Claimed Darker by Em Brown
Chapter 47
BRIDGET
Past
It takes all of me not to break down when I see Coretta waiting for me at the train station in Denver. Her slender face, short curly white hair, and glowing skin is the most welcome sight in the world. She gives me the tightest embrace. Once I make it into her car, I can’t hold back any longer. Out come all the tears I haven’t shed in the last few days, tears for Amy, tears for myself.
Coretta puts an arm around me as my body heaves with sobs. “Let it out, baby. Let it all out.”
I cry so hard I start to hyperventilate.
“Look, I’m gonna take you home and make you a cup of hot chocolate, Aunt Coretta style. You just think about that. That’s all you need to think about. Aunt Coretta’s hot chocolate. You got that?”
I calm myself down and nod. As a kid, I loved her hot chocolate, which she topped with plenty of miniature marshmallow with chocolate sauce and caramel drizzled on top.
She starts the car and drives to her home, a quaint three-bedroom house with a brick facade.
“This house is way too big for the likes of me,” she says, “but it was meant to be, now that you’re here. My grandbabies sometimes stay in one of the guest rooms. The other one is yours.”
Too overcome, I can only look at her with gratitude.
“I’ll clear out some of these old boxes,” she says as she shows me the guest room. “And if you want to change anything about the room, you just let me know. This is your home now.”
I throw my arms around her and whisper, “Thank you.”
“I’m so glad you came,” she says. “I’ve missed you, Bridge.”
I start and pull away. Darren calls me “Bridge.”
“I’m gonna go make that hot chocolate now,” Coretta says before she leaves.
I sit down on the twin-size bed. I’m tired and back to feeling a little numb. A seat on the train isn’t the best way to get good sleep, but it’s worse when you keep waking up to check that no one is around to get you. Even though I left no clues behind, Felipe’s description of the Jing San freaked me out. What if I mentioned Aunt Coretta living in Denver to Darren? I can’t remember if I did or didn’t. Am I safe in Denver? What if I’ve endangered Aunt Coretta by coming here?
I lie down and curl in a fetal position. Kat’s probably worried to death about me. Simone, too, if and when she finds out I’m missing. And the people at work and at my internship. I haven’t even told my fellowship yet that I’m never going to show up. I’ve left so many people in the lurch. Maybe there’s a way to let them know that I’m okay.
But I remember Felipe’s warning that contacting someone might put them in danger.
I close my eyes as misery, guilt, and helplessness threaten to smother me.
Somehow, I fall asleep even before having Aunt Coretta’s hot chocolate.
* * *
I spendthe next three days in bed. It feels like I have the flu, only without the congestion. I feel fatigued, my chest hurts, and sometimes I’m nauseous.
A part of me wants to tell Coretta everything. But I promised Felipe, and I remember his caution. I definitely don’t want to do anything that might endanger her. And I know Coretta won’t push me to talk.
On the fourth day, I finally take a shower, which I haven’t had in too many days. As I stand underneath the water until my skin turns pruney, I realize that in addition to not showing up for my fellowship, I missed the appointment to get my birth control shot. Well, regardless, I don’t need it now.
My energy improves a little in the next few days, probably helped by all the sugar in Aunt Coretta’s hot chocolate. But then I start getting more lethargic again. I take at least two naps a day, and this goes on for two weeks, when Coretta throws a bombshell at me.
“You ever considered you might be pregnant?” she asks.
I remember thinking my appointment should have occurred earlier than scheduled. Had I calculated wrong?
I try not to panic. Coretta offers to pick up a pregnancy test at the drugstore.
Later that day, I can barely get the test open, my hands are trembling so much. As I wait for the test result, I pray for it to be negative.
But it’s positive.
