“Well, it’s time for us to get out of here, Titi,” Quinnlyn said.
“Always avoidin’ the hard talks,” Lina said.
“No… I don’t need you to tell me what I can or should do or don’t do,” he said.
“Okay, I hear ya’. Ya’ heard from ya sister?” Lina asked.
“No, I sent a message to her pager to call here. She hasn’t. When she does, tell her to be safe. No sense in telling her to flee, she won’t. Oh, and tell her I’ll be back,” Quinnlyn said.
“How ‘bout I give her the number for the cabin when she calls and you tell her all that,” Lina said.
“Yeah, but don’t just give that out to anyone,” he said.
“Lord, I won’t!”
He stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, kissing her forehead.
“Thank you, Titi,” he whispered.
“Love you, boy,” she said, then turned toward me. “You take care of yourself, ya’ hear? I’ll be there in a week or so to check on ya. Remember what I told ya.”
Quinnlyn scooped up two full brown bags filled with stuff. He looked at me and nodded toward the door. He opened the door and stood to the side, but I didn’t go out.
“Ladies first,” he said.
“That’s a first,” I said.
“I’m disappointed to hear that, Quinn,” Lina said.
He rolled his eyes as I walked past him, closing the door behind him. He carried the two bags out, setting them near the tailgate. There were other bags already loaded in the truck bed. He walked to the passenger door, opening it. I wasn’t walking anywhere near as fast as I normally did. He stood there waiting. I tried to climb into the truck and nearly fell. His hands wrapped around my waist. I froze, staring at him. His golden-brown eyes locked onto mine. I quickly looked away.
“Sorry,” I said.
He helped lift me into the seat. “Don’t apologize,” he muttered.
He shut the door, walked around to the other side, and got in.
“What is the plan here?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You used the lineI’m following ordersall the time, but now you have gone against the orders. I’m no longer pregnant, and we’re hundreds of miles from home,” I said.
“I hadn’t really thought this out,” he said.
“Don’t ya think you should have?”
“In my defense, I didn't expect you to give birth seventeen weeks early,” he said.
"Okay, and? Did you have a plan for when I gave birth? Because the way things were going, they were gonna take my son from my arms and kill me either way," I said.
“No… damn it. I don’t know what we’re doing. We are going to a cabin that only very select people know about. Ravik is hopefully under the impression you’re dead, and I was so distraught that I ran off,” he said.
“And we’re just gonna hide out here forever,” I said.
“No. Yes. I don’t know Zalayuh, damn it. It’s been a really long couple of days, and I just need to not answer questions from anyone. Okay?”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure if he’d seen it or not. I leaned my head against the window and stared out. We were on a dirt road, passing houses and trailers. Eventually, we turned onto a paved road and drove alongside water and the railway for a while. We turned onto another dirt road, which got narrower the further we went. Occasionally, we would hit a large pothole, which left me flinching and my body screaming.
