Page 18 of Abigail
“I…I’m fine, Robert.” Abigail’s voice cracks and tears are welling in her eyes. “Thank you for a wonderful evening, but Ellie and I need to get home.” She starts to get up. Straw places a hand on her thigh, halting her movement.
“Sweetheart, you are not fine,” Straw argues. “You are pale, sweating, and shaking like a leaf. You’re in no shape to be driving. Now please talk to me. Tell me what is the problem. I will help you with whatever is wrong.” Straw’s eyes bore into her, willing her to divulge her secrets. When she remains silent, he tries another tactic. “We haven’t even had dessert, yet. You know that Ellie will be disappointed to miss out on strawberry ice cream.”
Tears well up in her eyes. Straw can see she is fighting an internal battle. One he is hoping he comes out the victor, but as the emotions fly across her face, he realizes he won’t be the winner today. He studies her carefully. He sees her anxiety, her uncertainty, but also her trepidation that she can’t fully trust him with her secrets. He is trying to formulate the right words to say to get her to trust him when she finally speaks. Straightening her spine, she turns to face him with determination shining in her face.
“Robert, I really appreciate your concern, but we don’t really know each other,” Abigail begins, her words slicing him deep. “I need to get Ellie home. She isn’t used to being up this late. Thank you again for inviting us to dinner, but we really must go.” She pauses a moment, more emotions flitting across her beautiful face. She softens her stiff demeanor just a little when she continues, “I am very thankful to have met you and your friends. It gives me hope that the world isn’t as bad as I have always thought.” At that she stands and moves to Ellie’s chair.
“Thank you all for allowing us to join you tonight. We had a very good time, but I need to get Ellie home. It’s past her bedtime,” Abigail addresses the group. “Ellie say goodbye to your friends.” Ellie looks sad to be leaving, but she gets up from her chair and hugs each of the boys before kissing Charlotte’s baby girl, Lilly on the cheek. Straw watches in shock as she gathers the small girl up and begins to walk away from him. He can’t just let her leave.
Straw hurries to catch up with her. He reaches out and gently takes hold of her bicep. Abigail jumps at his touch and spins into him at the ready to defend herself.
“Whoa! Sweetheart,” Straw speaks softly to calm her. “It’s just me. Let me walk you to your car.” Relief softens her features as she realizes who has touched her. Straw is pleased that she is comfortable with him, but he is, at the same time, upset that she is scared at all. He can again see her warring with herself. He can see she wants to say something but, instead, clamps her lips together. She doesn’t trust him. He can understand that. It’s like she said, she doesn’t know him that well, but he is determined to make sure she gets to know him and trust him not only with her life but with Ellie’s too. He knows that is her main source of trepidation. Her next words cut him straight to his heart. He understands why she says what she says, but it doesn’t lessen his pain at hearing her say the words. He doesn’t let them deter him, though. He will make her see that she can trust him.
“Um…Robert. I really appreciate everything. You and your friends have been very kind, but I’m not sure this is a good idea.” She swirls her hand between them. “You live in North Carolina, right? I’m not sure what you were hoping to achieve by taking me to dinner, spending all this time with me over the last ten days, but I can assure you, I’m not a one-night stand kind of woman. Please just let me and Ellie walk out of here without making a scene.”
“Abigail, I’m not trying to make a scene. I never expected you to sleep with me.” The hurt in his voice and the disappointment are clearly on display on his face. “I know that a long-distance relationship would be very difficult, but I have hoped you would be willing to give it a try. I won’t push you for more than friendship right now. We can text, Skype, and talk on the phone, learn more about each other. Later, if it feels right to both of us, we can work out the logistics of making it more,” Straw implores her. “We can take things as slow as you need.”
“I’m very sorry, Robert. You seem like a really nice guy, but I don’t make good choices when it comes to men. I have to think about what is best for Ellie. Please just let me walk away and forget we ever met,” Abigail turns and hurries to leave the restaurant. Straw follows at a distance. She might not want him to see her to her car, but he’ll be damned if he lets her walk out into a dark parking lot alone at this time of night.
* * *
Abigail hastears leaking from her eyes as she gets Ellie buckled into her seat. She needs to get herself under control before she tries to drive them home. She gets into the driver’s seat. Ellie is jabbering away about the twins and their sister, Lilly. Abigail closes her eyes. Taking some deep breaths to calm herself, she focuses on her daughter’s monologue. Her daughter’s sweet voice never fails to bring her peace and fill her with love, but tonight she’s having a hard time finding solace in her daughter’s chatter. Her heart is breaking at what she has to do to keep them safe, what she has to give up to protect them. A knock on her window wrings a shriek from her.
Opening her eyes, she’s expecting to see Robert outside her window, but good-luck is not on her side tonight. Admiral Jenkins is standing beside her door. He’s leaning over, peering at her through her window. It crosses her mind to quickly start the car and drive away, but she knows her luck has run out. It’s time to face the music. She reaches for the hand crank to roll down her window. Slowly the window descends to reveal her fate.
