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"What did your… husband say?"

She tried not to read too much into the way he see, just wishful thinking

"He toldup our faot e in his voice, the pain she’d caused, all came back to her as real as if she’d just walked out the door of their little red brick house "We’d promised each other ere a teao"

"Yet you left anyway"

After all the angry--but logical words--he’d shouted at her, it was the strangled pain in his final question that haunted her onna braid Stella’s hair?

"Freelancing was our compromise" A brittle peace settled between them "I wouldn’t take it on as a full-ti shot "Neither of us was, but we made it work until Stella was fifteen"

"And then you ‘died’"

There was an implied question in his tone she couldn’t et her to share sofrom the hurt of how he’d played her? Maybe a part of her believed she deserved any and every bad thing that came her way as retribution for the pain she’d caused her fa if I used my faked death as an out to abandon my family"

"I did not say that" But still the hint of a question reh oddly, she found no condeood of an actor With nothing to lose any to pour out the words she’d kept bottled inside for soit Believe me, I’ve questioned myself on that more times than I can count In my head I know I didn’t have a choice My identity had been compromised in a major way in southern Africa, and I needed to assume a new life to keep my family safe"

She’d opted to stay in Africa for two reasons She wanted to minimize the telimpse And she still wanted to help Funny how in the end she’d found returning to her roots in ht her far e-scale"Annie Johnson was born"

"Such an innocuous name… Smith Jones Brown Johnson Jane or Anne or Mary I could take "

"Why did you choose to leave your fa witness protection will keep a faether"

His words ht of her, deeply She wanted him to know she’d truly tried her best "My sons were already heading off to college Andout of all their lives was the best way to do that" But in her heart she’d harbored doubts Even though she’d le day, she feared that she’d made a selfish choice to stay in Africa Life wasn’t clear-cut with si on the run? That was no life for a child

"And your husband agreed?" Sam’s stern tonestirred in her stoely like… butterflies? At her age? Just because this ht to keep her?

She hadn’t given her husband that chance because she’d already known his answer He loved her, but he would have let her go, given the choice So she’d saved hiency even found an unclaih like me and with such extensive injuries to that body, no one looked too close or questioned That was for the best I didn’t want to tie up his life with ally, so there were no repercussions if he decided to reency had told her that much in one of the few times they’d contacted her--after his death She had mourned him despite all the ways they’d hurt each other Mourned the lost chance at happiness theyup their children They’d shared so the way they’d drifted apart Still, she had grieved for all he’d given up for her and all the ways he’d carried on without her She’d owed him better

But that was in the past Annie Johnson’s quiet life of hard work had been part of her healing

Sa in the hazy red glow of the lights lining the ceiling "I would not want those choices made for me without my consent"

The censure in his voice set her on the defensive "I did the best I could then… Would I make the same choices now? I don’t know At the time, I was in so

"My cover was blohen I was kidnapped along with two others I worked with The local warlord who took us had international black market connections He was an evil man and…" She forced her voice to stay steady "He was a harsh interrogator" He was a rapist "The other wo"

She’d been daht she couldn’t take anyator She’d escaped with the other re

"Didn’t my file mention any of that?"

She could read in his eyes that it had A fast pulse throbbed in his temple, his fists clenched as he just let her talk He’d somehon she needed to share all of this that she hadn’t been allowed to discuss with anyone