“I’m looking for Ines. I texted her about thirty minutes ago, and she hasn’t replied. Is she still shopping with you?” I ask, taking a drink of my wine.
There’s a pause, too long of a pause, and my head begins to spin. “She left me over an hour ago, almost two, Thomas. I wanted her to get home before it got to be too dark out,” she explains.
My heart, it starts racing, and I glance down at my chest to see if it’s actually going to leap out and flop onto the ground. Almost two hours ago, where could she have gone? Where could she be. “Did she say she was going anywhere?” I bark, sounding just as panicked as I feel.
“Thomas, I’m sorry. She didn’t say she was stopping anywhere at all. She looked tired, told me she was going straight home and that she knew you would be there soon,” Nettie whispers.
“Thanks,” I murmur, trying to figure out who to call, and how to find my fiancée.
“Do you want me to start driving toward your place, see if I can find her car anywhere? We separated at Bed, Bath & Beyond, I can try and follow the path she would take to get home,” Nettie offers.
I open my mouth to tell her no, but then I decide that two people searching are going to be better than one. I thank her, taking her up on her offer and she promises to call me as soon as she finds out anything at all.
Tossing my plastic cup in the sink, I hurry over to the front door, slipping on my boots and my heavy coat. Now that the sun is down, the temperatures have dropped drastically, and I try not to think about Ines being stranded somewhere in this cold.
Starting my engine, I turn on my high beams and head out on my long driveway to the country road that will take me toward town. I only go about ten miles per hour, my eyes scanning each side of the road in hopes of finding Ines’ car.
I’m about halfway to town when I see something off of the side of the road. It’s dark, so I can’t quite tell what it is, but it looks like a mass of something, and beyond that is something else. Backing my car up, I turn slightly and point my headlights toward it. My breath catches in my throat. It’s a silver car, and it’s too far off of the road, sideways, and upside-down.
“Holy fuck,” I breathe.
Pulling my car over as much off of the road as I can, I dial 9-1-1. I hope that it isn’t Ines’ car, but it’s the color of her car. The dispatcher answers my call and I explain to her my location, and what I had driven up to. She tells me to wait, to hold tight until the police arrive, but as soon as I’m off of the phone with her, I take off toward the car.
My legs burn as I run toward the overturned car. My nose stings as the wind blows against my face but the closer I get, the more I know that this is Ines’ car. I glance to the left and see a big, rental truck to the side. Like the ones you rent to move on your own from a home improvement store. I know without a doubt that whoever was driving that truck, hit Ines’ car.
As soon as I arrive at the side of the car, I yank my phone out of my pocket and turn on the flashlight. It’s so fucking dark out here, no houses are off of the main road, they’re all tucked back like ours.
The sight in front of me turns my stomach and my hands start to violently shake. Ines is hanging upside down, strapped in her seatbelt, which is the only reason she’s not lying against the roof of her car.
“Sir, back away,” a man calls out.
I turn to him, he’s in uniform, a policeman’s uniform. “That’s my fiancée,” I announce, sounding weak as fuck.
His eyes soften, and I see pity in them. The paramedics come up behind him and he helps me stand, guiding me away from the scene and turns me around so that my back is facing Ines’ car. I know why he’s doing it, he doesn’t want me to see them carry off her lifeless body. I don’t even know if she’s alive, she could be dead for all I know. My fiancée and my baby, they could be gone.
“Can you tell me anything at all?” the police officer asks.
My mouth opens, and I tell him. I tell him that I was at work, but Ines spent the day with Nettie, shopping. I tell him that I texted her several times and then called Nettie when she didn’t answer. Then I explain to him that Nettie had said she left almost two hours before.
“That’s when I had this sinking feeling in my gut, like I knew something was wrong. Nettie got in her car and headed from town toward my place, and I went toward town. Hoping to find her, thinking that maybe she just had a flat tire or something and her phone had died,” I say, running my hand through my hair.
“Thomas,” Nettie’s voice screams out from the side of the road.
