“I found her, Chad.”
“Yeah? Where is she?”
“She’s—” Larry cleared his throat.
“What? Tell me!”
“She’s on a flight to Paris.”
Had a Taser gun hit him? Chad’s body suddenly went numb. “What?”
“She’s on a flight to Paris.”
He shook his head, his body tingling. “But why?”
“I can’t get into her head, Chad. I don’t have a clue why she’s on a flight to Paris, but it may have something to do with the fact that she paid a visit to a doctor last evening.”
Fear gripped him. “A doctor? Why? Is she okay.”
“Yes, yes, she’s fine,” Larry assured.
Chad sat down limply. “Thank God.”
“There’s something I need to tell you though.”
He stood up again, his pulse thundering inside his ears. “What is it?”
“She lost the baby, Chad.”
“Damn.” A cannonball settled in Chad’s gut. Anger, sadness, worry cascaded over him. He threw his phone down and then picked it up again. “You still there, Lar?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“What’s her flight number?”
He scribbled the information on a legal pad, thanked Larry before he hung up, and made a quick call to his travel agent.
Within five hours, Chad was on his way to Paris.
A flirty flight attendant brought him wine and pillows and helped him lean his seat back when the pilot turned off the cabin lights.
“Can I get you anything else, sir?” she asked. “A blanket, maybe?”
“No, honey, I’m perfectly comfortable,” he said. No one sat in the seat next to him, so he had the first class row to himself. He leaned into the soft, though not comfortable, headrest and closed his eyes.
Catie, I’m coming for you, he thought. I love you. I’ve loved you for so long that I can’t imagine not loving you. Somehow I’ve always known it would be you. I feel lost when you’re gone. I feel like a part of me’s missing. I’ve always known, Catie, I’ve always known…
As he drifted
into slumber, a fateful evening four years earlier drifted into his mind.
“Hi there, Chad.”
“Hey, Catie. Happy birthday. You sure look pretty tonight.”
“You actually noticed?”
“I’ve been noticing for a while now. You’ve grown into a pretty girl.”