“Amy.” Gabriella’s voice cut through my thoughts. I was confused as I looked around.
Shaking myself, I stepped forward, grabbed a handful of dirt, and scattered it on my sister’s final resting place.
“I love you, Alessia,” I whispered as the loud sound of mud hitting the wooden coffin filled my ears. “I’m glad you can rest easy now.”
Taking a step back, my shoulders slumped. It was like all the fight had left me. It left me feeling hollow. Gabriella’s arm went around my shoulders, and for a second, I let myself sag against her. She was a good friend. I would miss her.
“Where now, Amy?” she murmured as the mourners tiptoed towards me. “A wake?”
I shook my head. “Alessia didn’t want any of that. She didn’t like a fuss.”
Gabriella’s lips twitched up into a smile. “It sounds like you two were very alike.”
“We were,” I whispered back. Only Alessia was so much stronger than I was.
“You could come back to us.”
“Thank you, but you know I can’t.”
“So, you are running then? Alexei will be—”
“Alexei isn’t here.” I looked around again, double-checking that I hadn’t missed him, but he wasn’t there. I hadn’t really expected him to come. Alexei had made his decision. My friend’s face fell.
“It’s OK, Gabriella. I’m fine.” I lied because I wasn’t sure anything would ever be fine again. “You get back to that handsome, doting husband of yours.” I forced myself to smile. “I’m so glad I met you,” I added and enveloped her in a hug.
“I don’t want to leave you.”
I gave her shoulders a little shove. “Go before you catch your death. I need to speak to Micah and Mrs. Cole anyway.”
One last hug, and she walked back to her waiting car. I greeted the rest of the gathering, people I worried about. Some of my old staff. I accepted their condolences with absolutely no feeling in my voice until, finally, Mrs. Cole was standing in front of me.
She didn’t ask how I was. “Where will you go now?”
I shrugged. “Away,” I admitted. “I don’t think it matters where.”
And that was the truth of it. I didn’t really have a plan past getting away and trying to restart my life.
“It matters to me.”
I gave her an awkward one-armed hug and lifted my face to the hulking Russian behind her. “Micah, can you—”
“I’ll take you wherever you want to go, Amy,” he said finally.
“You’re not my driver, Micah. You don’t need to do that.”
“I’m not doing it as a driver. I’m doing it as your friend.”
“Thank you, but I don’t need a lift anyway. I just need someone to give Alexei,” bending down, I rummaged into the overnight at my feet and pulled free a small envelope with Alexei’s name scribbled on the front, “this.” I waited for him to take it from me.
“Amy,” he plucked it from my fingers and slid it into the inside pocket of his jacket. “I’ll make sure he gets it personally. Just him, not anyone else.”
“I know you will.” For a second, I closed my eyes. “I really can’t thank you both enough for everything you have done. I would have been totally lost without the both of you.”
“Just come home with me,” Mrs Cole said.
I cut her off with a shake of my head. “You know I can’t. But I do have one last thing to ask both of you, and I’m sorry, but I need to have your promise.”
Micah understood first. “We won’t tell him about the baby. You have our word.”
