embarrassing considering everyone heard you.”

“I thought the love of my life was dead. Then in true Eve fashion, he walks in during our engagement dinner. You were trying to keep me from him.”

“You left with him that night. You had sex with him, am I right?” Danny didn’t say a word. She knew it was better to be quiet when Christopher got this riled up. “Why won’t you have sex with me? I have been patient for a whole year.”

“Me too.” Danny shook her head, not quite sure what she was doing with Christopher or why the wedding was still on. Their mothers had decided that they couldn’t take the embarrassment of disinviting everyone. She wondered if their shame would survive when she was being carted off to prison for bigamy. “I couldn’t be with you because I couldn’t cheat on my husband.”

“What!”

“Kit and I…we are married. I have to be with him.”

Danny’s phone shrieked from her purse. She wasn’t going to be rude and pick it up just as she was ripping Chris’ heart into shreds. Although she wanted to. She intended to take any opportunity that would help her escape the tension in the room.

“Answer it. It’s probably your husband.”

“Hello?”

“Miss Kent?”

“Yes?”

“I have been trying to reach your father and your brothers, but I can’t seem to get through. I have some news. I found your sister.”

“Oh, God?”

“What is it?” Chris asked.

“They found Rayne.” Danny hugged him, her joy superseding her sensibilities. “I have to go see my brothers.”

“We can take the train. I’ll take you.”

“Are you sure?”