“Is everything okay?” I murmur.
“You’re still awake?”
“I couldn’t sleep until you were here.” I roll over to face him.
“The house is secured. Thankfully because your neighbours called quickly, the fire damage is restricted to the back of the house. But there’ll be smoke damage too.” He places a kiss on my forehead. “But the two most precious things in my life are safe, and I’m thankful for that.”
“I’m glad our personal things were already with the movers.”
He sighs. “That too. I brought your handbag and the suitcases you had packed. I can’t believe Emily did this. I’m so sorry, Cassie.”
“It’s not your fault. At least they caught the person who did it.”
“I’ll call Ethan in the morning and let him know what’s happened. If it’s okay with Lauren we’ll stay here a few days so we can meet with the insurance assessors or whoever else we need to deal with.”
I nod. “So much for a good start to our new life.”
“Hey,” he says softly. “We’re all alive and we’re together. That’s what’s important. If anything happened to either of you, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
Tears well in my eyes.
“I love you and Sophie with everything I have. You’re my whole life.”
He gathers me into his arms and I fall asleep breathing him in—finally feeling safe again.
36
CASSIE
Three months.
That’s all it took for us to be living with Patrick and for him to get me pregnant again.
Contraception and us don’t seem to work well together.
I sit on the toilet seat, the third test I’ve taken in my hands. Like the other two tests, two pink lines show me the undeniable truth.
As much as I’ve always wanted Sophie to have siblings, I thought we had a little more time.
When the front door opens and closes, I pinch the bridge of my nose.
It’s the same routine every day.
Patrick walks in the door, and Sophie goes flying into his arms. The two of them are rapidly making up for lost time, and although the guilt still weighs on me over keeping them apart, both reassure me they don’t resent me.
His heavy footsteps on the stairs tell me she’s sent himmy way. Not wanting to tell her what I was doing, I’d feigned a headache to come up to our bedroom to lie down.
When he taps on the door, I sigh.
"Come in."
His eyebrows are raised as he takes in the sight of me sitting on the toilet, lid down.
“Are you okay? Sophie said you weren’t feeling well. Another headache?”
I nod. “I’ll be fine. It’s a bit more serious than a headache though.”
He frowns. “More serious? Babe? What’s going on?”
