She pulled the rest of the articles and read them all, including Karen’s obituary.
But through it all, there was no mention of the baby.
Had Luke kept that from everyone? To protect them from further loss? Had he held it close, holding the guilt, the agonizing loss to his heart? Locked up?
Gently, Harper replaced all the items in the box and put it back on the shelf.
She stood, aching from hours of sitting on the concrete floor. She stepped out and closed the door, but didn’t lock it.
She was sharing her home, her life, with another woman. One who didn’t deserve to be locked away anymore.
Harper climbed the stairs to the first floor, mechanically turning on lights as she made her way back to the kitchen. The dogs, who had been napping in the dining room, thundered after her. Hungry and restless. She let them out first and then fed them their dinner. While they ate, Harper stared out into the darkness.
She reached for her cellphone and, ignoring the handful of texts and voicemails, dialed Sophie’s number.
“Hey, can you come over? I want to talk about Karen.”
***
Sophie wrapped her hands around the glass of iced tea that Harper set in front of her. The condensation worked its way down to form a ring on the picnic table’s surface.
Harper stirred the fire in the fire pit before sitting down on the opposite bench. She watched the dogs take turns chasing each other in the dark with a stick.
“So,” she said.
“So,” Sophie echoed.
Lola gave up the game of chase and rolled onto her back in the grass next to the patio.
“He told you?”
“Nope.”
Sophie swore. “My brother the idiot. He should have told you.”
“Agreed. So why didn’t he?” Harper pulled a leg up on the bench and rested her chin on her knee.
“You’ve met Luke. He doesn’t talk. He’s always been that way — private, quiet — to some extent. But after the accident, he shut down. I’ve never heard him say her name since then. It’s almost like he wants to pretend she never existed, but maybe he just wants to be alone with his pain.”
“Were you and Karen close?”
Sophie nodded. “We weren’t best friends or anything, more like family. Our personalities were different. She was very pragmatic and calm. Kind of stoic. But she was warm and solid. We got along well. She and Luke were together for so long, she was family before she was officially family.”
Harper nodded.
“I saw the wedding pictures.”
“He kept them?” Sophie straightened. “I wondered. After the funeral, I left Luke alone for a few days. When I went to see him the whole place was packed up. He moved in here shortly after. But I never saw a hint of Karen or their life together.”
“It’s all in the basement. He boxed it up, built walls around it, and locked the door.”
Sophie put her chin in her hands and peered down at her tea. “Have anything stronger?”
Harper went inside and returned with a bottle of Jack Daniels and two cans of Coke. “How’s this?”
“Perfect.” Leaving the ice, Sophie drained the tea out of her glass onto the ground. She repeated the process with Harper’s glass before cracking open the bottle.
“So how do you feel about all this?”
