Chapter Twenty-One: Thomas

In my pocket my phone buzzes. I think about ignoring it, but instead, I pull it out of my pocket. I frown at the screen. The number is unfamiliar to me.

“Hello?” I ask warily. I never know who is going to be on the other end of the line. I usually don’t answer unfamiliar numbers.

“Thomas it’s Julia. Don’t hang up.” I was about to do just that, but something stopped me. I frown. I sigh heavily into the speaker, not really wanting to deal with her right now.

“What do you want, Julia. Where are you calling from?”

“I got a new phone, sorry. I wanted to let you know I saw Sophia run away from your mother just now. She got in her car and left in a hurry. I don’t know what’s wrong but as pregnant as she is, she doesn’t need to be upset.”
I groan. The last thing I need right now is to deal with a very upset Sophia because of my mother. “No, she doesn’t. I’ll call her. Don’t worry Julia and thank you.”
She hesitates on the other end of the line. Then I hear a small, hiccupping sob. Awesome. She takes a steadying breath, and I listen.

“I have so much I need to say to you Thomas,” she’s crying but I have to make sure my love is ok. What could my mother have done?
“I can’t do this right now, Julia. I need to find Sophia. How long ago did she leave?”
She sniffed. “It’s been about twenty minutes.”

“Thanks,” I mutter just before disconnecting the call. If I waited, Julia would continue talking. Right now, my main priority is Sophia. I quickly punch in her number. It rings three times before going to voicemail. I hang up and try again. This time it only rings once before voicemail. I growl in frustration. I try again and this time it doesn’t ring at all. Great. She’s turned off her phone.
I’m only twenty minutes from our apartment. She either went there to stay or if she’s really upset she went to her mothers. If she went to her mothers’ then she would take a cab, but then I remember that Julia said she got into her car so she had to at least take that home. Maybe somehow, I can catch her.

I’m so nervous and panicky my hands are shaking. I drive fast from work to the house. I pray that there aren’t any cops between here and there because I just broke all the traffic laws in only half a mile.

I whip my car into our driveway. Her car is here, but that doesn’t mean she is. I race through the front door. It slams against the wall, sending pictures crashing to the floor. I don’t care. Please let her be here.

One of my neighbors comes out to see me rushing through the hall but I don’t stop to acknowledge them. There’s also some photographers who’ve taken an interest in what I’m doing. I don’t have time to worry about them right now. If they capture my panicked face and make a few bucks, so be it.

“Sophia!!” I call. I hold my breath as I wait for her to answer. When I hear nothing, I go from room to room searching. My heart sinks when I realize she’s not here. She’s gone to her mothers, at least I hope that’s where she’s gone.
Feeling a surge of emotions, I frantically dial my mother as I go and look for the hospital bag. It’s gone. If she took that she’s definitely leaving.
“What did you say to Sophia mother?” I say by way of greeting.
I don’t give her a chance to say anything when she picks up so she waits a minute to respond. “What do you mean Thomas. You sound funny,” she slurs. I can’t believe she is this drunk at almost six o’clock, but I shouldn’t be surprised.
“She left here mad. I didn’t say anything.” Somehow my mother seems to sober up a bit while I yell at her.
“Her things aren’t in her room mother. What did you do? Where is she?”
“Calm down Thomas. I only have your best interest at heart. That girl is using you.” She’s back to slurring. I realize there’s no way to know how much she had to drink.
“She’s not. I’m using her.” I yell the panic in my chest feeling like it’s constricting my heart. I have to find her.
“What does that even mean?”
“It means I paid her to have the baby for Dinah. So, I could give Dinah her perfect little life and that would only have benefited you. You truly are a selfish bitch mother.” I can’t control the anger I’m feeling.

She scoffs at the phone, doing her best motherly impression. “Thomas, you can’t talk to me like that. Why does it matter what I said if you’re paying her to have the baby?”
Rage rolls through me with the force of a hurricane. I want to hurl my phone against the wall. I want to shake my mother until her teeth rattle. Instead, I do the only thing I can. I yell. “You’re an idiot, you truly are. I love her. I have fallen in love with her. You’ve run an eight-month pregnant woman off. She’s probably upset and could go into labor. I don’t know where she is, mother. What did you do?”
My mother speaks very quietly. “I told her we’d find her unfit and take the baby from her.”
My eyes widen. My mother has done some pretty outrageous stuff, but this really takes the cake. I grit my teeth. “You’ll be lucky if you see a picture of your granddaughter after this,” I growl. I don’t give her a chance to reply before hanging up the phone.

I need to think. Should I call her mother? That probably isn’t the best. I don’t want to upset her. I can wait and see if she calls me but I may go insane.
At this moment I wish my mother didn’t even know about Sophia. I wish the three of us could just live our lives in peace. I hope she knows me well enough to know I’d never do that to her, but she has been emotional during this last month especially.
I stare down at my phone, willing it to ring. “Please Sophia,” I whisper, “call me and let me know you’re okay.”

Anxiously, I pace the living room, but when that doesn’t help. I wander into the kitchen. Maybe if I ate something. I open the fridge, but the only thing I can think of is Sophia. Has she eaten? Is she hungry? Is the baby okay?

I have no idea what to do, and I feel like I am spiraling out of control.

Unable to stand it any longer, I grab my keys and hurry from the house. I’m not sure where I am going, but where ever it is, I hope Sophia is there. I tell myself to calm down so I can drive safely. I’m no good to either one of us if I’m in a car accident somewhere. I concentrate on driving and try to figure out from the timeline where she’d be in her journey.