Page 17 of Chasing the Horizon

Had he brought on Valerie’s accident? Was this all his fault?

Bethany hurried over to Victor and Esme. She wore a look of authority on her face. She knew accidents, she knew human bodies, and she understood what was possible and what was not. It had to be Bethany who took control.

“How much do you know?” Bethany asked.

“Just that there was a car accident,” Esme said. Her face was as pale as paper.

Bethany nodded. “Valerie was driving back from the grocery store. Someone sideswiped her, and her car went off the road.”

Victor rubbed his chest as hard as he could with his fist. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

“What’s happening now?” Esme demanded.

Victor wanted to scream,Who sideswiped her? Who did it?

He knew almost everyone on this island. He had the sense that he knew whoever it was intimately and could make them pay if he wanted to.

Calm down, Victor Sutton, he told himself.Keep your wits about you.

“She was unconscious when they brought her in,” Bethany continued. Her voice wavered. “But because the doctors aren’t sure of her mental state and can’t be sure of how drastic the brain injury is, they want to deliver the baby as soon as possible.”

Esme smacked both hands over her mouth.

It was a total nightmare.

Bethany explained why it was the way it was. If something was really wrong with Valerie’s brain—something they couldn’t yet know—it was essential that they protect the baby. After that, they could give Valerie all kinds of medication they wouldn’t have been able to while she was pregnant.

“It was supposed to be a beautiful day,” Esme whispered. “It was supposed to be the best day of her life.”

Soon, a doctor came into the waiting room to usher Bethany back down the hall. Victor and Esme sat in stunned silence, theirarms wrapped around each other, watching the secondhand tick around the clock. Time was of the essence. But all they could do was wait for it to pass.

She’s going to be all right, Victor told himself.She has to be.

Chapter Seven

November 2024

Seven Months Before The Accident

It was mid-November and negative ten degrees Fahrenheit, which was ridiculous for this time of year. Bone-chilling. In the parking lot of the grocery store, Valerie made a small deal with God, then stepped out into the blistering cold air and hurried into the store. As soon as the doors clipped closed behind her, she gasped. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath.

At the fruit stand, Margie, the grocery clerk, stacked apples and pears and shook her head. “I haven’t gotten warm all morning,” she said. “And given the produce, we have the heat on as much as we can.”

“I don’t know what this means for the winter ahead!” Valerie said.

“It’s just a fluke.” Margie waved her hand. “But I remember a Thanksgiving when it was fifteen below. The oven broke, and wedidn’t eat anything but what we could heat in the microwave. We couldn’t go out, either. Everything was closed. It was terrible.”

Deeper in the grocery store, Valerie wheeled her cart through the aisles, honoring her grocery list and her sudden pregnancy desires for prunes, marshmallows, and Cheez-Its. Now that she was nearly done with her first trimester, her morning sickness had calmed down, and she felt like the baby was growing like a beanstalk.

At the checkout counter, she texted her father.

ME: Are you sure you don’t want anything?

Victor called immediately. Valerie laughed and answered. “What’s up?”

“Sorry. We realized we don’t have half of what we thought we did,” Victor said. “And we really don’t want to go out. Not in this cold.”

Valerie smiled into the receiver and slowly backed her cart into the aisles again. “Text me everything you need. Plus, writing snacks. We have a big chunk to get through today.”

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