Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
He watched me the entire time, arms straining his shirt as he held them crossed over his chest.
His eyes felt like invasions of my privacy, and it physically hurt to have him this close to me and not touch that beautiful skin.
We’d spent one single, beautiful night together before he’d flipped out. One single, beautiful night that would forever be the best memory that I ever had.
Chapter 2
I don’t need you, I have memes.
-Meme
Marianne
“Come on, baby,” I whispered, pulling her out of the car seat and placing her on the bench seat next to it.
The next thing I did was unstrap the car seat itself from the car and set it on the grass.
He’d need all of it.
From what I’d been able to deduct over the last couple of days from my various sources, Dante lived minimally. He didn’t have much of anything when it came to himself, why would he have anything when it came to a child?
So, I made sure to bring everything that I had.
I placed everything on the front lawn.
Diapers, bottles, a Pack ‘n Play, her portable swing that I’d yet to get her to enjoy. It all went by the curb, making my tiny SUV that I’d stolen the night before look barren.
Once it was all out, I walked back to where my baby girl was sitting quietly in the seat and pulled her into my arms.
Through all of this, he only watched.
The moment my eyes met his, I felt his confusion.
It was almost palpable.
Why was I here? What was I doing?
I’d known that he’d been trying to find me.
Someone had tipped him off that I was pregnant. Someone had told him that we’d had a child together.
It was his brother who had found out, a man named Tobias, and it was his other brothers who continued to look into me.
However, them prodding into my life hadn’t been what broke the camel’s back. That had been something else. Another time, and another life.
God, how I’d hoped that it was all behind me forever. This was supposed to have been my second chance.
Yet here I was.
The moment I got to the bottom of the steps that Dante was standing on, I looked up at him.
He didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Didn’t even look down at the baby I had in my arms.
“I have her medical information in a packet in her bag.” I pulled in a deep, calming breath that didn’t calm me in the least. “She needs you, Dante. I realize that you’re broken, but she’s not. Watch over her. You’re my last hope. My only hope.”
“Why now? What’s going on?”
Dante’s words felt like caresses on my overheated skin.
I sat my baby girl down on the swing next to where he was standing.
“Look up my name. You’ll see.”
With those cryptic words, I started to walk away.
“I don’t know your name.”
Those words hurt. In fact, it felt like that final, killing blow. The one that would leave me forever broken, never to be put back together again.
Nevertheless, I told him my name.
“Marianne Genevieve Garwood.”
Chapter 3
I’m actually weirder than you think.
-Text from Baylor to Dante
Dante
I looked at the kid that was mine.
How did I know she was mine?
She looked exactly like my other children had.
All the way down to the bright blue eyes, the shock of white blonde hair, and the heart-shaped birthmark on her neck.
Looking down at this child was one of the hardest things I’d ever done in my life.
The moment that her eyes met mine, I realized the truth.
I, Dante Hail, was a coward.
Lily, my wife, was dead, and Jade and Toni, my two baby girls, had went with her.
Amy, my sister who was responsible for the accident that caused the death of my family, killed herself.
All of that was on me.
I would not be responsible for killing another living being.
I. Would. Not.
Pulling my computer out from where Lily had last left it—underneath the coffee table of all places—I opened it up and placed it on my lap.
Just the act of doing something I used to do when they were alive nearly sent me into a tailspin.
There was nothing to check on anymore. Not a goddamn thing.
Or, at least, there hadn’t been last night.
Tonight would be different.
I looked over at the little girl, who was now sleeping, and pressed the power button.
It took a few seconds for the screen to blink on, and once it had booted up, what I saw caused my throat to tighten.
Now I remembered why I hadn’t picked this computer up for two years.
A picture was on the screen.
One of my family.
I was in the middle while all three girls—my wife and children—kissed me.
It’d been our Christmas card the last Christmas we’d had together. The Christmas right before they’d died.
I was laughing my ass off as Jade, our youngest, gave me more than just kisses in the form of snot and slobber.