Take This Regret (Take This Regret #1)(11)
Author: A.L. Jackson

It was a comment Natalie must have heard, because she continued. “Oh, it gets worse. I was loading the groceries into the trunk of the car, and when I turned around, he was right there, just standing there and staring at her. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. I grabbed Lizzie, threw her in the car, and took off.” She cringed, adding regretful y, “I lost one of Lizzie’s favorite shoes, but I wasn’t about to take the time to stop and get it.” I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, we’l replace it,” I said, just grateful my cousin had been so cautious with Lizzie. The whole thing had probably been harmless, but when it came to my daughter, safe was always better than sorry. I would much rather Natalie overreact than be complacent. It was one of the reasons I trusted her with Lizzie’s care.

I went back to putting away groceries, glancing between what I was doing and Natalie. I could see she was still shaken and questioning herself. “You did the right thing, Natalie. We’l just keep an eye out, and if we notice anything else strange, we’l report it, okay?” Hoping to calm her down, I reached out and hugged her.

Natalie nodded against my shoulder as her tension visibly dissipated. “Okay.”

When she pulled away, I squeezed her hand in a show of support before I turned and grabbed a couple of boxes from a bag. “So, can you describe him?”

A little more col ected, Natalie leaned her back against the counter. “Wel , yeah, I don’t think I could forget him. He definitely wasn’t someone who would typical y make me nervous. I mean, he was wearing a business suit . . . a nice business suit . . . like you could tel he had money.” I frowned, rearranging the image I’d had in my head, because a man in a business suit definitely wasn’t what I’d pictured.

“He was tal and pretty thin, but I don’t know, muscular at the same time?” Natalie used her hands to demonstrate about how big she thought the man had been. “He was probably about your age, and real y, real y good looking.” The more Natalie described him, the more I began to think she had exaggerated the whole thing. Her depiction sounded more like most women’s vision of their dream guy than some creepy stalker.

“He had black hair . . . and his eyes . . . he had the most striking eyes; they were an intense blue.” I gasped, dropping the boxes I was holding and clapped my hands over my mouth to absorb the cry that broke loose.

No! Oh God, please no.

Natalie jumped back, looking shocked by my sudden change in demeanor, her eyes fol owing mine that locked on Lizzie. The little girl looked up and smiled widely when she noticed the two of us staring at her, her sparkling eyes fil ed with mirth, total y unaware of anything amiss.

“Oh, my God,” Natalie murmured quietly when it all snapped into place.

I tossed uncomfortably in bed, unable to escape the fear that had fol owed me into a night of restless sleep. I dreamt of him again and again, sometimes finding myself wrapped in the tenderness of his arms, and other times met with the harshness of the last words he had spoken to me. I didn’t know which was worse.

When I couldn’t bear to see his blue eyes in my dreams any longer, I rose and crept down the hal to Lizzie’s room. Her door sat partial y open, just enough for the dim hal light to stream in, basking her room in a soft glow.

I leaned against the doorjamb, gazing at my daughter and wondering how any creature could be so beautiful.

She faced me, one cheek pressed into the pil ow as she slept on her side, her hair strewn out behind her. She clung to her favorite blanket, the plain pink one with satin trim. It was pulled against her chest, her tiny hand fisted in the material.

Never had I felt so helpless. I would do anything to protect my daughter, but real y, I didn’t know if there was anything to protect her from.

Even if the man had been Christian, what made me think that he would try to take Lizzie from me now? He’d made it clear he wanted nothing to do with the child, and I was sure a chance meeting was not going to change that.

Stil , I couldn’t help but feel threatened by the thought of him being here, in my city. Standing silently in my daughter’s doorway, I promised myself that no matter what happened, I would never all ow him to destroy my family, whether he came today or in ten years. Never would I all ow Christian the chance to hurt Lizzie the way he’d hurt me.

By the time I made it to work the next morning, the rational side of me had discredited the possibility that the man at the store had been Christian, even though somehow in my heart I knew it was. I told myself he wasn’t the only black-haired, blue-eyed man in the world, and that Christian was probably over two thousand miles away, by now a big-shot lawyer in his father’s firm.

I forged through work, thankful it was Friday and that I had the entire weekend with Lizzie. I’d planned a trip to the beach, something that had become somewhat of a tradition for us. I’d loved it when I was a child. Some of my best memories came from the endless days I’d spent playing in the sand with my sisters, and I wanted to provide my daughter those same experiences.

The house was empty when I got home. Matthew had the day off, so he and Natalie had taken Lizzie to the zoo and said they wouldn’t be home until around six. It gave me a chance to pick up around the house, tossing the toys from the floor into the toy box against the wal and straightening the kitchen, chores that always seemed to get neglected during the week.

Just as I turned the dial to start the dishwasher, the doorbel rang five times in a row. Grinning, I headed to the front door, knowing there was only one person who could be so impatient. I swung it open.

“Lizzie!” I sang, leaning down to my daughter’s level so I could hug her, peppering her face with noisy kisses.

“Hi, Momma. Look what Uncle Maffew got me.” Lizzie proudly held up a smal stuffed giraffe.

“Oh, how cute. That was so nice of him.” Matthew ambled up the sidewalk, and I smiled widely at him as I rose, giving my unvoiced appreciation. He never failed to make my daughter feel special.

“Hey, Liz.” Matthew leaned in to peck me on the cheek as he walked through the door, fol owed by Natalie who stopped for a hug.

“Hey, guys. Thanks for taking Lizzie. It looks like she had a blast.” I glanced between the couple and Lizzie who was on her knees on the floor digging out the toys I had just put away, muttering about her matching stuffed elephant.

Matthew took the basebal cap off his head and ruffled his hand through his short brown hair. “No problem. We had a great time, didn’t we, Lizzie?”