Mindy Sue sighed, fatigue sinking her shoulders. “I told her to call you. She refused. She didn’t want to use the baby and make you think you had some obligation to her.”
“She and my child are not an obligation. They’re…everything.”
“Then maybe you should have taken a breath after Kristi told you her news, given yourself a day or two to think about all your options, and told Brooke what that night meant to you and that things had changed about how you felt about her, even if you felt like you couldn’t be with her.”
Cody wanted to slam his head into a wall. So many small mistakes added up to one huge one with Brooke. He could have been with her all these months. He could have helped her through the pregnancy. He would have married her. Because he loved her. Not because of the baby. Months of scattered thoughts and emotions crystallized into true reality.
“I should have just told her about Kristi losing the baby and asked her to call me. She would have, and we’d have talked, and there’s no way I wouldn’t have begged her to come home.”
“Shoulda, coulda, woulda.” Mindy Sue shrugged. “It’s too late for all that. You two weren’t talking. You stayed with Kristi and set a new wedding date, so Brooke planned to tell you right after your honeymoon, so you two could figure out how you’d share custody of her.”
“Her?” Cody asked, the single word clogging his throat.
Mindy Sue smiled sadly. “Yes. Her. A girl. We went to the ultrasound a few weeks ago and the doctor was able to see the sex. Brooke was over the moon in love with that baby. While the doctor did the ultrasound, Brooke sat talking to the baby. She would move around, and we watched her. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Brooke has the pictures and a short video. They’re all that’s left of her. And her ashes.”
“Brooke had her cremated?”
Mindy Sue nodded. “We’ll get to that.”
“Why didn’t Brooke tell her mom about the baby? She must have wanted to share that with Susanne and get her mom’s advice.” The wedge between Brooke and Susanne was his fault.
“She didn’t want to put her mom in that position. And…she wanted to tell you first.”
Susanne probably wouldn’t have kept the secret from him and would have demanded that he do right by her daughter.
“We celebrated her birthday with a few friends at an ice cream parlor. She’s had the biggest craving you’ve ever seen for ice cream almost the entire pregnancy.” Mindy Sue pulled out her cell phone and showed him the picture of Brooke at her birthday party.
She stood sideways, showing off her baby bump, with a hot fudge sundae in her hand. She held the spoon with a big bite about to go into her mouth. She smiled brightly, her whole face aglow.
He took the phone and stared at Brooke, so carefree and happy. Nothing else had really changed in her appearance, except for her rounded belly.
She looked lovely pregnant.
And now, she wasn’t, and their baby was dead.
He put his head on his arms on the table and just took it all in. Tears came to his eyes, but he wasn’t able to shed a single one. He looked up at Mindy Sue, now crying herself. She took the phone from him and glanced at the picture again before tucking it away.
He waited, but Mindy Sue sat silently looking out the window. “She didn’t like going out anymore, but that night, she put you and her stalker out of her mind for just a little while. She didn’t look over her shoulder every five seconds or let her anxiety drive her back to our room where she locked herself away all the time.”Mindy Sue finally looked at him again. “You made her night when you called. She loved the gift you sent. She’s still wearing your earrings.”
His chest went tight, knowing that he’d brightened her birthday and that she’d been happy to hear from him.
Mindy Sue’s gaze darkened with rage again. “Then we came back here, found yet another presentheleft for her, and the next morning she found out he’d raped someone at the same time we were out celebrating her birthday.”
Whoever was doing this was sick in the head.
“Had this stalker tried to hurt her before? Did he threaten her?”
Mindy Sue frowned. “No. That’s why campus security and the local police couldn’t really do anything. But it freaked her out to know someone was out there, watching her all the time. The gifts he sent, they were things she’d see in a store but didn’t buy herself. A scarf. A pair of earrings. A bracelet. He’d leave her favorite donuts at our door. He’d have her favorite pizza delivered for her lunch while she sat in the quad working on a paper. Things that on the surface seem nice, but when done without you knowing who is doing it, why, and what they want from you…”
“It’s creepy. I’d have been just as concerned as her. I’d have probably made her come home.” He’d have protected her.
“She wanted to go home, but she knew she couldn’t hide. What good would that do? He hadn’t done anything really threatening, except follow her around.”
Cody thought about it. “But she knew, like you and I know, he’d eventually approach her. And she didn’t want me to find out about the baby.”
Brooke had handled all of this on her own. He should have been there for her. He shouldn’t have allowed this many monthsto go by without checking in with her in person and seeing for himself that everything was okay.
“After the first three campus stalker attacks, the police told Brooke they suspected her stalker was the guy attacking those women.”
