Page 283 of By His Vow

It’s not until I find a pinboard on the wall full of old photographs that I come to a stop.

Miles’s footsteps thump down the hallway as I stare at an image of the two of them as children. They’re in the most incredibly colorful garden.

My stomach knots and my heart seizes.

“Have you found anything?”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “I think I know exactly where she is.”

71

TATUM

Iwrap my jacket tighter around myself as I walk down the quiet country road.

The weather here isn’t all that different from what we encounter in Chicago, or at least that’s been my experience over the years. But right now, there is none of the spring warmth I left behind and nothing but a winter chill that makes me want to hibernate in front of the log-burning fire I’ve got in the rental I managed to secure at the last minute.

But glutton for punishment, no sooner had I dropped my case in the bedroom, I headed back out to come here.

I knew it would hurt, but then everything about what I’m doing right now does.

Stepping into the airport, and then onto the plane was akin to ripping my own heart straight from my chest.

But at the same time, I know I’m doing the right thing.

The right thing for me and…

I press my trembling hand to my stomach, my breathing getting erratic again as I think about my reality.

By leaving, I’ve sealed my fate.

It’s funny, because I thought I did that the day I signed the contract agreeing to be Kingston’s wife for a year in my father’s office.

I thought that was the thing that would change the trajectory of my life. Well, I guess it has. I can guarantee that I wouldn’t be standing here now, dealing with what I am, if it weren’t for that moment.

If it weren’t for Kingston.

My chest tightens as if someone is wrapping rope around it. It’s been the same since the moment I looked at that notification on my watch yesterday.

Fuck. How was that only yesterday?

Being in Chicago already feels like a lifetime ago.

On unsteady legs, I walk around the corner.

I know what is about to greet me, and while I made the decision to do this, to be here, to see this, now it’s about to happen, I don’t think I’m ready.

How can you be when you know it’s goodbye?

I close my eyes before taking the last step around the corner, and when I open them again, there it is.

The little cottage that means so much to me.

All the air rushes from my lungs and tears burn the backs of my eyes as all the memories I have of this place come rushing back.

I continue forward, my legs weaker than ever.

The front yard is overgrown, the roses that grow up the trellis by the front door uncared for, the bushes out of shape and unloved.

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