Page 2 of Our Lips Are Sealed
She unclenched her fingers, smiling at his horrified expression when he saw the apple in her hand.
Howls of rage shattered the quiet landscape, sending the creatures of the night running. Straddling her chest, he shoved his fingers in her mouth, attempting to force her to vomit up the poison. But when that didn’t work, the devil inside took over. He struck her face repeatedly with alternating fists, knocking her head back and forth until she couldn’t tell where the sky ended and the earth began.
Between the fruit’s work and the sedatives, the pain he inflicted didn’t last long, and she cackled at his efforts, gagging on the blood and teeth pooling in her mouth. The distorted noise had him pausing, and the boy she knew peeked out from behind the monster’s mask.
His chest heaved with regret as he gazed down at her mangled form, and for one shining moment, the life they had spent together spanned between them.
He loved her.
And she loved him.
But that didn’t matter anymore.
This was the end.
Using the very last of her strength, she lifted her head.
“I win.”
With those final words, she slipped through the veil where the only sound was the roar of his defeat.
Chapter 1
July 4, 1999
“Here’syourprescription,anda pamphlet on what to expect over the next few days.”
Rebecca squinted against the fluorescent lights of the hospital’s emergency room, taking the paperwork from the nurse. “Thanks.”
“Is this your first miscarriage?”
“It’s my third.”
“Oh, my dear, I am so sorry,” the nurse cooed. “Is your husband in the waiting area? I can bring him back to help you.”
Giving her a tight smile, Rebecca squared her shoulders, not faulting the woman for assuming she had a man waiting. On her finger sat a ring where a wedding band should be. Charlie had placed it there to show others she wasn’t available.
It was his way of being romantic.
“I’ll be fine,” she told the nurse, rising. “Am I free to go?”
The nurse nodded, wishing her well, and Rebecca made her way outside into the unbearable July heat. The cramping in her lower stomach slowed her pace, and she collapsed into the driver’s seat when she made it to the car, the world spinning before her eyes.
Perhaps she should have asked Charlie to drive her after all. But he’d shown up at the cottage late last night in one of his moods. The bad kind, where all he wanted was to use her body until he passed out.
The first pain hit not long after his snores started, and she’d laid there for hours, too scared to wake him. He wanted this pregnancy to stick, even though Rebecca had no interest in having more children. She was happy with the life they lived. Without the burdens of motherhood weighing her down, nothing was stopping them from having fun, and when the blood came in the night, relief came with it.
The drive home from the hospital was slow, making it mid-morning by the time she arrived at Haven House. Parking in the farthest spot near the cottages, she hoped to avoid being seen by the children, who were playing tag on the lawn.
Giving herself a minute, Rebecca sighed over the beauty of Haven House in the morning light. It wouldn’t be long now, and the place would be hers.
Laura Jean and Ben were leaving to live in that monstrosity he’d built them on the beach. Designed to appear as a castle on the sand, Rebecca thought it was the most ridiculous looking thing she’d ever seen in her life.
Simone and Devon would soon be gone too. Trevor told Charlie the other day that Ben had purchased a nice house near Port Michaelson Elementary School, where Devon used to teach. With Simone and Laura Jean pushing for the children to enter the school system, it would make sense that the home was for them.
Getting out of the car, Rebecca broke into an immediate sweat that turned her stomach. It was a short walk to her door, but it would be slow going to get there.
“Run, run, run as fast as you can!” Selah shouted from his counting spot at the central oak.
