beautiful.”
The words slip out of my mouth breathlessly. Her lips curl into the simplest of grins, and she places just her fingertips on my thigh.
I look away, repeating the same thing I just did in the bedroom, Journey grabs hold of my hair, pulling harder than she did before and when I rub her belly with my nose she starts laughing again.
“No way. Did she? Oh, my god, she’s laughing. She’s never laughed before. This is amazing! Do it again?”
Clove pipes up like a little kid, while I keep rubbing my face into her belly a few more times. Journey pulls on my hair more as Zack and Bill join in on our laughter. I have no clue if she’s ticklish, or why all of a sudden she is laughing, and I don’t care. My little wonder girl is about as perfect as anyone can get. This right here, right now, is the best medicine my family could hope for.
************
“I’ve got it,” I holler out when the doorbell rings.
After our little funfest with the baby, Clove told me she made a call to Dr. Jollup, who immediately said she would reschedule some appointments and get here as soon as she could. True to her word, when I open the door, there she is. She stuffs her credentials back into her bag and an agent escorts her into the house.
“Mr. Calloway,” she addresses me.
“Turner, please,” I say. “My wife is back here in the sunroom.”
I turn to take her back there when she politely grasps hold of my arm.
“Is there somewhere more private I can talk to her? I would prefer more privacy if at all possible.”
“Of course. We have an office back off of the kitchen here.”
“Thank you. One more thing, Turner. I want you to know I’m here for you as well if you ever need to talk. I can speak to the two of you either separately or together. I’m available for anything the two of you may need.”
I nod politely and take her back to Clove. They retreat into the office. I linger outside the door for a moment dying a little more on the inside. The idea of her talking to anyone else but me about this kills me. I understand, though. I will do whatever it takes to make her happy again, even if I have to sacrifice my own happiness to do it.
“Hey, man,” Zack calls out and hands me a beer. “Thought you might need this. I sure as fuck do.”
“Thanks.” I take a long swig, walk to the kitchen table, pull out a chair and lay my head down. “I really don’t even know what the hell to say to her,” I tell him.
“Me either. A part of me wants to hug her and another part of me wants to beat my own ass for not protecting her, for letting her talk me into letting her stay with him once we found out he wasn’t you.”
Zach takes a drink of his own beer and continues.
“There’s only one person to blame here, man, and it isn’t us. I know you don’t want to hear this, Turner, but a part of me suspected he would do something like this. I used to wake up some nights while she was gone, from nightmares of all the ways he could have been abusing her. I don’t think he did, though. I’m not defending the asshole by any means, but I really believe he thinks he loves her.”
Zack finishes off his beer and stands, tossing the empty in the trash and grabbing another one out of the fridge.
“You don’t hurt someone like that if you truly love them, Zack. He’s fucked up. I don’t care what anyone says.”
“He is. And he will pay for what he did. Now I’m going to lay another piece of news on you and I leave it up to you to be the one to tell Clove.”
“God, I don’t know how much more she can take. The only reason why I am not fucking going out of my goddamned mind is because my family needs me.”
“You don’t think I know that? I had every intention of telling the two of you about this earlier, but then when we were on our way back from Mississippi this morning, they informed me to give you two a call to set up her statement.”
“What the hell were you doing in Mississippi?”
“I had to go.”
“What the hell, Zack? Spit that shit out!”
“Tina’s missing. Somehow they lost