The officer and I both lift our heads and turn to her. She looks like she’s about to be sick as I watch the paramedics load a gurney into an ambulance. It’s her, my Ines. I start to shake, my stomach continuing to twist, and I have to breathe through my nose to keep from vomiting everywhere.
“Go to the hospital, we’ll finish this interview after I survey and process the scene,” the officer offers. “Go be with your woman.”
I thank him and jog toward Nettie. I explain to her everything I know, and she covers her mouth with her hand. “Go, go to the hospital. I’ll meet you there.”
I shake my head telling her not to come. It’s late and I can feel the snow beginning to fall. I encourage her to go home and text me when she gets there. Reluctantly she agrees and then I slip into my car and try not to drive like a bat out of hell to get to my woman.
When I arrive at the hospital they, of course, have no immediate news for me. In fact, they try to give me some shit about not being a relative, so they can’t tell me anything.
“Listen, her family lives in Florida. She lives with me, wears my ring, and is carrying my baby. I need to know if she’s okay.”
The nurse looks at me with nothing short of pity and I don’t even care, fucking pity me all day as long as she tells me that Ines is going to be okay, I could give a fuck. I wait, and then the nurse gives me a nod.
“I don’t know anything yet, as soon as the doctor has looked at her, I’ll send him your way.” She gives me a sad smile and I nod, turning around. I walk away from the nurses’ station and I pace. I fucking pace, back and forth, over and over, waiting for any news, any tidbit of information.
An hour passes, then another, with no news. Then a door opens, and a man walks toward me, but it isn’t who I anticipate, it isn’t the doctor that I’ve been waiting for, it’s the police officer that was at the scene. “Officer,” I grunt as he approaches.
“Mr. Jacobson,” he nods. “I know you probably don’t want to do this, but I do need to ask you some questions.”
I nod in agreement, I don’t want to do this. However, I understand that he has questions, I do too, so I’m not sure how I can help him but maybe talking to him will ease my frustrations with the doctors. I want to go behind the locked doors, and start screaming, start ripping heads off, and demanding answers. Instead, I decide to answer the police officer’s questions.
“First things first, I need to establish a timeline. Can you tell me what your day, and what you know Ines’ day consisted of?” I nod, and I go through my schedule and Ines’ schedule that I know. I also provide him with Nettie’s name and phone number so that he can get the specifics of their afternoon together.
“Great,” he says as he writes everything down on a little notepad. “I looked into it, but I need to hear it from you. How is your relationship with your soon to be ex-wife?” he asks.
“Danielle?” I breathe.
I run my hand through my hair, my mind spinning, wondering if he’s asking me this because she has anything to do with it. I can’t imagine that she would. Danielle can be a bitch, but she’s out to ruin my life, not kill anybody.
I explain to him about our non-existent relationship, and the details of my divorce, including her going to the chancellor of the university about my affair with Ines. The officer keeps his pen and his eyes trained to his notepad while he quickly scribbles down my words.
“Thanks, I’ll be in contact,” he announces.
>
When he turns to leave, I speak up. “Who rented that truck?” I ask.
The officer turns around slowly, his eyes hold that same fucking pity as before and I don’t even need him to answer. His questions about Danielle, they confirm what my gut had already told me. You would think that she was smart enough not to rent it in her name.
“It hit a tree and it wouldn’t start, only reason it was even at the scene. Dumb fucking luck, really.”
He doesn’t wait another moment, he swiftly walks away from me, anger suddenly fills my body as I think about the idea that Danielle attempted to murder Ines, murder my baby. And for what? Because I didn’t do what she wanted, because I stood my ground and filed for divorce when she forbade it?
Fuck that fucking cunt.
INES
My eyelids feel so heavy, and I’m exhausted. Not like normal exhausted, but really, really, freaking tired. I try to open my eyes, but nothing happens. I can hear beeping, and then I hear Thomas’ voice. I don’t know who he’s talking to, maybe it’s me, but maybe not. The sound of his voice, it lulls me to sleep again. No matter how hard I try to open my eyes, sleep takes over and I relax again.
