Dark Redemption - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,13

be an opening at her work.

And at that point, commuting every morning and evening back and forth to New Jersey is going to be a pain.

Besides, she is right. Mom is feeling better and when I tell her that I’m thinking about moving, she looks relieved that I’m finally getting out of the house.

Two weeks later, I move in with Allison.

9

Dante

I should have run after her. I called her name, but she didn't stop, but I should have chased her down and told her the truth.

I saw the expression in her eyes when she thought that Marguerite was with me, when she thought that that was our child she was carrying, but I couldn't make myself go.

The other part of the story is that I never called Jacqueline back.

After Chicago, I decided that it would be better to have a clean break. I was never supposed to get close to her in the first place, and after that fight, it was my chance to make everything right.

I got back from Chicago and I played with my phone. I checked it constantly. I listened to her messages.

I read her texts, but I didn't call.

After a while, Jacqueline stopped trying to reach out. After a while, I decided that I paid my dues. I paid for her mother's treatment, and that was enough. There was no reason for me to complicate matters even more.

I tried to start and make a new break.

I buried myself in work, taking on more clients, flying more. I figured that if I stayed busy enough, then I could push her out of my mind. And it worked somewhat temporarily, until it didn't, until Jacqueline was all I could think about and all I could dream about and she haunted me everywhere I went.

And then I took Marguerite to a doctor's appointment in the city to see a specialist because she was having some complications.

Lincoln was busy; he had a big client to dine and wine and to invest in his hedge fund. He was working insane hours now and every time that he didn't come home until it was too late, Marguerite got more and more upset.

After the appointment, we went out to take a stroll in the park. She was feeling good for once, not nauseous and overwhelmed, and I wanted to buy her some ice cream and take a walk and help her forget about everything that she thought was wrong with her marriage.

We walked all the way over to the meadow, following a path toward the boulder next to a tunnel. I stopped for a second, turned away, and that was when Jacqueline came out of nowhere. We were somewhat hidden behind the corner and Jacqueline was running fast when she collided into Marguerite. She tripped her and Marguerite fell down to the ground.

A flash of anger rushed through me before I knew the identity of the runner. But then I saw that it was Jacqueline and everything in my world stopped.

I was in shock, but before I could ask her what she' was doing there, before I could say a word, she apologized and ran off.

That was it.

"Aren't you going to call her?" Marguerite asks when we're back in her apartment, serving me tea. I had offered for us to go out, grab some dinner, but she said that she needed to stay in and get off her feet.

She changed into loose fitting pajama bottoms, an oversized T-shirt, and a pair of house slippers.

“Sorry that I look like this, but I just can't handle wearing regular clothes anymore. Definitely not a bra or anything that’s confining,” she adds. “And sorry if that’s too much information, but I’m pregnant and I don’t give a shit.”

"Yes, of course, no problem.” I shrug.

Lincoln and Marguerite live in a spacious two bedroom apartment. Well, spacious by New York standards anyway. It's decorated nicely, mostly from West Elm. It was Lincoln who had taken the initiative to do that when they first moved in here because Marguerite was working such long hours at the hospital.

"Why didn't you say anything about her to me?" Marguerite asks, sitting back against the couch, letting the cushions absorb her from all around.

I take a seat in the chair next to her, taking a sip of my tea. It’s steaming hot. Given the fact that she is overheating twenty-three hours a day, Marguerite drinks only iced tea.

"I don't know what happened. I just ... I wasn't expecting to see her there."

"I know, but