Chapter Two
I sat in silence, my mind a thousand miles away from the congested road I traveled. My thoughts were on a man I both wished I could forget and clung desperately to all at the same time. Why I did this to myself, I didn’t know. But every morning, it was the same. After dropping my daughter off at preschool, he would invade, the recessed memories clawing their way out and into the forefront of my mind.
Why couldn’t I just forget him? My daughter was almost five years old, but it felt like it had just been yesterday since Christian had callously forced us out of his life.
And it still hurt.
I was so angry because of the bitterness that remained, my incapacity to move on—my inability to love again.
Shaking my head, I fought against the tears.
A car horn blared, making me jump and pulling me from my daze. The lane sat open in front of me where the cars ahead had already passed through the intersection. I grimaced as I glanced in my rear-view mirror at the frustrated driver behind me, threw my hand up in an apology I wasn’t entirely sure he would see, and accelerated to free the buildup of traffic.
I wasn’t always like this. Really, the pain only surfaced in the quiet times. I had so much love in my life. I would never discount it or take it for granted. When I was alone, though, it was impossible to ignore the heaviness in my chest—the ache.
I hated him for leaving it there.
No one should ever have that much control on someone else’s heart, and I would never allow myself to become so vulnerable again.
Arriving at the bank five minutes before nine, I drove around to the back and parked in the same spot I did every day. My aspirations of becoming an attorney had long since been forgotten. Finishing my bachelor’s degree had been nearly impossible, it taking me more than two years of night school to finish my last year. Three grueling years of law school were not something I could entertain.
I wasn’t willing to sacrifice the time with my baby girl.
Lizzie was my world.
My pregnancy had been incredibly difficult. The blow Christian had inflicted had affected me both emotionally and physically. That first night had been one of the most terrifying of my life. Every coherent thought I could form as I came in and out of consciousness focused on the possibility that I might lose my baby. It was a possibility I was sure I would not survive. My heart had been left in tatters—mangled. The love I had for the child was the last string holding me together. I could feel my body trying to reject the pregnancy while my heart and mind warred to keep it.
I’d remained hospitalized for three days before my body finally conceded to the growing child within me, but at that time, I had no idea of the fight ahead of me. I’d been ill the entire time, my body never fully giving in to the normal phases of pregnancy. While my doctor told me morning sickness tended to last through the first twelve weeks, I’d vomited every morning until the day Lizzie came. I’d had to withdraw from classes and put my academic career on hold while I sat at home and nursed myself through those nine miserable months.
But I couldn’t complain. I had accepted it was a small price to pay to keep my child.
I’d been in love with my baby since the moment I’d learned I was pregnant, but that love couldn’t prepare me for what I felt the first time I held Lizzie in my arms.
There were no words to describe the love and the devotion that flooded me as my baby girl was placed against my stomach, her shrill cries rattling through the delivery room. As I had reached out and ran my fingers through the shock of black hair on my daughter’s head, Lizzie had immediately calmed. With that caress, I found the purpose for my life.
Releasing a heavy breath, I leaned my forehead on the steering wheel, trying to clear my mind of the conflicting emotions swirling through me. The contrast of love I had for my daughter and disdain for Christian made my head spin, knowing without Christian there would be no Lizzie. I couldn’t even begin to regret a relationship that had brought my child into the world. I could only regret the way it had ended.
I ran my hand through the front of my hair and pushed my long, blond bangs from my face before reluctantly stepping from my car. I stood on the pavement and straightened my white blouse and black slacks, bolstering myself for another day of insignificance.
It wasn’t that I particularly disliked my job. I was thankful for it. It was just hard to spend the long days of unfulfilling monotony away from my daughter.
Clicking the button on my key, my red four-door Honda Civic chirped, assuring it was secure for the day. After being hired at the bank a little more than a year before, I’d bought the car and my house, both used and a little worn, but mine nonetheless. It was something I had worked so hard for, a house in a safe neighborhood with a backyard for my daughter to play in, and it was an accomplishment of which I couldn’t help but feel proud.
