Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Ben
By the time we pulled into the Red River house’s driveway, Gray was having a fit. He was hot and hungry, and I had just a few bags of milk left. How long would they last us? A few days, maybe? How long would it be until I could get away from her?
“I should probably take him and get formula,” I said. “That’ll give you time to get his room ready.”
“Do you honestly think I’m an idiot?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “I’m going to nurse him. It’s better for the baby.”
“You don’t have milk—”
She slammed her hand on the center console. “I’m going to nurse him!”
She climbed from the car, taking the keys with her.
I reached to the back, touching his hand.
“It’s okay, Gray,” I told him, knowing it was mostly a lie.
I had to make it okay, but I had no idea how.
She opened the back door, reaching for him, and I shot out of the car and hurried to her side.
“Kat, if you’re going to do this, we have to take care of him. He needs formula. He has to eat.”
She stalked past me, carrying my screaming child as every bit of my insides screamed for me to save him. But how? She led me up to the house and pulled a set of keys from her pocket, unlocking the door. I needed to get my phone back. I needed to call for help. I wouldn’t leave Gray with her.
She took him in the living room, the musty house so familiar, yet so different. Had I really been happy here once? With this woman who held such a darkness? I missed Palmer more than I could say. I ached for her, for her warmth, for her brain. She would know what to do, how to save our son.
I was not sure I could ever face her again, even after I got him out of this. Would she ever forgive me?
I followed her as she laid him on the couch. “I think he needs a diaper change.” She looked at me. “Can I trust you to stay here while I get a diaper?”
I swallowed. “Of course.”
She turned away from us, not looking entirely sure, and I heard her footsteps ascend the stairs in the hall.
I scooped Gray up without a warning and darted from the living room, through the kitchen, and out the back door.
I held him close to my chest as he screamed, running around the corner of the house.
I stopped in my tracks, staring at her as she cut me off, coming around the side of the house. She held a large shovel in her hands.
“You should’ve done what you promised, Ben.”
“What did I promise?”
“You promised to love me, to take care of me in sickness and in health. Then you left me.”
I swallowed, rubbing a hand over Gray’s back. “Kat, I’m…I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t fix this, Ben. It doesn’t fix me. I needed you. I needed you the most, and you walked away and started over with someone new. Someone better.”
“I didn’t know what to do, Kat. I was scared. I was terrified I was just making it worse for you—”
“And when I saw her at the hair appointment, I knew what she must think of me. I knew she believed she’d won, but I had to win. I had to win.”
“There’s nothing to win, Kat. Please, just let us go. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to hurt us. Please…” I took a step back, and she raised the shovel. “You don’t want this.”
“You should’ve just killed me when you had the chance,” she said, shaking her head with tears in her eyes.
“I don’t want to—”
“Put him down,” she screamed.
“I don’t—”
“Now, Ben. Before I hurt you both.”
I kissed Gray’s head, laying him down on the grass, and took a step toward Kat, ready to take the shovel from her. “Come on, now, let’s talk this th—”
I never got to finish my sentence because at that exact moment, she swung.
After that, there was only darkness.