To the Stars (Thatch #2)(34)
Present Day—Richland
“HARLOW,” COLLIN SAID in a worried tone.
I jerked away from where I was washing dishes, and tore my eyes from the window just above the sink. “Hmm?” As soon as I made the noise I cringed. Collin hated it when I didn’t actually answer him. Normally I wouldn’t have made such a careless mistake, but I was having trouble leaving my daydream . . . something that happened more and more often since seeing Knox Alexander. Shaking my head to clear my mind, I asked, “Yes?”
He’d been walking toward me and now pulled me into his arms. “Are you feeling okay? I called your name four times before you responded to me.”
My stomach twisted in fear, and I quickly tried to think of any reason why I would have made him call for me more than once. “I-I-I I’m so—”
“Baby, baby. Shh,” he hushed me, and rubbed a hand gently up and down my arm. “You don’t have to explain yourself; I know you haven’t been feeling well.” The hand that had been rubbing my arm moved down so his knuckles could brush against my stomach. The reminder of my lie made me breathe easier but I felt like I was choking at the same time.
I was still buying myself time, but that time was about to run out, and who knew what would happen then.
One more day.
“Still,” I began, and cleared my throat, “I should have heard you, I’m sorry. Did you want more coffee to go this morning?”
“No. I was just letting you know I was leaving for work.” Collin smiled and pressed his mouth softly to mine. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“Of course.”
With a careful look, he finally released me, then took a few steps away before turning and walking out of the kitchen. “Don’t overwork yourself today, Harlow!” he called out just before I heard the door open and shut behind him.
Which, of course, meant do everything I normally do; just don’t do anything that might be harmful to the “pregnancy.”
I took a deep breath and slowly released it as I tried to calm my stomach. The more I thought about the impending test, the more nauseous I felt. I needed to try to keep my mind off it like I had been doing. But you can only deep-clean your house so many times in one week.
Seven hours later, the doorbell rang twice, followed quickly by a knock. My heart stopped and my head snapped up to look at the door from where I was on my hands and knees, looking for scuff marks that I could fix on the hardwood floor.
Our doorbell never rang.
I didn’t have girlfriends that I spent time with. I knew the wives and girlfriends of Collin and his father’s colleagues, but Collin made sure I didn’t get so close to them that we would ever do anything together, and he’d forced me to sever ties with every friend I’d had from growing up. Friends were too risky for him, and too dangerous for me to keep around. He was worried I would tell them about our life, and I was worried Collin would think I’d told them. The only reason he let me see my family was that he knew they would get suspicious otherwise. But Hadley would have called if she were coming.
That left Knox.
Well, it didn’t leave only Knox, but he was all I thought about and I’d dreamed of him coming to take me away so many times that in my mind at that moment . . . that left only him.
I scrambled up from the floor and hurried to the door, not bothering to stop to see what I looked like. A dozen scenarios danced through my mind of what would happen when I opened the door, and every single one of them died when I finally did and found only a man in a uniform, holding a box.
“Package for Doherty?”
“Oh. Uh, yeah. Yes, that’s us.” I was so disappointed that I didn’t remember until after I’d signed for the package and the man was walking back to his truck that we also never got packages.
My parents never sent anything. If they wanted me to have something, they used that as an excuse to come see their “favorite son-in-law.” If Collin ever ordered anything, it was sent to his office. And I’d never been allowed to order things; Collin just had me go to the store to get it. I always figured it was because he didn’t trust me with strange men showing up at our home to drop it off.
My eyebrows rose in surprise when I saw it was addressed to me, then pinched in confusion when I looked at the sender.
Sender: Tothe
92960 Stars Way
Thatch, WA
“Tothe?” I whispered the unfamiliar surname out loud, then slowly walked inside and shut the door as I looked at the address, and froze. Thatch . . . it was from Thatch. Where Knox lived.
The name and street, everything finally made sense, and I couldn’t run to the kitchen fast enough to get a knife to open up the box in my hands.
To the stars. The closest star was the sun, and it was 92,960,000 miles away. Knox had told me that years ago, and it was a ridiculously large number I had never forgotten.
My hands shook as I sliced open the tape with a knife I’d grabbed from the block, and even though Collin had never once come home early from work in the years we’d been married, I kept looking over my shoulder in fear that he would barge through the door at any moment. Looking back at the box when I had it opened, my excitement turned to confusion, then dread when I pulled out a cell phone and charger covered in bubble wrap.
I powered the phone on once I had it uncovered, and after waiting for a minute, saw that the only things on the main screen were the texting and call apps. Despite the fear creeping through my body, my lips curved up when I saw that the sole contact on the phone was Knox. I don’t know how long I stood there chewing on my bottom lip and staring at his name, but my shaking only increased by the time I finally tapped down on it.