In a Book Club Far Away(56)

Her sixth sense started tingling. Shrugging into her bathrobe, she popped out of the bathroom. “Girls?”

The girls were giggling, and when she discerned that there was nothing else beyond that, she sighed with relief. She followed their voices into the living room, where Olivia and Carmela were piled up on her office chair. Olivia pressed on the mouse button with a forefinger, and the other typed on the keyboard.

“Hey, you two. What did I say about playing on the computer?” She laughed to release some of the tension that had built up in her chest, but Carmela was pointing at the screen. “We want to call Daddy.”

Sophie clicked on the mouse and onto Skype, and sure enough her girls had tried to call him. She clicked to try the video chat again, but it went unanswered. “He’s probably not in yet. I’m sure he’ll call soon. It’s his nighttime.”

She scanned the living room, but nothing was amiss, so she squashed down her hypervigilance, padded back to the bedroom, and threw on sweats. She picked up her cell phone, still facedown on her bed.

She’d missed nine calls and nine voice mails.

Then the doorbell rang.

A memory flashed: of Sophie at nineteen, stumbling home after a perfect party night, exiting her dorm building elevator, a smile plastered onto her face, sleep calling for her, none the wiser until she turned down her hallway.

Today has been too perfect.

Sophie’s knees buckled. She steadied herself on the bed, slightly hunched down. The girls erupted with their announcement that someone was at the door. Numbly, she made her way to the front of their apartment, clutching her phone in her hand. The path to the front door was not far at all, three hundred meters at most. But she took forever to get there, her legs weighed down like sandbags.

They’d talked about this moment, at pre-deployment briefings. The technicalities of what must happen at the Notification. The war had been going on for a decade now, but people were still dying. Many were getting injured. She’d witnessed some of the aftermath of a tragedy. The funeral, the ceremonies. The grieving fellow soldiers and family members left behind. The memorial runs where they’d write the names of the fallen on their running bibs.

The risk still existed. Sometimes, Sophie’s denial made her forget how much danger Jasper and their unit was in. She’d needed to get out of bed every day to take care of her kids, to take care of herself. Everyday life had to occur, and Sophie had to keep her head clear.

Holding her breath, she watched herself reach out to open the door, and it swung open to her friends on the other end. Regina and Adelaide. Her eyes darted behind them; there was no one else. No soldier in a uniform. No chaplain.

“Oh my God. Is it Jasper?”

As if reading her mind, Adelaide said, “No, no. It’s just us. No one else. Oh, Sophie.” Her friend rushed at her. “It’s not Jasper. But I’m so sorry, Sophie—”

“Not Jasper,” she heard herself say, still stuck in the moment of fear, and yet it transformed to confusion. Because Adelaide was still hugging her, and Regina’s face was crestfallen, her eyes glistening with the beginning of tears.

“Jasper called us. He’s been frantic, because your cousin emailed him. Because he couldn’t seem to get a hold of you.”

“I was… I was taking a bath. With earbuds. And I napped for a bit,” Sophie babbled. She was being led by the hand, she realized. She sat on her couch. “What is it?”

“It’s your father, Sophie. I’m so sorry, but he passed.”

The world twisted on its axis. “My father?”

It was the last thing she said before the word went dark.





CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Regina




Regina couldn’t get the sight of Sophie fainting out of her mind. A full twenty-four hours after she and Adelaide had showed up at Sophie’s front door, Regina was still shaken up. Sophie was an edifice of strength, and Regina’d wrongly assumed that Sophie’s family was similarly unflappable.

When asked when she would leave for the funeral, Sophie had said the cost would be prohibitive. Flying to Nassau with two children—who didn’t know her family—would be too challenging.

And that was why Regina was on the phone now, speaking to the one person she’d felt orphaned by. She had sympathized with Sophie; through her, Regina had realized that there would come a time that one couldn’t keep denying their past. And if there was a time to bring herself to face rejection, the time was now, when something beneficial could come from it.

“Regina?” Emilio Castro’s gruff voice brought a pang to her heart, and an equally bitter taste in her mouth. It was familiar and strange all at once, and took her back to when she was a little girl, nuzzled up against him, the whiskers of his five-o’clock shadow rough against her forehead.

“Dad.”

“Iha, it’s been a long time. Is everything okay?”

She winced at his insinuation that she’d only call if she needed something. Then, she reminded herself that yes, she was there for a favor. She couldn’t be ashamed now, not after what he’d done to their family. She had the upper hand.

“With me, yes. I’m fine.” She held back from mentioning the pregnancy. She was already exposing herself with this call. She hadn’t spoken to him since she was commissioned an officer almost three years ago, because no matter how hard he’d tried over the years to mend their torn relationship, she wasn’t yet willing to stretch her comfort.