I walked through the doors, immediately greeted by Selina, one of the other tellers. “Morning, Elizabeth,” she said, ever cheerful.
“Good morning.” I smiled back at the young woman who was barely more than a girl, her dark brown hair pulled back in a stylish ponytail and her makeup done to perfection around her dark chocolate eyes. Selina had an aura about her, an unmistakable zest that drew me in. I supposed it was a subconscious connection to the girl I used to be.
I took my spot two windows from Selina and plastered an over-friendly smile on my face. I spent the day fielding the constant influx of customers, focusing only on the simple tasks in front of me and the ticking clock, counting the hours until I was back with my Lizzie.
As soon as the clock hit five, I was on my feet and heading out the door, anxious to make it home before Lizzie and my cousin Natalie.
Flipping open my phone, I read a text from Natalie that said she was going to the grocery store and would be home by five thirty.
I freed a long sigh of appreciation as I buckled myself into the seat of my car. Natalie was a lifesaver. I honestly didn’t know what I would do without her and Matthew.
Next to Lizzie, they were the two most important people in my life.
Matthew had been the one person I could rely on while I was ill with my pregnancy. From the moment I woke up in the hospital to the moment I gave birth, he had been there. I almost felt embarrassed to remember that we’d once been lovers, though it was a relationship that was never meant to be.
It wasn’t that either of us found the other unattractive. It was just that Matthew had felt no spark in our touch, and my heart still belonged to the one who had destroyed it.
When we’d moved to San Diego when Lizzie was five months old to be close to my mom and the rest of my family, I’d known the precarious relationship Matthew and I shared couldn’t last. I’d just had no idea it would end so soon.
It was here he met Natalie.
When they’d eloped to Las Vegas seven months later, my family, especially my mother, had been so angry with them and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t. What they didn’t understand was how much Matthew had already sacrificed for me, for Lizzie, and there was no chance I’d stand in the way of his happiness.
At the time, Natalie had just turned eighteen, but it didn’t take long for me to see the real connection they had. Natalie may have been young and naïve, but it didn’t minimize the love she felt for Matthew. And Matthew—he adored her.
The four of us had become a sort of pseudo-family, but a family nonetheless. The couple lived less than five minutes from Lizzie and me, partaking in the daily care of the little girl as if she were their own. I knew Matthew and Natalie loved the role they served in our lives, though I couldn’t help but feel indebted to them.
Who wouldn’t?
It was selflessness in its purest form.
Just before five thirty, I pulled into the garage of my small two-story house, the white paint fresh and lawn trimmed from the countless hours of effort Matthew had put into its care. The moment we’d pulled up in front with the realtor, I’d known that this cozy house would become our home. I’d immediately fallen in love with the flowering myrtle trees flanking each side and the two citrus trees out back.
I gathered my things, and just as I stepped from the car, Natalie pulled up in her small white sedan and parked on the street.
My face lit up in a smile. It was here I found my joy. It was a joy that erased every painful memory of the day. Here I couldn’t remember the ache in my heart or the sadness that washed over me in the quiet of my car. Here I was happy.
I smiled and waved as I walked down the driveway.
Before I could reach them, the back passenger door flew open and Lizzie shot out, throwing her arms up in the air. The child’s face glowed happiness as she ran barefoot up the drive, her blue eyes flashing excitement.
“Mommy!”
I scooped her up. “Hi, baby girl.” I clung to her, kissing the soft apple of her cheek, finding relief in the weight of my daughter in my arms.
Being away from her for so long during the day was nearly unbearable.
Lizzie snuggled in closer, her tiny fingers gripping the back of my neck through my hair. Drawing her nearer, I breathed her in.
I was certain no one had ever loved a child as much as I loved mine.
I pulled back to see my daughter’s perfect face, my voice soft as I spoke. “How was your day, sweetheart?”
