“I hate this.” I pout.
“I know baby, but you need clothes that are comfortable and fit you.”
“I know, and I need a dress for this benefit even though we should just throw a tarp over me and call it my outfit.”
He laughs. “Aggie, you’re gorgeous. Stop it, this is our baby in here.” He rubs my belly.
“I’ll remember you saying this when I’m a house and crush you.”
I look through the store at all the dresses. It’s hard to find a decent maternity dress so I figured I could find one I liked and get it in a bigger size. Getting it altered could be tricky, but I figured a baby doll cut would work like a charm.
The sales lady brought a whole bunch of options into the dressing room at Grant’s request. Having money really does open a bunch of doors I’ve never dreamt of. It still makes me all kinds of uncomfortable, but I’m dealing with it day by day.
“I’m going to step outside, if you need help please call for me.”
“Thank you.”
I look at the selections on the hook and instantly zero in on a beautiful black dress. Black’s ideal because it’s slimming and the bead work on the bodice has me itching to try it on. I quickly discard my clothes and slide it on. Sliding it on probably isn’t the best description, more like packing myself in after squeezing my ass into it.
The door opens catching me off guard because I’m half dressed. “I don’t need any help yet.” I’m trying to cover up as I turn towards the sales lady and gasp.
“Hello Agnes.” Carissa smiles at me and a shiver works its way up my spine.
I open my mouth ready to scream when she pushes me up against the mirror and covers my mouth with her hand.
“Say a word and I’ll kill you then go out and kill Grant.” Her eyes are scary and I believe that she’d do it so I nod my head.
“Do we have an understanding?” I nod my head again.
“Good. Let’s girl talk.” She turns and sits on the little bench in the dressing room. “You’re going to stay away from Grant from now on.”
“But…”
“The baby? I know and I’ve been thinking about it. I’ll raise the baby with Grant. I’d never dream of taking his baby away from him, so I’ll be her mother if it means I get Grant.”
How does she know it’s a girl? She is delusional if she thinks she’s taking my baby from me. But I’m not stupid, I will “yes” her to the ends of the earth to get her out of here.
“Okay… but I need some time. I have no place to go.”
“I already have it covered. You are going to meet me at the bus stop just outside your old condo. You’ll get in a dark blue minivan and I’ll take you to your new residence.”
“The baby?”
“I’ll deliver it of course. I took some midwife courses, it’s a piece of cake.”
“O…okay.” I’m petrified. She has everything thought out and thinks it’s going to happen.
“If you don’t show, I have insurance. I’ve taken measures to make sure Grant’s taken care of if you back out.”
“I’ll be there. Don’t hurt Grant!”
“Shhhh. Tonight at nine Agnes, not a second later.”
“I promise.” Tears leak out of my eyes.
She kisses me on the forehead before leaving through the changing room door. How the hell is nobody out there? Didn’t someone see a strange woman enter here with me?
I shove the dress off and get redressed. I find Grant in the store on the phone and when he sees my face he hangs up.
“What’s the matter Aggie? You’re so pale. Not feeling well?”
“She… she was here.” I burst out into tears.
“Who? Carissa? Where?”
I tell him what happened in the dressing room and he immediately calls the cops. I sit down on a nearby chair and place my head between my legs to the best of my ability. There’s a hand rubbing my back and when I look up I see the worry in Grant’s eyes.
“What if she wasn’t lying? What if someone’s coming for you?”
“That won’t happen. I’ll hire people to assure nothing will happen to either of us.”
I nod my head hoping he’s right. The cops show up shortly after and we give our statements. They think its best if we stay somewhere other than our house tonight, change up the pattern so she doesn’t know where to find us.
I wish I could be there when she pulls up in her creepy ass van and a whole swat team jumps out. I’m not sure if the swat team will show up but I think they need to. She’s insane and clearly dangerous.
We head out of the store with a police escort to the airport. Grant doesn’t want to take any chances of her finding us so he booked us a hotel in Wisconsin. I know, who the heck goes to Wisconsin? I think the idea is that she won’t ever find us there.
There’s not a chance to pack our things and shortly after leaving the store we’re in the sky on our way to our safe house. This isn’t as scary if I pretend like we’re in the witness protection program heading for our cabin of love.
I know, I know. I read too many smutty novels.
Hopefully Carissa shows up like she’s supposed to and the cops get her and put her ass in jail. I can’t deliver this baby with all this craziness looming over our heads.
Not that I really have a say in the matter.
***
Later that night we received a call saying that Carissa was in police custody. The scariest part is they had a police officer undercover watching our house and once the cops arrested Carissa someone tried to break into our house in a ski mask. It turned out to be her crazy ass brother. The same one that helped her kidnap Grant all those years ago. I’m thankful we were safe in another state and they’re both being held without bail.
“What’re you thinking about?” Grant asks when he comes out on the balcony with me.
“I can breathe. For the first time in months, I can finally breathe.”
“I know what you mean baby.”
“But…” Tears come to my eyes. “I can’t help but feel responsible for Ry’s…” I can’t even say it.
Grant gets on his knees in front of me and grabs my hands. “It’s not your fault Aggie.”
“If I hadn’t chased you down the driveway…” I wipe a tear from my eye.
“Then we wouldn’t have this beautiful princess growing inside you. Is it fair that Ry’s not here? Not even close. But that’s the reality of the situation and we can’t be wondering what if. That’s a dangerous road to go down.”
“Okay. Can we go home now?” I sniffle.
“Absolutely. Let’s go, I’m taking my girls home”