Chapter Twenty-eight
Two hours later, Gabby returned to the cabin. Though she was still icicle pale, the cool, determined look in her eyes told Jonah she was ready to move forward. He knew that feeling all too well. When shit rained down on you, you had two choices—let it cover you completely, or grab a shovel and dig your way out.
She sat on the sofa, and without any prompting, her new friend, all forty-two pounds of him, jumped up beside her and put his head on her lap. She laughed softly, and a delightful color bloomed in her cheeks.
“Have you thought of a name yet?”
“Chamo.”
“Venezuelan for friend. Right?”
“Yes.” She stroked his head and smiled. “Friend.”
“That’s a good name.”
Her posture straightened, and the look she sent him said she was ready for more. “All right. Tell me everything you know. Don’t hold anything back. I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
“We thought it was strange that you didn’t know the reason you were seeing the doctor. And as you said, you were drugged on the pretense of needing your nerves calmed. Justice’s IT people are the best in the business. Charlie, one of his best hackers, said that it was alarmingly easy for her to get into your medical records.”
“She’s right. It was incredibly simple. I thought perhaps Antonia’s office staff was just careless, although they have never struck me as being anything less than professional.”
“Charlie said that was the weird part. She couldn’t access any other patient records that easily. She tried, just to see. Everyone else’s record was secure, as were yours until a couple of days ago. From what she could tell, the records had been recently uploaded to that particular file.”
“Do you think Antonia did that on purpose? Perhaps to draw me out and then trace my location?”
“Possibly. Or it could be that she knew at some point you might try to find out what was done to you and she wanted you to know. She may have been trying to help you out.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. Jonah wasn’t sure if it was because she was weary or was considering his words. When she opened them, he thought it had been a combination of both.
“You could be right. My grandfather…Luis…would have had to coerce her to do this.”
He noticed her stumble over calling him her grandfather. It was something he could identify with. He had stopped referring to Mathias as his father years ago. The word should be said with affection, not disdain.
“You think Luis threatened her?”
“It is the norm for him. The way he gets things done. He likely threatened to harm her family.” She took another breath. “What else?”
“The chances of pregnancy are low. It often takes several procedures before conception can take place.”
She flinched, but he wasn’t going to stop. She’d said she wanted to know everything. Besides, sugarcoating the situation wasn’t possible. There was no way to make this look better.
“Where are the pregnancy kits?”
In awe of her bravery and self-control, Jonah was happy he could at least give her something she asked for. “I put them in your bathroom upstairs. It might not show yet. You—”
She held up her hand. “I understand. I’ll do this every day until I’m sure.”
Noting that her hand was shaking and she’d had as much of this discussion as she could handle, Jonah backed off. She’d held up a lot better than he’d ever imagined.
“So what now?”
“Since we don’t know the results, we can’t—”
She held up her hand again. He was pleased to see that it was slightly steadier than before. “Just to be clear, if I am pregnant, I’m keeping the baby.”
“That’s certainly your decision, but don’t you want to think about—”
“There’s nothing to think about. A child is innocent, no matter who his or her parents are.”
“Then we’ll need to make special arrangements if that happens.”
She took another breath. Something she did right before she said something difficult. “You say the pregnancy kits are in the bathroom?”
“Yes.”
She lifted Chamo’s head from her lap and went to her feet. “While I’m doing this thing, I’d like for you to find out as much as you can about Luis and Rudolph Bianchi’s relationship. I knew they wanted a match between Rudy and me, but that was years ago, before he went to prison. Nothing has been said to me since then.” Her mouth twisted. “No surprise, but still there’s got to be more to this. Something I’ve missed.”
“I can do that.”
Jonah watched her walk away. He could not begin to imagine what might be going through her mind. The chances of her being pregnant were low, but there was still the chance. And the chances of finding out this quickly—though it could take up to sixteen days after this type of fertilization—could still be done. Either way, she was walking toward what might be life-changing news with her head held high and her shoulders straight.
And she wanted to keep the baby. That might be the most unsurprising news of all. Gabby had been hurt and rejected so many times. Protecting and defending an innocent child, her child, just made sense.
He’d decided long ago he would never have children. He would leave that responsibility to Eli and Kathleen. They were great parents and better equipped than he could ever be.
He couldn’t deny another reason for his decision. How did one prevent raising a child to be like his grandparent or his uncle? People could argue the nurture-versus-nature theory till the cows came home, but that didn’t negate that evil still found a way to grow and develop. Every single evil person had started out an innocent child. He damn well didn’t want to be responsible for bringing another one into the world.
***
The instant Gabby closed the bathroom door, she spotted the kits. They were hard to miss...nine of them lined up on the counter. Either Jonah had known she’d want to check multiple times, or there had been a sale. Imagining Jonah Slater walking through a pharmacy looking for a bargain buy on pregnancy kits brought a little lift to her heart.
She took a breath. Time to face reality. When she was younger, she had dreamed of one day falling in love and marrying a wonderful man like her father. They would have at the minimum four children. Sweet little babies she would raise to be strong, independent adults. That dream had gone into hibernation, along with all her other hopes and dreams. But when she’d started planning her escape, many of those dreams had returned, that one included. But not in her wildest dreams or nightmares had she ever envisioned taking a pregnancy test to discover if she was pregnant with a serial killer’s baby. Or that her child might have been conceived in such a cold, heartless way.
A sob built up in her chest as tears filled her eyes. No, dammit, no. She would not cry about this again. This was not death...nor was it an end. Yes, it was vile and wrong on so many levels, but as with most things in life, she had a choice. She could either let them destroy her, or find a way to make it work. If she was pregnant, then she would do everything she could to ensure her baby’s health and safety. If she wasn’t, then she would move forward.
She picked up the closest kit and read the directions on the back. Her mind parked in neutral, she followed them to the letter and then sat down on the vanity bench and waited. She’d laid the indicator on the counter several feet from her. While she waited and stared, she gave herself a moment of meditative encouragement. She was strong and brave. She had already endured much. She could handle anything else that came her way. Luis Mendoza no longer controlled her life or her destiny. She was free.
Five minutes later, Gabby stood. She’d given the test ample time. Now it was time to find out the results. Barely breathing, she forced her shaky legs to cross the room. She closed her eyes, whispered a fervent prayer for courage, and then opened them.
Negative. She wasn’t pregnant. At least not that the test could yet detect.
A whoosh of relieved air left her body. She would take another test tomorrow. Until then, she needed to learn everything she could about Luis and Rudolph Bianchi’s relationship. Just what were they up to?
What could be so important that they would go to so much trouble? What was Rudolph Bianchi holding over Luis to get him to agree to something so bizarre?
She headed back downstairs and then stopped halfway and watched Jonah. He was reading something on his laptop, his forehead furrowed in concentration. Despite the fact that he’d kept the news from her longer than he should have, he had been incredibly supportive. She remembered that among the pregnancy tests that had fallen from the bags, there had been chocolates, movies, and books. And he’d given her a beautiful dog for a companion. He’d done all of that in hopes of easing her pain.
How odd that only a couple of weeks ago she had thought Jonah Slater was one of the coldest men she’d ever met. And now she thought he might be the kindest person she had ever known.