Husband by Choice

And so she did.

All at once. Moving her arms and legs at the same time, she almost vomited again as the agonizing pain took over her entire body.

She wasn’t going to last long. She knew that. Wasn’t going to get far.

But she could not die in a pool of her own blood.

Didn’t want to die in a bathroom.

On her hands and knees she almost crumbled. Sweat poured from her body. She was so hot. Dying.

No.

She wasn’t supposed to die. Had her father told her that?

With one hand she grasped for the edge of the sink. Pulled herself up and lunged for the doorknob to hold herself up on the other side while she tried to climb on the garden tub and get to the window. She could break it by putting her fist through it.

One more cut wasn’t going to matter.

Her sticky, wet—was that blood—hand got to the knob. But it didn’t hold her steady as she’d thought it would.

As it should have.

As she’d expected.

It moved. Turned as her weight fell against it. And the door.

They moved in unison, she and that hard wooden door.

He hadn’t locked it.

* * *

MAX HAD NO idea how many people cased those four neighborhoods. Dozens. Maybe more.

He didn’t slow down enough to make eye contact or exchange words with anyone. He was going to find Meri.

House after house received his thundering footsteps, his brusque knock, his hurried questions and piercing gaze, and then he was gone. Off to the next.

For every house where someone didn’t answer the door, he called over an officer to investigate. And then he moved on.

I will find you, Meri. The mantra was all he knew. He remembered making the promise to her once before, in person, when she’d been having a particularly hard day.

She’d been pregnant, as he remembered it. And scared to death that Steve was close by. That he was going to come steal her away from Max.

He’d held her in his arms. Loving her for all he was worth. So certain that all they were dealing with was post-traumatic stress. A medical issue, really. Right up his alley.

He’d whispered a lot of words to her that afternoon.

She’d ask what-if and he’d have an answer.

I will find you, Meri.

He finished one street and moved to the next. And the next.

I will find you.

What he found, as he turned a corner, was a mass of people rushing down the street.