Redemption(78)

“Please don’t hate me, Annie. My intentions were well placed. Although, I’m sure you never would have agreed to a murderer being your surrogate.”

“Oh, Lissa. No. It makes so much more sense. All of it. And I hate you endured all through the pregnancy silently suffering when we could have all shared in your memories. The fact that your proposition wasn’t some strange need to experience pregnancy and instead was an offering makes Alissa’s life so much more meaningful. Don’t you see?”

I didn’t deserve her forgiveness, much less her friendship. This woman was an angel.

“I feel horrible about the christening gown and rosary. You know I never would have taken them had I known. Sit here, I’ll go get them.”

“No. Annie, no. I don’t want you to give them back. They sat in a box, hidden away. Your kids brought them use. They never should have been left to collect dust. Look, I don’t want to worry about things right now. I just need to know we’re okay. That Brett is going to be okay. Dan loves the two of you too much for me to come between that and if what I did is going to cause ill will, I can’t meet him at the courthouse.”

“Oh shit.” She looked down at the time on her cell phone. “Lissa, it’s ten till. You’ll never make it to the courthouse on time. Go. Go. We can talk about this later.” Annie stood to shoo me out the door, but I refused to budge.

“I can’t go until you promise me, we’re okay.”

She wrapped me in a hug and squeezed before pulling away. “Lissa, I hate that you lost your child, but I could never feel anything but love for you.” Her gaze moved to her children grinning on the blanket near our feet. “Both of those kids are here because of your selflessness. And Brett and I will always be grateful. If you’d like to talk about this more, why don’t you and your husband join us for dinner tonight? I’ll make chicken parmesan.”

I mouthed my appreciation, but the words were mere whispers.

“Go. Hurry. Call him on the way to let him know you’re coming.”

I took her at her word and then sprinted to my SUV. By the time I pulled out of the driveway, I had four minutes to drive twelve miles.





21





Chapter Twenty-One





I had called repeatedly, but each try had gone straight to voicemail. Either his phone was off, or it died without being charged overnight. I didn’t want to speculate about which it was. I drove as quickly as I could and slammed the SUV in park in the first spot I could find before racing into the courthouse. I followed the signs to the Justice of the Peace, but when I reached the office, completely out of breath, Dan was nowhere to be found. The clock on the wall read 10:11 am.

My eyes scanned the room, making sure to identify each person as a stranger before moving on to the next face. Surely, he hadn’t left after ten minutes. He had to know I’d come. A guy slammed into my shoulder in his haste to rush out of the office, not even bothering to apologize for nearly knocking me over. But standing stock-still in the middle of the doorway probably wasn’t the best idea. I just couldn’t believe he’d left. I waited for hours for Matt to show up at the hospital, but Dan hadn’t waited ten lousy minutes for me.

Nervously, my thumb spun the ring on my left hand. People continued to dance around me when an older lady finally took my elbow and ushered me to the side and out of the way.

“Sweetheart, are you all right?” She was a tiny, little whiff of a thing but likely quite beautiful in her younger years.

“Oh, yes ma’am. I was supposed to meet someone here.”

Her eyes glittered in the fluorescent lights. “Tall man? Dark hair, spectacular green eyes?”

“Yes! Was he here?”

“He must have left when I was at the counter. He paced near the door from the moment I got here.” She patted my forearm. “It hasn’t been that long. I’m sure you’ll find him somewhere. You have a good day.” As quickly as she’d come, she was gone.

But there was a chance Dan was still here…somewhere. I didn’t have a clue where to look. This building was one of several in a cluster of municipal offices. But standing here wouldn’t help me find him. And if I had to scour the country, I would. Staying inside likely wasn’t the best use of my only resource—me. There were far too many people continuously moving for me to spot Dan by chance. If I were outside, people would pass by me in much smaller groups, even individually. Dan’s height should help me locate him but thus far, I had come up short.

By the time I pushed outside the doors and back to the parking lot, I looked at my cell to see it was now twenty minutes passed our scheduled meeting time. My chest constricted, and my heart hurt. I didn’t want to imagine what Dan felt standing there, watching the minutes tick by, and my not showing up. One time in my life to be late. I was never late—ever. Which I could only assume, Dan took as his sign that I wasn’t coming.

My hand shielded my eyes from the glaring morning sun to look into the sea of vehicles. The parking lot was vast and full. Trying to look at each car to find Dan’s was like trying to count the stars in the sky, or the hairs on someone’s head—two or three rows in and I’d lose my spot and get frustrated. I neared a point, I wanted to call out his name, scream at the top of my lungs, hopeful he’d hear me. But just as I opened my mouth to release the first battle cry, I spotted him.