AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stop pacingas the memory rushes over me. Turning to Chloe, there’s a sympathetic smile on her face. My anger at her for the last five years melts away and is replaced with confusion.
“She’s mine?” I ask, just to make sure I’m on the right path.
“Yes.”
“There never was anyone else?”
“What?” Her face contorts into shock as the single word slips past her lips.
“I saw you. In Denver. You had a ring on your hand and a baby in your belly. What was I supposed to think, Chloe?”
“You came to Denver?”
“I needed answers. Jones and I came down a few months after you disappeared. I thought if I could talk to you that I’d be able to find closure,” I explain.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she says, leaning against the dresser. “I wanted to call you, I tried. I swear I did. My parents made it impossible for me to reach you.”
“Your parents? What do they have to do with this?”
Lowering her head to the ground, Chloe mumbles something. When she raises her head, I see tears in her eyes. My instinct is to rush over to her, to pull her into my arms and hold her until her tears have dried up.
One step in her direction and I’m able to stop myself.
Old habits die hard.
“What did your parents do?” I ask again, the firmness in my voice surprising me.
“They made me leave. They kept me from contacting you. I wanted to tell you. I went down to the pond, but you weren’t there.”
“I waited for you, Chloe. As long as I could.”
There’s more truth in that statement than she knows. I’ve been waiting for her since the day she left. Even after I thought she had moved on to someone else, I still waited. My heart won’t let her go.
“Telling you I was pregnant wasn’t something I could leave in the note. I figured I’d call you once my parents left me alone in Denver and explain everything, but they took my phone. I was all alone in a new city and I couldn’t even tell you that we were having a baby. I was scared to death, Wyatt.”
“Tell me now, then. Tell me everything. Start from the beginning. I want to know everything I missed. The good and the bad.”
Moving to sit on her bed, Chloe follows my lead. It takes her a few minutes, but once she starts talking, I can hear the sincerity in her voice. The sadness. The uncertainty.
She’s still the same Chloe that I fell in love with. Confident on the outside, insecure inside. Smart and kind and loving. She would never do the horrible things to me that I thought she had. Not if she were given another option. And so far, it doesn’t sound like she was.
