Page 21 of His Loving Wife

Willow ignored her mother’s question. “Is that him?”

For the past few months, Kate had been trying to shield them from updates, protect them from the truth. But Willow especially was old enough to deserve answers. It would make her feel safer to know the person responsible for breaking into their home was caught.

“Yes. Detective Marsh just told me they’ve made an arrest.”

Willow walked inside the study and leaned over, taking in the face. Kate hoped this would help her daughter. Let her see this was no monster—just a man. A man who could no longer hurt them.

After a few seconds, Willow spoke: “I’ve seen him before.”

“Yes, he was here that night—”

“No, I don’t recognize him from then. He was wearing a mask the entire time, remember? I saw him before that.”

“Saw him? Saw him where?”

“Outside my school. He talked to me.”

“Talked to you?” Her voice sounded strangled, felt the way it did when Paul’s hands wrapped around her throat the night of the invasion. “What did he say?”

“Not much. Just made conversation about the weather, things like that.”

Kate wasn’t listening anymore. Her mind was traveling back to when Paul had first made his ridiculous accusation.

After their tense exchange at Andale’s, Paul had tried contacting her in other ways. As she told Dana, he’d reached out to her via email. Called her office. Called her cell phone. She blocked his cell from her phone, and refused to answer unknown numbers, in case he tried to contact her again.

Then one day, as she was leaving work, she spotted him. He was leaning against her car, waiting for her.

“You need to get away from me,” she warned him, stopping in her tracks. “If you don’t stop contacting me, I’ll get the police involved.”

“And what will you tell them?” The words came out like a challenge. “That your old friend only wants to have a conversation.”

“I’ll tell them that you’ve been harassing me, following me, watching my every move.” All of which was true.

“Tell me more about Willow.” His words dropped with the intensity of a heavy weight. “She’s, what, fifteen? You must have gotten pregnant during our senior year. Does that sound about right?”

The air seemed to stall in Kate’s throat. “Paul, I don’t know what you’re insinuating—”

Paul lowered his head, never once breaking eye contact. She stared directly at him.

“She’s my daughter, Kate. Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out?”

Kate scrunched her face, could feel her cheeks reddening. “That’s not true. You can’t possibly think that.”

“I know it. You’ve kept her to yourself all this time. But not anymore.”

Kate should have known then how far Paul would be willing to go to wreck her life. He threatened her that day, not with violence, but with an accusation. She wanted to believe that’s all it was—an accusation from a scorned, desperate man.

Looking back, Kate realized she should have been more vigilant. That was the moment when she should have taken action. She should have told Andrew that same day, maybe even alerted the police. She should have told Detective Marsh about Paul Gunter the very night of the invasion, but she didn’t want to admit how far she’d let events spiral beyond her control.

Kate couldn’t admit that she had never actually been his target.

All along, he’d been after Willow.

Chapter 11

Now

My eyes ricochet between the oven and the digital clock above the microwave. Aster and David are due to arrive any moment. Andrew still hasn’t returned with the fish. He insisted we cook Noah’s catch and took it to a local fish market to debone the fillet.

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