Page 29 of Mine to Keep

Chapter6

Bryn bolted upright from a deep sleep. Her chest tightened as she gasped for air. Images still flashed before her eyes.

Timothy’s rage-filled eyes staring at her with hatred.

His fist landing on her cheek.

She palmed the side of her face.

That wasn’t her life anymore.

Timothy was dead. She’d attended his funeral. She’d watched as they lowered his casket into the ground. She’d even stayed to make sure the workers in the cemetery piled the earth on top of the wooden box. Two days after the service, she went back to check again.

She’d needed to make sure.

Zadie stirred in the bassinet next to Bryn’s bed.

She checked the time. It was close to five in the morning. She’d yet to see the sun rise over the ocean.

Today would be that day.

“Come here, Zadie girl.” Everyone told her not to wake a sleeping baby, but she would be in a full-fledged wail in a matter of minutes anyway. Besides, Bryn had learned over the course of the few days she’d been at home that leaving the house these days wasn’t as simple as grabbing the car keys and walking out the door.

Not that she’d really left the house since she wasn’t supposed to be driving yet.

But today, she’d venture the couple of miles to the public parking lot in town. She’d be driving for all of five minutes. And the walk from her vehicle to the beach would be another ten. The fresh air would do her and Zadie some good.

A little Zen under the morning sky.

Zadie greedily ate her breakfast, so waking her wasn’t a problem. She didn’t fuss too much while Bryn changed her, nor as she placed her in the car seat.

“We’re going on an adventure,” Bryn said as she pulled the belt strap, securing Zadie in the back of the vehicle.

Bryn glanced down the street in both directions. She was always on the lookout for anyone who didn’t belong. Only she’d yet to get to know her neighbors, so she wouldn’t know if someone out of place were strolling down the street or not. Her heart had finally calmed after her horrific nightmare. However, the feeling of unease had yet to leave.

Actually, she’d been carrying that sense around since she decided to fake her death. She wondered if it would ever go away. God, she hoped so. She didn’t want Zadie turning ten with Bryn utterly petrified that the clown she’d hired to entertain the children at the party was a bad man hired by her in-laws to kidnap her precious daughter.

“Here we go.” Bryn slipped behind the steering wheel and backed out of the driveway. The night sky gave way to the morning light. When she was married to Timothy, she used to slip out of bed and go sit on the balcony of whatever home they were in because they always had a balcony off the master. She’d grab a cup of coffee and sit there, staring at the sky and dreaming of a life of freedom.

She wished she felt free.

While she was no longer at Timothy’s mercy or that of his family, she wasn’t free by any sense of the word. She was still trapped in a world where she couldn’t be who she wanted or see her family.

Tears stung her eyes.

She swiped at her face. This was no time to cry. This life was better than any other she could have had if she’d stayed. She’d made the right choice.

After finding a parking spot close to the walkway to the beach, she adjusted the front pouch and pulled Zadie from the back of the car. She wrapped Zadie in the snuggle thing, which was a hell of a lot harder than she’d thought it would be. It definitely took more than the five minutes the store clerk had advertised when she’d bought it. But after fighting with it for about ten, she finally secured Zadie, and they were ready for a short walk—that’s all Bryn would be able to handle on the beach.

She grabbed a towel and locked the car.

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore lulled Zadie to sleep in seconds, and it made Bryn forget all the demons lurking in the shadows.

This was why she’d moved to Florida.

This was her safe harbor.

She laid out the blanket and sat for a moment, patting Zadie’s cute little bottom while she watched tiny white birds running back and forth as the water nearly took them out.

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