Page 131 of Sweet Little Thing

“Yes. I will find a place where we will be safe.”

She frowned. “I want you to both be happy.”

I squeezed her tightly in a hug. “We will be safe and happy.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, I promise,” I replied, my eyes full of tears slowly beginning to trickle down my cheeks. “And I will be back here to see you every chance I get.”

“I like pink,” she said.

“I will bring pink cookies and cupcakes,” I assured her.

“No. I like to make pink blankets. I like pink clothes. I want the baby to be a girl.”

A small laugh escaped me, drowning the sadness that was weighing on me. Only Heidi could do that when I was so low. “Maybe it will be. Just for you.”

She didn’t reply right away, and I didn’t push for more. This was going smoother than I expected. My heart was breaking, but I was so proud of her that it was also bursting.

“If it’s a boy, I will learn to love blue,” she said after several moments.

I didn’t reply. I was too choked up to say anything. Instead, I held her. My only family. All I had in this world. My special gift in life. My sister.

Chapter

Eighty- One

Stone

“Gerry,” I said into the phone as I walked out of the law firm where I had been for the past six hours. It was much later than I had expected it to be when I left. Beulah hadn’t called or returned my text, and I had been about to try calling her again when Gerry’s name lit up my screen.

“Are you in Manhattan?” she asked.

“Yeah, how are things there? Beu-”

“They’re not good, son. Listen I know you got things going on. Important things with that boy. I understand it too. But that isn’t all your problems. Beulah acted odd all day. Very emotional and kept thanking me for all I had done for her. I had planned on calling you about that. I was napping when she left and along with enough meals in my fridge to feed an army for a week there was also a letter on my kitchen counter. She left, Stone. She’s got a friend of hers coming here tomorrow to stay with me until we find someone else.”

If hearts could stutter, mine just did.

“Did she say why she had left?” my words sounded raspy as I fought to take deep breaths. “Where she went?”

“No. She thanked me. Told me it was something she had to do. That there wasn’t another choice.”

How could she leave me? With no reason? I pressed my free hand flat against my chest to try and ease the tightness. Was she in some kind of trouble? Wouldn’t she come to me? Or was it that she couldn’t do this. The battle I was facing.

“If you hear anything from her, tell me?” The concern in Gerry’s voice just made it more real. I didn’t want it to be. I didn’t want to believe it.

“Yeah, I gotta go,” I said my head spinning trying to find something that made sense. This wasn’t like her to just run off. Beulah was special. She’d claimed my fucking heart the moment I saw her, which was stupid and naïve, but it’d happened. I thought she felt as strongly for me as I did her. But fuck, how could I have been so wrong? Just because my life was tough right now and it was no longer some fucking fairytale, she just leaves me? Without even saying goodbye.

I couldn’t even go chase after her. If I had the freedom to, I’d go hunt her down and demand to know why. What had I done wrong? Then I’d probably get on my knees and beg. But she knew I couldn’t. She left knowing I wouldn’t be able to come find her. I had to rescue my son. He was innocent, and he needed me. And by God, I wouldn’t let him down. I’d fight until I had no fight left. He’d know I wanted him. He would know he was loved.

As soon as I got the chance, I would rush back to Savannah. Beulah wouldn’t have gone far. She would stay close because of Heidi. Finding her shouldn’t be hard. I would find her, I’d make her tell me why she left me. Fix whatever I had done wrong.

I refused to believe she didn’t love me. Yes, my life was chaotic right now, but it wasn’t forever. Losing her would be a ruin I’dnever come back from.

There was no way I could just let her go. She had to know that. I’d placed my fucking soul in her hands. She owned it just like she did me.

Moving on after Beulah would be impossible. That void was one I couldn’t accept.

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