“Oh, Momma, I had so much fun.” Lizzie leaned away, pulling her arms from my neck so she could express her story with her hands. “It was B day at school today, and then we sang a bee song ‘cause it starts with the letter B and . . .”
I grinned at my daughter, my face bursting with the force of my smile. The sound of her voice made my heart soar, my chest filled with affection as Lizzie relayed a play-by-play of her day. I was in awe of how smart my daughter was, how intuitive, how perceptive she was of the things around her.
“Then we colored pictures, and I made one for you and Auntie Natalie and Uncle Maffew,” Lizzie prattled on with excitement and distinct preschooler pride.
“That sounds like so much fun, Lizzie. I can’t wait to see the pictures you colored,” I cooed at my child. “So, were you a good girl for Auntie Natalie after she picked you up today?”
As if I really needed to ask—I couldn’t remember a time when my daughter had misbehaved.
“Mommy”—Lizzie’s voice turned very grown up, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing—“I’m always a good girl.”
“Yes you are, aren’t you?” I sang as I nuzzled my nose into Lizzie’s neck, causing her to squeal with laughter.
“Stop, Mommy! No tickles!”
Laughing, I leaned over to place my daughter on the ground, but not before Lizzie looked up to me, her face in near wonder. “And I saw a nice man today, Momma.”
Confused, I looked to Natalie for clarification, wondering what on earth my daughter was talking about. Natalie grimaced with Lizzie’s words, but mouthed later, obviously wishing not to discuss it in front of her.
It left me feeling uneasy, but I shrugged it off, assuming it couldn’t have been anything major since I hadn’t received a call from Natalie.
Natalie and I unloaded the groceries from the car with Lizzie in tow.
I followed them into the living room of my modest house, a feeling of satisfaction coming over me. I still was unable to believe I finally had my own place. The comfortable brown suede couch sat in the middle of the room, facing the television, the beige carpet in between littered with toys and pillows. This was by far my favorite room. It was a rare day Lizzie and I weren’t on the floor, playing toys or sitting on the couch reading a book.
Lizzie skipped along in front of us on the pathway between the back of the couch and the stairs on the way to the kitchen, humming the song she’d learned earlier in the day.
As we piled grocery bags atop the faux-granite countertops, I couldn’t help but notice the way my cousin’s hands trembled, her jaw held rigid. It was completely out of character for someone so laid-back.
Digging blindly into a bag, I started putting away groceries while I observed Natalie, finally becoming too impatient to wait for her to offer an explanation.
“What’s going on with you today?” I demanded, my tone low and concerned.
Natalie glanced over at Lizzie, who sat at the kitchen table coloring, before she looked back at me.
“There was just this guy who freaked me out at the grocery store.” She tried to play it off with a shrug, but the grimace on her face revealed her alarm; her voice was little more than a whisper as she attempted to hide our conversation from Lizzie.
With my brow creased and head tilted to the side, I tried to read on her face. “What do you mean?”
“He just . . .”—Natalie squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head as if it were painful for her to recall the event—“. . . kept staring at Lizzie.” She opened her eyes, meeting mine. “The most disturbing part of it was Lizzie seemed to be just as interested in him as he was with her . . . it was just . . . so . . . weird.” Natalie hesitated before she settled on the word as if she were unable to find another way to describe the interaction.
My daughter’s words from earlier came to me, the ones about seeing a nice man. I was going to need to have another talk with her later about the dangers of talking to strangers. Right then, though, I was after details, unsure if this was really something I needed to be concerned about. While Natalie’s intentions were always good, she had the tendency to exaggerate.
“What did he do that made you so uncomfortable?”
“Well . . .” Natalie breathed heavily through her nose, turned back to the groceries, and resumed the task as she spoke. “I was picking out apples, and when I turned around, they were just staring at each other.”