The beeping is the first thing I hear. My eyelids, they’re not as heavy as they were before and I’m able to open them. I’m glad when the room isn’t bright, but instead, there’s a soft glow coming from somewhere else, somewhere off in the distance.
“Thomas?” I ask, my voice breaking and sounding raspy as shit.
A shadow hangs over me, and I feel a warmth wrap around my hand. Then he’s there, right in front of my face and I can’t help but allow my lips to crack into a smile. I feel like shit, my body aches like crazy and my lips are dry, but Thomas is here with me and that’s all that matters.
“What happened?” I ask.
Thomas shakes his head, lowering his face and presses his against my forehead. “It doesn’t matter what happened, angel eyes. All that matters is that you’re alive,” he mutters against my forehead.
I hear the machines start to go a little crazy when I think about the baby, is the baby okay? I press my hand to my stomach, but it feels the same, and I don’t know what that means, or if it means anything. I don’t know anything and my mind starts to race. “You need to calm down, sweetheart,” Thomas warns.
“There was an accident, I remember the sound of the metal. Thomas, the baby,” I whimper as my eyes fill with water.
The hospital bed dips, he adjusts my hand to his lap and his blue eyes meet mine. They look sad, and I take a gulp, trying to prepare myself for the worst news of my life. My baby is gone, our baby is gone, I know it.
“Listen, Ines. Listen closely,” he murmurs.
I don’t know what I’m listening to and then I hear it. Two heartbeats fill the room, the beeping of the other machines fade away and two distinct heartbeats fill the otherwise quiet room. One is slow and steady, the other rapid.
“Yours, and our baby’s hearts,” he whispers. “The baby is okay, they said they want to keep you here to monitor the next seventy-two hours, but it looks like everything is going to be okay. We were so lucky, and you were so strong, sweetheart.”
His forehead presses against mine again and he inhales, then exhales. As if he’s trying to breathe me in. I don’t know if I was brave, or strong, or anything like that. I didn’t do anything, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we’re okay. Me and the baby, we’re okay. My eyes slowly slide closed and I allow sleep to take over, my anxiety gone, and my heart full and happy.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
THOMAS
I watch Ines sleep. Fucking shit, she’s been sleeping for almost forty-eight hours straight. My dad and Jade showed up early this morning. They took one look at her, and Jade cried. Ines is a mess, a mess of bruises and cuts. It’s a miracle that she didn’t break any bones. The doctor flat out told me that she must have a guardian angel with her. I happen to agree.
My phone rings and I glance down at the name. The police officer who was on scene and I have become quite acquainted with each other, and I’m glad for it. He knows it was Danielle who hurt Ines, who tried to kill her, and he’s been able to obtain a warrant for her arrest. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to find her. That has me completely on edge. I haven’t left Ines’ side, afraid that she’ll somehow bring her crazy ass in here to hurt my fiancée, again.
“I don’t want to believe that Danielle did this,” Jade whispers after about an hour of silence.
I shake my head, running my fingers through my hair and tugging on the ends. I’m sure I look like shit, and I probably smell terrible too, but I’m not leaving Ines’ side, not now and maybe not ever. At least, not until I’m assured that she’s safe.
“I wouldn’t have believed it, not in a million years, but she’s not the same person she was even a few years ago,” I admit. “She’s desperate. I don’t know why she thinks that me not being her husband, makes a difference in her promotions. As soon as I told her I wasn’t going through with that sham marriage plan of hers, she went off of her rocker.”
Jade nods, and then something flashes in her eyes. “Damn, I didn’t even think about it,” she says.
I try not to demand that she tells me what’s going through her mind, but I really want to know. Luckily, she relieves me of my curiosity a few seconds later.
