“Lucy,” a man’s voice said a second later, “I’m here.”
“Robert, I love you,” the woman said hurriedly. “So much. Take care of Rose and give her a kiss for me. Okay?”
“Time’s up,” the soldier barked before the man could respond.
“I have to go.” A choked sob broke out of the woman. “I’ll call you next week. Same time.”
“We love you, Lucy,” the man said. “We’ll talk to you next week.”
The soldier disconnected the call.
Lucy covered her face with her hands and began to cry.
Acting like she didn’t exist, the soldier turned to me. “Name?”
“Ara Murphy.” I shook my head. “Arabella.”
He looked at the tablet next to him, checked something off, then waved to the phone. “Dial the number but leave it on speaker. You get fifteen minutes.”
It didn’t seem like enough.
I rushed to grab the receiver, practically having to push the still crying woman aside, then quickly dialed Trevor’s cell phone number. It started ringing and I set the receiver down, literally crossing my fingers that he wasn’t in court. If he was, I would at least be able to hear his voice and leave a message to let him know I was okay and I’d call back the following week, which was better than nothing, although not ideal. I wanted to talk to him, to cry to him, to assure him I was okay and to have him tell me everything was going to be fine.
Thankfully, he picked up after the third ring. “Hello? Ara?”
He’d known it was me. Of course, he had.
Tears filled my eyes. “Trevor.”
“Oh, thank God,” he breathed out. “I’ve been dying to hear from you. Are you – ”
The soldier broke in. “This is Corporal Martin with the Department of Fertility. I need to inform you that your call is being monitored, and I have been instructed to end any conversation I feel is inappropriate and redirect any topic that is off limits. Do you both understand?”
“Yes,” Trevor and I said in unison.
“Good.” The corporal waved to the phone. “Proceed.”
After a beat of silence, Trevor asked, “Are you okay? Whereare you? What’s going on?”
The soldier narrowed his eyes as he waited for my response.
“I can’t tell you where I am, but I’m okay. The place is nice, and I have everything I need.” I felt like I was reciting government propaganda. “We’re safe and taken care of.”
Trevor exhaled. “That’s good. I’m glad. Shit, Ara, I’ve been going crazy.”
“Me, too. But the good news is, I get to call every week at the same time, so make sure you’re available.”
“I will.” Again, he exhaled. “Am I allowed to talk to you about what’s going on here?”
I glanced at the soldier, who frowned and said, “News about what’s going on in the outside world is being left up to the discretion of Sergeant Collins. You will wait for him to fill you in. Find a new topic.”
I ground my teeth but obeyed, knowing there was no point in arguing.
For the next ten minutes, Trevor and I talked about mundane things. He filled me in on how it was going with Owen, on how the people I knew were doing, and things like that. There wasn’t much I could say since anything that had to do with my location or the program was off limits, which made for a pretty one-sided conversation, but I was so relieved to be able to talk to him that I couldn’t even care.
“Five minutes,” the soldier beside me said when the end of my allotted time drew near.
I glared at him despite the promise I’d made to myself to play it cool. I couldn’t help it. He was so unemotional, so cold. Didn’t he understand how much these conversations meant to us? How hard all this was?