That sounded weird, just like Natalie had said. Chewing on my lip, I tried to keep the panic welling up in me at bay, focusing on listening to Natalie while I set two boxes of Lizzie’s favorite cereal into the cupboard.
“Then it was like every aisle I went down, he was there, and I was sure he already had things from those aisles in his cart. It really felt like he was following us. The scary thing was Lizzie kept asking me to slow down so she could talk to him. When I asked her if she knew him, she said she thought so, but when I asked from where, she said she didn’t know.”
My skin prickled with goose bumps as chills ran down my spine. I looked over my shoulder, just needing to confirm that my daughter was there. Lizzie was still coloring and quietly humming to herself—safe. I said a silent prayer of thanks, before turning back to the bags in front of me.
“What a creep,” I muttered under my breath.
It was a comment Natalie must have heard, because she continued. “Oh, it gets worse. I was loading the groceries into the trunk of the car, and when I turned around, he was right there, just standing there and staring at her. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. I grabbed Lizzie, threw her in the car, and took off.” She cringed, adding regretfully, “I lost one of Lizzie’s favorite shoes, but I wasn’t about to take the time to stop and get it.”
I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll replace it,” I said, just grateful my cousin had been so cautious with Lizzie. The whole thing had probably been harmless, but when it came to my daughter, safe was always better than sorry. I would much rather Natalie overreact than be complacent. It was one of the reasons I trusted her with Lizzie’s care.
I went back to putting away groceries, glancing between what I was doing and Natalie. I could see she was still shaken and questioning herself. “You did the right thing, Natalie. We’ll just keep an eye out, and if we notice anything else strange, we’ll report it, okay?” Hoping to calm her down, I reached out and hugged her.
Natalie nodded against my shoulder as her tension visibly dissipated. “Okay.”
When she pulled away, I squeezed her hand in a show of support, before I turned and grabbed a couple of boxes from a bag. “So, can you describe him?”
A little more collected, Natalie leaned her back against the counter. “Well, yeah, I don’t think I could forget him. He definitely wasn’t someone who would typically make me nervous. I mean, he was wearing a business suit . . . a nice business suit . . . like you could tell he had money.”
I frowned, rearranging the image I’d had in my head, because a man in a business suit definitely wasn’t what I’d pictured.
“He was tall and pretty thin, but I don’t know, muscular at the same time?” Natalie used her hands to demonstrate about how big she thought the man had been. “He was probably about your age, and really, really good looking.”
The more Natalie described him, the more I began to think she had exaggerated the whole thing. Her depiction sounded more like most women’s vision of their dream guy than some creepy stalker.
“He had black hair . . . and his eyes . . . he had the most striking eyes; they were an intense blue.”
I gasped, dropping the boxes I was holding as I clapped my hands over my mouth to absorb the cry that broke loose.
Oh God, please no.
Natalie jumped back, looking shocked by my sudden change in demeanor, her eyes following mine that locked on Lizzie. The little girl looked up and smiled widely when she noticed the two of us staring at her, her sparkling eyes filled with mirth, totally unaware of anything amiss.
“Oh my God,” Natalie murmured quietly when it all snapped into place.
~
I tossed uncomfortably in bed, unable to escape the fear that had followed me into a night of restless sleep. I dreamt of him again and again, sometimes finding myself wrapped in the tenderness of his arms and other times met with the harshness of the last words he had spoken to me. I didn’t know which was worse.
When I couldn’t bear to see his blue eyes in my dreams any longer, I rose and crept down the hall to Lizzie’s room. Her door sat partially open, just enough for the dim hall light to stream in, basking her room in a soft glow.
I leaned against the doorjamb, gazing at my daughter and wondering how any creature could be so beautiful.
She faced me, one cheek pressed into the pillow as she slept on her side, her hair strewn out behind her. She clung to her favorite blanket, the plain pink one with satin trim. It was pulled against her chest, her tiny hand fisted in the material.
Never had I felt so helpless. I would do anything to protect my daughter, but really, I didn’t know if there was anything to protect her from.
