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A small spot of crimson glared up from the white plastic chair.
Not the baby. I can’t lose my baby.
The tears that had refused to fall only minutes ago now gushed forth like torrential rains.
Help. She needed medical help. She tried to walk to the counter, but a haze filled her head and her legs wobbled. Cramps pierced into her tummy.
“Ma’am?” An elderly librarian rushed to her. “Do you need help? Oh! You’re bleeding. Let’s get you to a doctor.”
Mama’s been through this. I want Mama. I want my baby.
“Please, I just want to go home.”
“Nonsense. It’s after hours, but I’ll call Dr. Weinstein. We’ll go to his urgent care clinic. He won’t mind. Small-town doctors are used to nighttime emergencies.”
Before Catie could protest, the librarian had helped her into a brown sedan.
Catie’s weeping continued. How could this have happened? At least Chad was off the hook. He’d no longer be shackled to a wife he didn’t want, a baby he didn’t want. Hell, he hadn’t wanted Linda’s either. If he had, he’d have married her and taken care of her and the kid.
Yet he had married Catie. Did that mean anything? Nah. He hadn’t been happy about it. Maybe Linda had refused him. If so, she had strength Catie didn’t possess. She wiped at her eyes with the hanky the kind librarian had given her. Chad would have married Linda. Clearly, he was taking care of their child.
Soon they arrived at the clinic. A nurse ushered Catie in, took her to an urgent care exam room, and started an IV.
“I’m giving you something for the pain, Dr. Weinstein’s orders,” the nurse said. “He’ll be here soon.”
Catie sighed and regarded the needle in her hand. Soon the cramping would lessen thanks to the drugs dripping into her veins. Too bad they couldn’t do anything for her emotional pain.
She lay on the uncomfortable bed and waited for the doctor to come in and give her the news she already knew.
She had lost Chad’s baby.
She had lost Chad.
* * *
Because she was so early in her pregnancy, she didn’t need a D and C. She had expelled what little tissue there was naturally. The doctor released her later in the evening with a prescription for antibiotics and pain pills and instructions to take it easy. No sex for four weeks. Didn’t matter. The only man she wanted to have sex with didn’t want her, and she was done having sex with men who didn’t want her.
Should she have called him? Nah. She shook her head. He didn’t care. If Annie had left, Dallas would have moved heaven and earth to find her. Ditto Zach and Dusty. But not little brother Chad. He didn’t care that his wife had been missing for twenty-four hours. Now that the baby was gone, no reason existed to prolong this sham of a marriage.
The kind nurse drove her to the library to retrieve her car, followed her to the hotel, and made her promise not to drive until morning, when the pain medication had left her system.
It was a promise Catie did not keep.
She packed up her overnight bag and quickly rummaged through her purse. Yes, her procrastinating nature had paid off—she hadn’t yet removed her passport and put it in the safe. She should call her parents. Even Chad. He’d have told them she was gone by now. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t ready to talk yet. Besides, they’d find her easily enough. She hadn’t covered her tracks. She’d call them all when she reached her destination. For she wasn’t going home. She was going straight to Salt Lake City, to the airport.
Back to France.
Away from Chad.
She had friends in Europe who would welcome her. She’d already called and told Dominic that she was coming. As soon as she had her arrival information, she’d text it.
* * *
The verge of insanity niggled at the back of Chad’s neck like fingers scraping a chalkboard. A quick phone call to Linda had confirmed Catie had visited, but Linda had no idea where she was staying or if she was still in Applewood. He found her at a local motel, but had come up empty-handed when he tried to call her room. No answer. No answer on her cell either. Was she deliberately avoiding him?
He could drive to Applewood, but that would take hours. His PI buddy, Larry Parks, could easily track Catie down in less than half the time. He put in the call and wasn’t surprised when Larry called back in less than an hour.
“What’s the good news, Lar?”
