Isabella
Isabella packed a week’s worth of clothes for herself and for Nina. It would be a flight to Chicago, a day or two to recover, a few days of a “vacation,” and then the flight back.
Ethan had come through for her, making the appointment and raising the money. He’d even offered to take her to the airport, but she’d refused.
“It’s too dangerous. I’ll use a car service.”
“It’s what friends do,” he’d said.
“And friends don’t let friends take unnecessary risks either.”
They both knew that even as much he’d already done would put him in legal jeopardy if anyone found out.
She couldn’t let anyone find out. Especially not Wyatt. The way he’d looked at her the last time he’d picked up Nina had chilled her. If he knew—he’d try to stop her, even if it could mean her life.
Not that she wasn’t sad. Not that she was happy to be doing this. She’d grown up Catholic after all, and she loved Nina. She would have liked more children. Terminating her pregnancy meant terminating all the possibilities that the developing embryo represented. But she remembered how close she’d come to dying, how terrified she’d been.
Maybe, if she didn’t already have a child, she’d take the risk to continue the pregnancy, even knowing that there was a good chance she’d die. But having Nina changed everything. Nina needed her. She had to stay alive to take care of her, because to be honest, Wyatt was kind of an idiot. He’d become a religious nut on top of it.
She couldn’t leave Nina to be raised by him.
Nina wore a small backpack that carried her favorite stuffed animal, a floppy white tiger. She had no idea where they were going, but she liked the idea of going on an airplane and visiting someplace she’d never seen. And Isabella had promised to take her to the Field Museum to see dinosaurs.
“Are they live dinosaurs?”
“No, sweetie.”
Nina made a pouty face. “I thought they’d be alive.” Nina loved animals, no matter how scary.
“We’ll go to the zoo, too.”
She’d also told Nina that they were going to visit Mommy’s friends, even though Isabella didn’t know the two women who would be meeting them at the airport. They would take her to her appointment, and one of them would watch Nina until it was over. Isabella had no idea how Ethan had contacted them or whether they were volunteers or being paid, but she was so grateful.
Isabella checked her phone. The plane left in three hours. The car would be arriving in five minutes.
Nina, excited, shifted from foot to foot. “Can we get a present for Daddy?”
“Sure, honey.” Isabella had already anticipated that Wyatt would find out afterward that they’d been to Chicago. Little girls weren’t good about keeping secrets, but he wouldn’t know why she’d gone, and even if he suspected, it would be too late to stop her. “We’ll get him something special.”
“Daddy likes ice cream.”
“It’ll melt. We’ll get him some chocolates.”
“Can I have some, too?”
“Some.” Candy was reserved for special occasions. But vacations merited different rules, and as far as Nina knew, this was a vacation. Nina would never know anything different.
Or maybe she would. Maybe Isabella would tell her daughter what had happened—when she was old enough to know the consequences of being a woman.
She saw a car pulling up in front of her townhouse, and she took Nina’s hand, pulling the suitcase with her other. Nina almost skipped with excitement.
“I’m going on a plane.” Nina sang the words.
The car service driver was named Jordan. She couldn’t see into the car, it had darkened windows, but there wasn’t anyone else it could be. The trunk opened as she approached the car, but the driver didn’t get out. She tapped on the window, and he lowered it partway. “Jordan?” she asked. She still couldn’t see much of his face.
“Yeah. Isabella?”
“Yes.”
She heaved the overstuffed suitcase into the trunk, slammed it shut, and then opened the back door of the car, letting Nina scoot in ahead of her.
She snapped Nina’s seatbelt first then her own, and the car pulled out. All she could see of the driver was the side of his face. He wore a baseball cap and dark glasses, and had dark brown hair.
“Mommy, I’m hungry.” Nina’s voice held expectation.
Isabella had come prepared, with crackers spread with peanut butter and a juice box. It took her a minute to dig them out of her purse and punch the straw into the small hole, and she handed Nina the crackers one at a time so she wouldn’t cram them into her mouth too quickly.
She had never been to the airport and had no idea of the route. It wasn’t until she checked her phone and saw that Jordan had texted her and was wondering where she was that she realized she’d seen no signs for the airport and that they were going in the wrong direction.