For a moment, I didn’t want revenge.
I didn’t want justice.
I didn’t want to see Daniel again.
I wanted my mother.
I wanted to go back to a morning when I didn’t know the man beside me was capable of killing me.
I wanted the life I thought I had.
But that life was gone.
And no amount of wishing would bring it back.
At eight the next morning, Nora knocked softly on my door.
She was carrying breakfast and a small shopping bag.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been thrown off a cliff.”
She gave me a look.
“Too soon.”
I smiled faintly.
“Probably.”
She set the food on the table.
“I brought you something.”
Inside the bag was a dark blue maternity dress.
Simple.
Comfortable.
Elegant enough for a formal service without looking as though I’d dressed for a performance.
Beneath it was a pair of flat shoes.
I touched the fabric.
“Nora…”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s also something you can actually walk in.”
She glanced at my injured leg.
“Which is important, considering your recent relationship with gravity.”
I laughed despite myself.
Then I grew quiet.
“Thank you.”
She sat beside me.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“Margaret went to your mother’s house yesterday.
She brought something for you.”
Nora opened her purse and took out a folded silk scarf.
It was pale blue, with a delicate pattern of white flowers.
My mother’s favorite scarf.
I knew it instantly.
I had seen her wear it to church, to birthday dinners, and to nearly every important family gathering.
I took it carefully.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
“She wanted you to have it,” Nora said.
I pressed the scarf against my cheek.
It still smelled faintly of the cedar-lined drawer where my mother had kept her clothes.
I closed my eyes.
“Mom,” I whispered.
Nora waited until I could speak again.
Then she asked, “Do you want me to call the detective?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
Because despite everything I felt, I wasn’t foolish enough to believe a dramatic entrance would protect me.
Daniel had already tried to kill me once.
I wasn’t going to give him a second opportunity.
Detective Ortiz met us outside the inn shortly before noon.
She was accompanied by a deputy from the sheriff’s office.
Both were dressed in ordinary clothes.
She looked at me carefully.
“Are you able to stand and walk without significant pain?”
“Yes.”
“Any new symptoms?”
“No.”
“Then I want you to remember what we discussed.
No physical confrontation.
No chasing him if he walks away.
If the situation gets out of control, we leave.”
“I understand.”
“The local investigators are aware of your survival and your allegations.
They are continuing their work.
Your appearance today is your decision, Claire, not something required for the case.”
I nodded.
She looked at Nora.
“You’ll stay near her?”
“Every second.”
I was grateful for their caution.
Because underneath my determination, I was still terrified.
I didn’t know what Daniel would do when he saw me.
Would he run?
Would he pretend to faint?
Would he claim he’d believed I was dead and embrace me in front of everyone?
Would he try to make me look confused or unstable?
I knew his skill at turning accusations into arguments about someone else’s emotions.
But I had one advantage.
He had built his entire story around my absence.
He hadn’t prepared for me to walk into the room.
The drive to the chapel took twenty-five minutes.
I sat in the back seat beside Nora, watching familiar streets pass by.
We drove past the bakery where Daniel used to buy my favorite cinnamon rolls.
Past the park where we’d taken our engagement photographs.
Past the flower shop where he had once surprised me with roses after an argument.
Every place held a memory.
And every memory felt as though someone had reached inside it and changed the meaning.
I wasn’t sure I could ever look at this town in the same way again.
As we approached Oak Street, the first thing I noticed was the line of cars.
They stretched along both sides of the road.
People were gathering to mourn me.
People who believed I had drowned.
People who believed the child inside me had died.
I saw my mother’s elderly neighbor walking slowly toward the entrance.
I recognized a former coworker.
I saw two women who had attended my baby shower only a month earlier.
One was carrying a small bouquet of white roses.
My throat tightened.
“They really think we’re gone,” I whispered.
Nora squeezed my hand.
“I know.”
The car stopped a short distance from the chapel.
Detective Ortiz turned toward me.
“Last chance to change your mind.”
I looked through the window.
Popular Posts
→- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Recently Viewed
Stories you read recently will appear here.
