The Mother's Promise(86)

She opened her mouth, but all that came out was a giant sob.

“Alice?” Kate said. “What’s the matter?”

In that moment the pain in Alice’s belly was so sharp that it stole her breath.

“Kate,” she said, when she recovered. “Can you come over here?”

“Are you all right, Alice? Tell me.”

“Just … come over,” she said, and then felt her stomach seize.

“All right,” Kate said. “I’m on my way.”

It was a good thing, because after that Alice couldn’t talk any more.





71

As soon as Kate got off the phone with Alice, she grabbed her keys and drove to Alice’s. A familiar-looking man answered the door.

“You’re Kate?” he said.

“Yes. Who are you?”

“Paul,” he reminded her. “Alice’s brother. Come in, quick.”

Kate strode into the apartment. Alice was bent over the couch.

“What happened?” she asked Paul.

“Zoe’s father turned up.”

“Zoe’s father? But … I thought he wasn’t involved.”

“He’s not. At least he shouldn’t be. But now he’s saying he wants Zoe.”

“He’s saying…” Kate’s fingers found her temples. “No!”

“We won’t let him,” Paul said. “We’ll fight it. But—”

But Kate wasn’t listening; she was looking at Alice, half kneeling, half lying on the couch. Her face had a faint sheen to it. She kept moving around, agitated. “Alice? Are you all right?”

Alice muttered something about stomach pain, then turned her head and vomited onto a towel.

“I’ll get another towel,” Paul said, but Kate was staring at this one. Her vomit was green.

Kate yanked up Alice’s top. Her belly was distended and stretched taut. Kate launched to her feet, snatched up the phone, and dialed 911.

“What is it?” Paul said, returning with a fresh towel.

“Yes, I’m a nurse,” she said into the phone. “I have a woman in her home with acute abdominal pain and vomiting. I need an ambulance right away.” She looked at Paul. “Where’s Zoe?”

“I … I think Alice said she’s at her boyfriend’s place.”

“Do you know the address?” Kate said.

“It’s written down in the kitchen.”

“Fine. Do you want to get Zoe or should—”

Alice responded to the sound of Zoe’s name. It was, perhaps, the first time she’d even noticed that Kate was there. But as she caught Kate’s gaze she looked surprisingly cognizant.

“You get Zoe,” she said, and she didn’t break her gaze until Kate promised she would.





72

“George! George, wait!”

He was striding into the house. Sonja had to run to keep up with him. They’d returned from Alice’s in separate cars, so she had no idea what was going on his head. Certainly he’d seemed calm when he was speaking to Alice, reasonable even, but that was because he wanted something. It was no indication of how he would behave in the privacy of his own home.

Sonja closed the front door but she had barely turned around when she was suddenly slammed against it. The air rushed from her lungs. His face was right up close, so close she could feel his breath on her face.

“What the hell were you doing there, Sonja?”

“What do you mean?” she choked out. “Alice is my client.”

His hands teetered just below her throat, around her collarbones, like a threat. He pressed harder. “You said you wanted to talk about me. Why?”

Sonja struggled to catch her breath. Why had she gone there? Ostensibly it had been to find out what had happened between George and Alice the night Zoe was conceived. But she needn’t have bothered. Even before she’d heard Alice say it, she’d known the truth.

“You raped her,” she said to George.

George released his grip on her. All of a sudden he seemed almost … bored.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” she said.

George rolled his eyes and turned away. As if he were admitting to a speeding ticket that he’d tucked away, hoping she wouldn’t find it, rather than a heinous crime. “It was … just a moment,” he said. “I lost it.”

Sonja felt a rumbling start from somewhere down deep. Although she had suspected this since the moment George had told her about his relationship with Alice, it still was a shock to hear him say it. Her husband was a rapist.

“You can’t do this,” she said, because in that moment it was clear. All this time she’d made excuses for him. She’d thought his sexual aggression was her fault! But it had nothing to do with her. “You can’t try to get custody of Zoe.”

“Sonja, she’s my flesh and blood,” George said. “This could be good for all of us. This would be good for you.”

His demeanor had changed now. The threatening man who had just pinned her to the wall had vanished. He was appealing to her sense of reason. Five minutes earlier she might have fallen for it.

“No,” she said.

“Sonja—”