Page 18 of If You Love Me

“Unfortunately, sir, we can’t determine that at this time. Your wife was in a car accident. Looks like she ran off the road and crashed into some trees. We have rescuers searching the area for her, but so far, they’ve come up empty.”

I heard Mama Cheryl scream in the phone followed by anguished cries that pierced my ears. Mr. David attempted to calm her down and figure out what was wrong.

“Come up empty?” I parroted. “She has to be out there. Maybe someone helped her. Have you checked the hospitals?”

“Yes, sir. No reports of her or a Jane Doe coming in. They’ve been instructed to contact us if she shows up.”

I clutched my baby girl to my chest as the word “if” sank in. What happened to my wife, and where the hell was she?

Now

I satat my desk going through paperwork, with music playing softly in the background. I managed to make it to work with five minutes to spare, considering the fact that I overslept. I had a meeting in about an hour, and I needed to ensure I was fully prepared. For the last nine years, I’d been working as a portfolio manager at a private bank.

I liked the job, mostly because I loved numbers. I could do them in my sleep. I made great money, and if I needed to, I could work from home if I needed to be with my baby girl. Where most people would stress over the challenges, I thrived.

The sound of my phone ringing broke my concentration. I frowned at the unfamiliar number before answering the call.

“Hello?”

“Is this Tyrion Lewis?”

“That depends on who is asking.”

“I’m Officer Hilbert of the Cayman County Police. Is Evenie Lewis your wife?”

I froze. While Evenie was still considered a missing person, I hadn’t had any contact with the police about her case in a long time.

“Yes,” I answered faintly.

“I’m happy to report that she’s been found safely.”

My ears had to have been playing tricks on me. Did she just say that?

“I’m sorry… what? Repeat that.”

“She’s been found, Mr. Lewis. She’s here at the police station.”

“Are you sure it’s her? This isn’t some sick joke, is it?”

“I assure you, it’s not.”

“I—I um… I need to hear her voice.”

“Of course. If you hold on one second, I’ll get her.”

“Okay.”

I sat frozen as the hold music played in my ear. Evenie was alive? She’d been found? For so long, I’d waited to hear those words, and now that I had, I couldn’t believe them. My soul never believed that she was gone. I talked to her sometimes, and it never felt like I was talking to a ghost. I never got any sign of her presence, but I also never felt the void of her spirit.

My grandfather told me when he lost my grandmother that he felt like part of him was gone forever. He said he physically felt that she was no longer a part of him. Now, I wouldn’t say that was the same for everybody, but my pops was a wise old man. If he said he felt that, I believed him.

After what felt like an eternity, the music cut off. I closed my eyes, preparing for the next thing I heard to be the voice of my wife.

“Tyrion?” she whispered.

Somehow, I forgot to breathe. Hearing her voice again was like hearing it for the first time. She’d been a shy sixteen-year-old girl, and I was completely smitten.

“Tyrion?” she said, a little louder.

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