“When we were young, she used to do coke, a lot. It was how she worked such long hours, and how she always got promotions over other people because her production rate was off the charts. Nobody really questioned it, it was the eighties, everyone was playing with blow recreationally. Danny wasn’t really recreational though, she lived for it. Only when she met you and tried to pursue you, did she slow down, but I highly doubt she ever stopped.”
I snort. “You think all of this is because of cocaine?”
Jade shakes her head. “No, but I have a feeling using it for so long built up a tolerance, and it’s expensive. She’s been paying for attorney fees. I bet she’s moved onto something different, something that would make her act irrational and crazy. You know, if I were a betting person, that’s what I would bet.”
“Like maybe, meth?” I ask.
Jade jerks her head with a nod. Christ. I would have never thought it, but damn if it doesn’t make sense. Rage fills my body yet again, it flows through me and I stand up, needing to expel some of my energy. I pace angrily.
Glancing at Ines every so often, I feel guilty and I’m fucking pissed. That bitch, she tried to kill my baby, that drugged out bitch, and it’s my fault. I didn’t know, I didn’t know that she was using anything. Jade knew, and I’m sure my father did.
Am I that blind that I didn’t know my own wife was an addict?
Am I that fucking stupid?
“You’re not stupid, Thomas,” my father murmurs.
I glance back at the sofa and notice that Jade is gone. “I’m not?” I snort.
“Fuck no, people live double lives all of the time. You hardly saw her; how could you know what kind of shit she was into?”
I think about his words, and he’s right, but I still feel like a goddamn moron.
“What happens if the police don’t find her? What will she do next, will she succeed?” I ask, voicing my fears.
My dad shakes his head, his eyes flick from Ines, then back to me. “She won’t succeed in shit, Thomas. They’ll catch her, and when they do, her ass is going to be locked the fuck up,” he grunts.
I want to believe him. I want that peace of mind, and I want it now. However, I’m not so sure, it’s been two days and they haven’t found her yet. Why haven’t they found her? When they do, and they charge her, I’m going to sit in the fucking front row at her trial. I’m going to gladly watch them drag her ass away to prison—with a smile on my face.
“Thomas?” Ines’ sweet voice calls out. “Gregory?” she asks, looking confused.
She hasn’t been awake much. She doesn’t know that my parents came here to see her and to help
keep me from losing my shit. In all honesty, I’m about a second away from hunting Danielle down myself and dealing with her the way I see fit.
I hear my dad leave and the door click closed behind him. “We’re doing Christmas here, it’s been decided. My parents are staying until the holiday, and they’re going to help with everything,” I announce.
“Really?” she breathes. “I can’t ask that, I can’t ask them to stay here for that long, and what about Carter?”
I shake my head. “Don’t worry about anything. You are not traveling anywhere. In fact, after you leave this terrible hospital, you’re going home and staying tucked in bed until this baby arrives,” I state.
Ines’ eyes widen, and I watch as they dance, her lips turning into a smile. “That sounds awful, Thomas,” she giggles. “I will relax and take things easy, but there’s no way I’m sitting in bed for the next seven months, not unless the doctors demand it. I would go insane, Papi.”
I grunt, wishing she would just do what I say, but I know she won’t. She extends her palm and I quickly close the distance between us, slipping my hand into hers. “I love you, Thomas. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“If it wasn’t for me, none of this would have happened.”
Ines shakes her head, bringing my hand to her cheek and placing a kiss on the back of my palm. “You’re right, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be blissfully happy. I would be absolutely miserable, and how much would that suck?”
I chuckle lightly, bending down and brushing my lips across hers. “I’ll keep you both safe, always,” I whisper against her lips.
“I know you will,” she replies.
INES
Jade’s eyes widen, and she presses her lips together. Gregory and Thomas are attempting to put up a Christmas tree, and do it as straight as possible. Unfortunately, they’re arguing more than they’re working. It isn’t an ugly thing, they’re bickering and it’s kind of cute to watch. They both want it to be perfect, unfortunately they both have different ideas on how to achieve that.
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