this baby will be the greatest thing to happen to either of us, but I want him to want it, too. I ache for the joy to be ours, not solely mine.
And now, while he works, I’m going to have to occupy myself, alone in this giant house he shared with the wife who left him.
* * *
Even before I open my eyes, the smell of crisp bacon and freshly brewed coffee hits me, urging me to get out of bed. Bacon and coffee? Michael must’ve decided to stay home after all.
As I slide out from beneath the covers, a smile on my face and one hand brushing my stomach, a draft sweeps through the room, chilling me. Across the room, floor-to-ceiling drapes are drawn, but sunlight slashes through the crack at the center, cutting the floor in half.
How long have I slept? Couldn’t have been more than an hour. Reaching for my phone on the bedside table, I check the time: ten-thirty. I’ve slept almost two hours in this bed that’s not mine, in this home where I’m a complete stranger.
I must’ve been more tired than I thought.
Running my fingers through my hair, I notice boxes stacked near the closet. Strange, but I didn’t hear the movers arrive. I should’ve stirred at the beeping of a truck reversing down the long drive, the slamming sound of the front door, or Michael’s footsteps. Something. I don’t normally sleep that soundly, especially in a place that isn’t mine. Head aching, I shuffle toward the closet.
If Michael kept to one side when Joanna lived here, it isn’t the case now. His things spread across both sides, and it’s impossible for me to tell where she could have fit. Where did Joanna hang her clothes? On the right, or the left?
There must be traces of her somewhere in this house. I wish I knew more, but Michael and Joanna’s life together is as much of a mystery as what separated them.
All I know is this: One day, Michael and Joanna were living their picture-perfect life. Gorgeous home. Travels through the Mediterranean, Africa, and Eastern Europe. After trying and failing to get pregnant for years, they were finally going to be parents. She was five months along and the baby was healthy. Then, out of the blue, she was gone. Office rumor has it she left him for someone else. Some think she lost the baby and her grief drove her away from him.
I’m currently twenty weeks along. At the same point in the pregnancy Joanna was when she left him. Odd, but I hadn’t realized that until now.
Michael won’t tell me what really happened between them, and the last thing I want is to make him think I’m prying into his past. It must bother him to know there could be a child out there that he’ll have nothing to do with. I’m sure he tried to get Joanna back, or at least confirm her whereabouts, but came up empty-handed.
I can’t wait to see him. Thank him for staying home, when he could’ve ditched me for his stuffy Lennox Group team. Snatching my phone and the lone key off the nightstand, I head into the hall. Barefoot at the top of the stairs, I stop. My eyes go to the doors in the east wing.
What’s the reason he keeps those doors locked? It didn’t make sense to have Samara clean the rooms in both wings. I’m not buying it. He could easily keep the doors closed. Why locked? Why the secrecy? I wonder if my key will work….
It’d be easy to check. It’d only take a few seconds. He’s so busy making breakfast, he wouldn’t even know. On the tiptoe trek over, I glance over the rail, down to the span below. Music wafts from somewhere. I recognize Hozier’s “Work Song” immediately. Funny, I’ve never known Michael to enjoy listening to music. On the weekends, when we’re together in the mornings, he prefers to watch the news.
Checking over my shoulder, I try to shove my key into the lock of the nearest door, but it won’t fit. Not