Even if the man had been Christian, what made me think that he would try to take Lizzie from me now? He’d made it clear he wanted nothing to do with the child, and I was sure a chance meeting was not going to change that.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel threatened by the thought of him being here, in my city. Standing silently in my daughter’s doorway, I promised myself that no matter what happened, I would never allow him to destroy my family, whether he came today or in ten years. Never would I allow Christian the chance to hurt Lizzie the way he’d hurt me.
~
By the time I made it to work the next morning, the rational side of me had discredited the possibility that the man at the store had been Christian, even though somehow in my heart I knew it was. I told myself he wasn’t the only black-haired, blue-eyed man in the world, and that Christian was probably over two thousand miles away, by now a big-shot lawyer in his father’s firm.
I forged through work, thankful it was Friday and that I had the entire weekend with Lizzie. I’d planned a trip to the beach, something that had become somewhat of a tradition for us. I’d loved it when I was a child. Some of my best memories came from the endless days I’d spent playing in the sand with my sisters, and I wanted to provide my daughter those same experiences.
The house was empty when I got home. Matthew had the day off, so he and Natalie had taken Lizzie to the zoo and said they wouldn’t be home until around six. It gave me a chance to pick up around the house, tossing the toys from the floor into the toy box against the wall and straightening the kitchen, chores that always seemed to get neglected during the week.
Just as I turned the dial to start the dishwasher, the doorbell rang five times in a row. Grinning, I headed to the front door, knowing there was only one person who could be so impatient. I swung it open.
“Lizzie!” I sang, leaning down to my daughter’s level so I could hug her, peppering her face with noisy kisses.
“Hi, Momma. Look what Uncle Maffew got me.” Lizzie proudly held up a small stuffed giraffe.
“Oh, how cute. That was so nice of him.” Matthew ambled up the sidewalk and I smiled widely at him as I rose, giving my unvoiced appreciation. He never failed to make my daughter feel special.
“Hey, Liz.” Matthew leaned in to peck me on the cheek as he walked through the door, followed by Natalie who stopped for a hug.
“Hey, guys. Thanks for taking Lizzie. It looks like she had a blast.” I glanced between the couple and Lizzie who was on her knees on the floor digging out the toys I had just put away, muttering about her matching stuffed elephant.
Matthew took the baseball cap off his head and ruffled his hand through his short brown hair. “No problem. We had a great time, didn’t we, Lizzie?”
“Yep!” she agreed from her spot on the floor.
“You guys feel like staying for dinner? I’m making lasagna.”
Matthew glanced at Natalie and then shook his head apologetically. “Sorry, Liz, but we planned a date night.”
I tried unsuccessfully to hide the disappointment that flushed my face. “Oh, okay.”
Matthew imparted a sad smile. It was one I knew well, one that told me it was okay to move on and that I didn’t have to be alone. While I appreciated the sentiment, it was something I would give no consideration. The only relationship after Matthew I’d attempted had ended in near disaster, and I’d accepted that I would never love again. That knowledge rendered dating senseless. I’d only be wasting precious time that could be spent with my daughter.
Pretending not to notice the silent conversation Matthew attempted to have with me, I called to Lizzie to come and tell them goodbye. We followed Matthew and Natalie out to their car, Lizzie giving hugs and kisses for the weekend away. I hugged them both, whispering my thanks. They both assured me, once again, that they should be the ones to thank me.
Standing at the edge of the road in the driveway, Lizzie and I waved and watched them drive away. I glanced down at Lizzie who was hugging my leg and grinning up at me. She was just so precious. Lovingly, I ran my hand through my daughter’s hair, my toothy smile matching hers. “Are you hungry, princess?”
Lizzie nodded against my hand when I moved it to cup her cheek, her smile evident where it was pressed against my palm. Breathing deeply, I savored the emotion that traveled between us, only to go rigid when I heard a voice I could never forget calling out my name.
“Elizabeth?”