Lying on a bed in the centre of the room was the rapidly stiffening and grotesque body of her mother. Beside the bed on the floor was an almost empty bottle of pills, which proved immediately that Frances had committed suicide by overdozing on drugs.Christina stood immobile, just staring at the sce
For starters, apparently, Mr. Carter wasn’t her real father. Christina’s heart had damned near stopped beating when she read that particular scary piece of information. The thing had shocked her to her blood marrow, despite the fact that she liked to think that nothing could shake or frighten her.
"So what are the plans for our little guy’s birthday party?” Austin asked Nora. He had come to drop Jimmy off at the restaurant as he usually did and had made out some time to have a little chitchat with Nora. He always made out some time to chat with her and had to admit that he enjoyed talking to
"Good afternoon, Mr. Gerald," Austin said carefully, wondering what this was all about. As far as he knew, Christina and her stepbrother were not on good terms at all, so there was no reason at all why he should be visiting them.“Mr. Gerald? Pooh! Gerald is fine. You can call me Gerald. ‘Mr,’ ‘Sir,
"What the fuck is going on in the yard?” Christina asked Austin belligerently, setting her hands on her hips as she regarded him and waited for an answer. They were in his room, which Christina had just come into minutes ago. “Is that any way to welcome your husband from an arduous business trip? W
By the time it was over, Austin realized that he had just made a grave mistake in succumbing to the desires of his body. From the look on her face, it was clear that Christina was still as besotted with him as she used to be. Gone was the dislike and mild hatred that he had started seeing on her fac
“Ah! I know those types. It’s never fun being with them. Which makes me think yet again that you made a mistake marrying her. What makes you think that she’ll let you divorce her easily?” “Don’t talk like you don’t know what was at stake, Sean. There was no way I was going to let Dylan spend the re
The day of the birthday party came soon enough, and Jimmy was beside himself with excitement. His mother had invited kids from his class to come for the party after school, and nearly everyone in his class had honored the invitation, except for a girl who was sick and had not been to school in the p
“You’re here again.” She states, rolling her eyes without so much as a good morning when she opens the door and sees me standing there. “Good morning to you too. Yes, I’m indeed here again. How are you doing?” I ask her, resolving not to let her hostility get to me. She has every reason to be hosti
I have not been to Nora's apartment for several months since Sally disappeared. In the first month of Sally's disappearance, I used to come here a lot, so much so that I’m sure that I must have begun to look like a desperate creep to Nora. Each time I came here back then, I would plead and plead wi
“No! I want to go with you and Aunt Sally!” He protests angrily when he sees the nanny and realizes that I’m about to leave him with her. “Honey, you must be very tired from running up and down with me these past few days. That is why I want your nanny to take you home so you can rest. Besides, you
SEAN Somehow, Sally allows herself to be convinced to come back home with me, which as even her doctor agrees, is the best decision for her right now because she needs all the help that she can get. We’ve finally been able to reach Nora and Austin, who have arrived at their honeymoon destination a
SALLY I can tell that Sean is surprised at my blunt tone and sharp words, but I couldn’t care less. I vaguely remember how I had pleaded with my boss to get in touch with him after she told me that she could not reach Nora and Austin no matter how many times she tried to reach them. I had been ter
The small bundle feels incredibly light as the nurse places it in my arms. Every single iota of sleep flees from my eyes as I hold and look down at my daughter. The nurse helps me adjust the baby in my arms while smiling at me in approval. Immense love for this tiny human floods my entire being and
I smile unsurely at the doctor, certain that I must have misheard what she just said. She doesn't smile back but instead continues to stare back at me with a measured look that says that she's not messing around. “I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you're talking about. What do you mean by expectant f
SEAN I have to admit that I am not thinking straight, but I'll blame that on the lack of sleep and the thought of seeing sadly again after all these months. Sally is lying on a bed in a very tiny room and she's being placed on oxygen. She looks so small and defenseless in the hospital bed. I appr
“There has been an emergency involving Sally and she's requesting for you.” A female voice had said over the phone mere seconds ago. “Is she OK? What's wrong with her? Where is she?” I ask in quick succession without waiting for an answer to each question. Taking deep breaths, I remind myself to be