AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aiden… I wonder where he is now. Has he made it to India? Not a day goes by when he’s not in my thoughts. How could he not when he’s so much a part of Tiero and me? It still hurts as bad as it did the day I broke his heart… but it was always inevitable, wasn’t it?
I let out a long sigh and glance over at Claudette. Even she looks worried, and nothing usually ruffles her feathers. Rhia is biting her lip and tapping her fingers against the glass.
The wind howls and rattles the windows. Claudette, Rhia, and I huddle closer together, my arms slinging around their shoulders.
“We should lower the shutters,” Claudette suggests when a small branch hits the window and we jump back, startled. But none of us move.
The branches of the few trees we can still make out sway dangerously. We exchange anxious glances, watching the occasional dead limb succumbing to the storm, falling with a muffled thud into the accumulating snow below.
“What if they get hit by a falling branch?” I voice what the girls surely must be thinking too.
Rhia presses her face against the glass, trying to discern any movement in the white-out.
“They should have been back by now. I know Lex has been in plenty of tight spots, but this is getting serious.”
The dimming daylight casts a gloom over the panorama, and the once serene winter wonderland transforms into a scene full of foreboding.
I rub the back of my neck as I begin pacing up and down the wall of windows. I’m too restless to stand still anymore.
“Why did we let them go out there?” I ask. “Who cares about the wedding decorations? There won’t be a wedding if Tiero doesn’t come back.”
I pace faster. My chest tightens with each step, my breathing turning shallower.
“Fuck… what if he doesn’t come back? What if he freezes to death out there?” The last part comes out as a whisper, my throat too tight to push anything through.
I squeeze my eyes shut, clenching my fists.
Oh God!
I want to yell or throw something, but everything inside me is wound too tight. I can’t pull in enough air.
“He’s not cheated death his whole life to die in a blizzard,” Claudette tries to reassure me.
She takes my hand and pulls me to the sofa, forcing me to sit down.
“You’re shaking,” she observes. “Let’s do breathing exercises together. You’re panicking.”
Damn right I am!
Who wouldn’t if their fiancé was missing in the middle of an ice storm?
Spots dance in my vision, my limbs tingling as I desperately try to pull in air. Sweat runs down my back. I’m too hot!
I fumble to take off a layer of my clothing, but my hands shake so much, Claudette has to help me.
Tears sting my eyes, and I feel like I’m moments away from passing out.
My hands go to my baby bump, cradling it protectively.
I need to keep it together… for peanut… for Tiero… for Rhia.
“Look at me, darling, and let’s take a deep breath in…” I do as Claudette asks and mirror her.
Ever so slowly I calm down, enough to breathe freer, but the anxiety is simmering beneath the surface.
It wants to break free as I watch helplessly as the wind whips through the trees and more branches succumb to its increasing force.
“We need to do something!” I say, my voice urgent.
