Chapter 2
Sean shut the door to his hotel room, and when he turned around, Jennie was already sitting up in bed. He could barely see her outline in the darkness.
“The lights won’t turn on,” Jennie answered.
“The snowstorm knocked out the power last night,” Sean replied, and he started to dress.
“But that’s not why they knocked, is it?” Jennie asked.
“It’s probably nothing,” Sean answered.
Jennie tilted her head to the side, giving him a chance to tell her the truth. He decided to take it.
“A girl’s gone missing from her room,” Sean said.
“Oh my God,” Jennie said. “When?”
Sean couldn’t help but notice how Jennie’s hands went to her stomach. She had already grown used to the motion in such a short amount of time.
“This morning,” Sean answered, and then he spied his boxers on the floor at the foot of the bed. He picked them up, removed his robe and trousers, and then slipped his underwear on.
“Here, let me get my phone; it has a better light,” Jennie said.
Jennie slipped out of bed, moving gracefully across the room, auburn hair covering her shoulder blades, her bare back spotted with freckles. Before she slipped past, Sean wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.
“Are you going to be okay?” Sean asked.
Jennie radiated warmth against him, fighting off the room’s cold. Even in the dark, he could make out the shining emeralds in her eyes, round as the moon. Holding her, Sean looked more like a monster keeping her captive than her boyfriend.
“Yes,” Jennie answered, her voice quiet but firm.
The past week had been difficult. And this weekend was supposed to be a celebration of their future, but the news from the doctor on Wednesday had rocked their worlds. Sean told Jennie they could cancel the trip, but she said she needed the distraction.
The Bonnie was a boutique hotel in the mountains of Connecticut, about thirty miles from Deerfield, where Sean and Jennie lived. He had picked it because it was small, intimate, and a five-star experience, according to the reviews.
But the real reason he had planned this weekend was because of the small ring box hidden in his luggage. Sean had planned the proposal for months, coordinating a private outdoor setting complete with a string quartet, a five-course meal, candles, flowers, the whole nine yards.
Sean had canceled all of that after the news on Wednesday, not because he didn’t want to marry Jennie anymore, but because he didn’t think the timing was right. And while Jennie had assured him that she was fine, he wasn’t sure if he believed her.
The miscarriage had shaken both of them.
“You should go,” Jennie said, kissing him. “If that girl is missing, then there is no one better qualified to find her.”
Sean finished dressing and headed toward the door. He stopped and looked back at her. “I love you,” Sean said.
“I love you, too,” Jennie replied.
It had taken Sean years to say and receive those three words. Both he and Jennie carried burdens from the past, but when they found each other, Sean discovered new strength and purpose. So had Jennie.
Sean had no doubts they would survive this heartbreak. And when the time was right, he would propose.
But right now, a girl was missing, and it was time for Sean to get to work.