AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ian is openly staring at me as if he's trying to determine something. I head back to my cottage.
I've been practicing my relaxation breathing with my yoga for about twenty minutes when the phone rings in the house. I know Helen will get it, so I continue to practice.
“Ms. Ana, Duncan and Maya are on their way over,” she says from the patio.
“Okay, I'll go up and get changed.” I stand up and walk into the house, and head upstairs to shower and get dressed.
It's been only about thirty minutes since I went upstairs. I hear voices coming from the sitting room. As I get closer, I hear his voice. My pulse starts to race, I missed him.
“Hello.” My eyes are on him as I cross the threshold, his on me. I can see him take in the difference in my body from the last time he saw me.
Where I felt like a whale last month, I now actually look like one. I lost so much weight while with Jonathan that my pregnancy looks more exaggerated than on another woman.
“Hello, Ana.” His voice is quiet. He looks so amazing. I would have to fall for the most handsome man I've ever seen, and of course, he doesn't look at me that way.
“Hey, girl,” Maya says brightly.
Okay, Maya doesn't do anything brightly. Something is up.
“What's wrong?” My eyes still haven't left his.
He'll tell me. One thing I know for sure is he wouldn’t lie to me. He might omit things to protect me, but if I ask, he’d tell me.
Chapter Eight
Joshua
I almost stop breathing, she is breathtaking. I've missed her. I want to take her in my arms. I don't want to be here to give her the bad news. I tried, I really pushed the bloody courts to side with her now. I've been fighting for a month to keep this from happening. In that month she's grown into her pregnancy, although I see the dark circles under her eyes. She isn't sleeping as much as she should.
“Ana, please take a seat,” I say in a tight voice. Is that my voice?
Damn, time to man up. I sound so weak. I actually feel weak. I've failed her. Just like I’ve failed others. The lack of sleep last night and the rushing around today have taken a toll on me. I feel on edge and ready to rip apart Jonathan with my bare hands for what he's done.
“Okay, Joshua, please tell me what's going on.” She sits across from Maya and Duncan. I sit next to her.
“I've been in Belfast for the last month trying to push through your divorce. Jonathan is contesting it though, and he won't allow for the divorce to go through until after the baby is born.”
“What? He knows? How?” Her hand drops to her stomach, it's the perfect shape of a ball. She hasn't put on much weight except for the baby. I do see her curves coming back finally; she's eating better and exercising.
“Jonathan's solicitor says they have a witness that'll swear you are pregnant and were treated at a facility in London before you disappeared. The High Court wanted you to show up to testify, so your barrister had to tell the court you were. I'm sorry, I tried.”
“He'll never let us go now. It's hopeless. I'm sorry to have wasted your time.” Her head drops, and I see the tears start to fall.
“It's never hopeless,” Maya says.
“Yes it is, he'll kill us before he lets me be free, and he'll take Isabella away from me. You don't know him like I do. He tortured me, Maya. He threatened me daily. I'm no good to anyone. Please, let me go, I don't want you all to get hurt.” She rises from her seat, and I see the panic starting.
I've called and kept up with her medical issues, Duncan tells me as much as he hears from Maya. Ian watches her every night. He told me she paces her house at night and is in her studio. No one wanted her to move into the cottage but couldn't tell her no. I would've. After her night walking, Ian has kept a closer eye on her for me.
“Angel, stop!” She swings around to me, her beautiful eyes full of tears. “You're important to all of us.”
“No, Joshua, it's done. I'll tell you where the evidence is. I'm leaving now. I will go far away. You will all be safe if I’m gone. I can't let him take my baby or you from me again.”
“No! Sit down now, Angel, you're not leaving me again.” My voice rises, and I see Duncan's head whipping back and forth between us.
He's trying to figure out everything. He knows I was hung up on a woman I called Angel. Maya looks like she swallowed something. I walk to Ana and stand within reach of her. I want to pull her to me. The ache in my arms is getting worse. I've missed her so much. If I could've come through that phone that night I would have. I would have held her like Ian did.
“No, Joshua. I can't lose my baby, she's everything to me, and she is all I have. I went back. I went back there for two years, every day. You never did, except for that night two nights after we met, when you were with that big knockered blonde.”
