Thank Chapter Twenty
Four Days Later
Lara sat at her usual spot, throwing bread up to the seagulls, who gracefully
caught the food in midair. She was at the same spot every day at nine in the
morning. The locals had started calling her "The Lady with the Big Hat",
because she always wore a floppy straw hat to keep her face from getting
sunburned. She sighed and stood once the bread was gone. She looked down at
her bag, making sure that the three envelopes were carefully placed on top.
One was a letter to Lisa, one was a letter to Kevin, and one was a letter to
Nick. She sighed as she absentmindedly rubbed her hand over her stomach as
she had fallen into the habit of doing…except now the stomach was flat. The
tumble down the steps had made her lose the baby, and she couldn't decide if
she was thankful or not. The doctors had assured her that she was quite
lucky; not only did she get to the telephone just in time to keep her from
losing a lot of blood, but she was going to be able to have more children in
the future. Lucky. That word made her smile. She had to be the most
unlucky woman on the planet.
She took two steps into the ocean that she loved and shivered. The water was
abnormally cold for this time of year, even this early in the morning. Maybe
that would make it easier. She took two steps more, staring calmly at the
breaking waves.
"Would you like to know what I've had to go through to find you?"
Lara screamed and whirled around. "Howie? What the hell are you doing here?
How did you find me?"
"It wasn't easy, let me tell you, but it's amazing what money and some good
friends can get you." He took her hands in his. "It's so good to see you,
Lara, I was so worried and…" he stared down at her stomach. She looked at him
defiantly. "Lara, you didn't…you couldn't have…"
"No. I didn't." She snapped. "As much as I didn't want the baby I could
never end an innocent life like that. There was an accident. I lost it."
"Oh, God, sweetie…I'm so sorry." Howie reached a hand up to cup her face in
his hand. She pulled away.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to take you back to California. You need to patch things up with
Lucky."
"Did you miss the part where she hates my guts for sleeping with her
boyfriend?"
"I know the truth, Lara. We all do…and by now I'm sure she does, too. AJ
and Brian were on their way out to California to tell her."
"You…you know?" Lara stuttered.
"Yes. We know. Nick got drunk and told us. We know what he did to you."
Howie's dark eyes were sad. "I'm so sorry…I wish I had known…I would have
warned you what a snake he can be…but…"
"It's okay, Howie. I guess I should have seen it, too. I was just so
stupid." Lara started to cry before she could help it, and Howie quickly
gathered her into his arms. She felt relief pour off of her as she finally
cried with someone to hold her, instead of all alone at night in the dark.
"You weren't stupid. You loved him. It's not your fault," Howie whispered.
"It's okay. I'm here now." He slowly started to walk her back to the shore.
He helped her pick up her things, and stooped down to pick up an envelope
that fell out of the top of her bag. "Nick?" He looked at Lara
questioningly. She blushed and look away. He pulled out two similar
envelopes. "Kevin? Lisa?" He stared at her. "I'm assuming Lisa is Lucky?"
Lara nodded. "I'm not going to go into how stupid THAT would have been,"
Howie told her angrily, putting two and two together. "I'm just glad I got
here when I did. Let's get back to your house so you can pack."
Home
By: Lara
© 2000
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Chapter Nineteen
Chapter TwentyOne