“Abigail,” the man begins, “We need to talk.” Abigail is shocked that’s the first thing he says to her after all these years. When she doesn’t respond, he shocks the crap right out of her when he continues, “I’m not looking to cause you problems. I just need to speak with you about the past, and I hope we can work out something for a future for my granddaughter.”Well knock me over with a feather!
“Um…I’m not sure what to say,” Abigail stammers. “I really need to get Ellie home and in bed…”
“I understand,” the Admiral replies. “Please, Abigail, don’t keep her from me, from my wife. We… well this is not something we need to discuss here in a dark parking lot. Get our girl home and in bed. We’ll talk tomorrow. Here’s my card; give me a call first thing in the morning. I have some meetings tomorrow, but nothing I can’t reschedule. Goodnight, Abigail.” He holds out a fancy looking business card with his name and number embossed in gold on the crisp, white card.
She stares at the man in awe as he waits for her to take his card and give him a reply. Woodenly she reaches for the card and snatches it from his hand as if she’s afraid he will bite her. She can’t wrap her head around the fact that he hasn’t called the police or MPs or even tried to restrain her himself. She needs to know why he hasn’t done any of that.
“I don’t understand,” she timidly begins. “I…I thought-” She pauses to look over her shoulder at her world sitting in the backseat. Ellie is thankfully lost in play with her action figures. Feeling it safe to speak semi-freely, she turns back to the man standing next to her. “I thought you would have me arrested, that you hate me, want to make me pay.” She looks up at a man she had once admired, had once wished he’d been her father instead of the piece of shit who had been her sperm donor. The man’s face gentles.
“Abigail.” The Admiral’s voice is so kind. “This is not something we can discuss right now.” He glances back at Ellie. “We will talk in the morning, but just know this, my wife and I do not hate you or hold any hard feelings against you. Now stop worrying and drive safely. I’ll hear from you in the morning, yes?” Abigail nods her agreement and starts her car as she cranks the window up.
The drive home is surreal. She feels guilty that she hasn’t paid attention to Ellie’s chatter, but she is still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she isn’t behind bars. Once home, she gets Ellie ready for bed, and thankfully, she drifts off quickly after the busy day she’s had. Abigail heads to her room and readies herself for bed but can’t turn off all the questions rattling around in her head.What the heck?Could she truly be off the hook? Is the Admiral sincere about not holding a grudge? Maybe he is thinking about what is best for Ellie. She’s already lost her father. Dare she hope that the Admiral doesn’t want to take her away from Ellie, too?
It’s too good to be true, right? It could all be a trap, and the police could be waiting for her in the morning. However, she’s gotten really good at reading people over the years, especially after everything that happened with Todd. She hadn’t detected any deceit in his features when he had been was talking to her. Worry heavy on her mind, much like it was in those early days when she’d been on the run, Abigail can’t sleep at all for tossing and turning. The conversation with the Admiral replaying over and over in her mind. Looking at the clock again for the millionth time, she decides to get up. She isn’t doing any good rolling around her lumpy bed. Might as well get up and do some cleaning. It has always helped her to clear her head and work through whatever problems she is having.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
Early the next morning, Straw heads to the front desk to talk to Abigail. He’s determined to have a talk with her. Clear the air and hopefully get her to open up to him about what has her so spooked, but Brent is there, instead. Straw strolls up to the man who still looks scared after their little ‘talk’ last week. That’s good, very good.
“Where’s Abigail?” Straw demands as soon as he is standing in front of Brent. The man shrinks back in fear but manages to answer the question.
“She called in sick,” Brent whines. “She’s worked here for over a year and never calls in. I hate to admit it, but she’s the best employee I have.” Brent continues to mumble to himself about how hard it is to find good help. Straw is shocked and worried about Abigail. He’d known something had been wrong last night, but she’d refused to open up to him about what was bothering her.
“Did she say what is wrong with her? Is Ellie sick?” Straw needs to find her and convince her to let him help her with whatever has gotten her so upset. Brent looks up at him.
“No, not really. She just said she wouldn’t be in this morning. That she might be in later but not to expect it.” Straw is reeling from the information Brent has given him.
“Give me her address and phone number,” Straw demands. Brent looks reluctant, but when Straw takes a step closer, he begins writing down her information. The man is a total coward, which is working out well for Straw, but it’s concerning that he would so easily give up Abigail’s personal information.
With the information in hand, Straw starts to leave the hotel but remembers what Tank told him when they talked last week. He’d have his back. Straw doesn’t need to go at this alone. He needs his team. Turning back, he heads for the elevators.
When he reaches their floor of the hotel, he strolls down the hall to Tank’s room and raps on the door. Tank opens it within moments. As his gaze meets Straw’s, he responds immediately. Tank knows without asking. Straw is in need of help.
