ABBY, page 6
“Don’t!” he shouts. “Abby, I don’t care if we can’t have kids.”
“I do!” I scream, gripping my hair. “Please let me go,” I plead.
“You promised me you’d never run.”
I swallow as an expression I haven’t seen from him plagues his face, and I whisper, “I’m not running, I just need some space and to catch my breath.”
“No, Abby. Fuck! No! No! No! The last time I gave you space, I almost fucking lost you.”
“I’m sorry, Latch.”
He shakes his head, and I grab his hand, gingerly lowering his arm. He doesn’t fight me and my stomach is roiling as I turn the doorknob and step outside. He’s so fucking broken as he slumps to his knees. Closing the door, every muscle in my body aches at the sight of him and I walk off, hating myself so much right now, but this is what I need. Getting into the first cab I see, I’m wrecked. Leaving him like that is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but if I stay, things will escalate and I’ll take my anger out on him, only making this whole situation worse. Crying into my hands, I am interrupted by the cabbie and pay him before running inside Maris’ house. “Maris?” I call, my grief telegraphed in my tone.
“What’s the matter?” she asks, getting off the couch, worried. I close the door and fall into her arms, sobbing like a child, and she asks me, “Abby, what happened? Is Latch okay?”
I nod and tell her, “We…we met with that woman and she’s pregnant with his child.” I told Maris when I was in the hospital about my condition, so she knows how much this all means to me.
“Oh, dear,” she holds me in a tight hug. “I’m very sorry.”
I cry, entirely crushed, letting every pent up emotion roll out of me and onto her purple cardigan. Then her phone rings and she says, “It’s Latch. Does he know you’re here?”
I shake my head and she answers the phone. “Hello?” Right away, I hear him freaking out, causing everything in my core to burn that much more. “She’s here with me. No, Latch, just give her some time. She’s in a safe place, you know that.”
“No, I mean it.” She is firm in her response and then says, “Remember what you promised me?” and steps out of the room. I’m not sure what to do; my mind is tortured by so many fucked up images, and instinctively, I run my hand over my stomach, like I’d become so used to. It was my one constant. The baby I was carrying soothed me from all the stresses of my fucked up life, and now it hurts like hell how empty I am. Everything that was supposed to go as planned was ripped from my grasp in the blink of an eye. Silently I cry into the couch, so lost.
Maris comes back into the living room, having ended her call, and rubs my back. “Come on, dear, let’s have some tea.”
I get up knowing that I can’t lie around and feel sorry for myself around her. It’s not going to help anything anyways. I came here to talk about things, and as much as it hurts, I need to do just that. “What did he say?”
“He’s a mess, I could barely understand him.”
“Is he coming here?”
“No, I told him not to.” She puts on a pot of water and grabs my hand, looking at me with her warm hazel eyes. “I’m so sorry, Abby, for everything that you’ve already been through, and now…for this.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“Would you mind telling me what this woman said?”
“More like a girl,” I sneer. She pats my hand and I continue filling her in on everything. Hoping she can provide me with the guidance and answers that I need to work through this.
Pacing across my house, I don’t know what to fucking do. My insides are a goddamn mess of anxiety. Only Abby can calm me right now and she’s not here. It’s been almost six hours since she walked out on me, and I’m beginning to lose my mind. Granted, my grandma said for me to give her some space and time…but each minute apart is becoming more and more unbearable. She promised me that she’d never run, and I’m worried that is exactly what she’s thinking of doing.
My phone rings and I answer it in a rush. “Abby?”
“No, it’s Jessy.”
“Fuck,” I say loudly, not wanting to deal with her shit right now. “What the fuck’s up?”
“I’m not feeling well, I’m super nauseous, and I was wondering if you could pick me up some medicine.”
“Dammit, Jessy, didn’t you get my point earlier?”
“What do you mean?” she asks blindly.
“It’s not my fuckin’ responsibility. You’ve already messed up enough shit in my life.”
“Hey, you did this too, so don’t get shitty with me. I didn’t make this kid all by myself.”
“Well, I wore a condom every time we were together, so it’s kinda hard to believe you.”
“Latch, you do know that condoms are only ninety-seven percent effective right? With how much work you did, you’ve probably got an army of children running around.”
“Fuck you and your kid!”
“You’d really turn your back on this baby, because of me? It’s helpless and doesn’t get to pick its parents.”
Hearing her say the word “baby,” makes me think of my and Abby’s son and how I’d do anything to have him back. Instinctively, I move my hand over my necklace and say, “I’m not agreeing to anything without talking with Abby, but what do you need me to pick up? Like a prescription?” I ask, staring at a picture of Abby, completely zoned out.
“No, just something from the pharmacy.”
“You’re pregnant, Jess. You can’t take shit over the counter. Call your fucking doctor.”
“I did. They can’t get me in until next week.”
“Then I can’t help you. Let me know when your appointment is, I wanna go,” I bark and hang up on her.
Still holding Abby’s picture, I can’t take it anymore. I need to be with her. Heading to my grandma’s, I don’t call ’cause she’ll just try to stop me. Instead I just show up, and quietly enter her house. She is cooking dinner and I look for Abby, but don’t spot her.
“Latch.” My grandma is caught off guard and gives me a hug.
“Where’s Abby?” I ask her.
“I thought she was home with you.”
“What? No, I haven’t seen her all day.”
“She left here a couple hours ago.”
“Where did she say she was going?”
“Home,” she responds and I pull out my phone dialing Abby, close to flipping out. Her phone rings and rings, but she never answers. I hang up and dial again. The same thing happens and I get really fucking worried.
“She’s not answering. What else did she say?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you guys talk about?”
“A lot of stuff. Why are you freaking out?”
“Because this isn’t like Abby. Did you tell her what I did?”
She pauses and then says, “Why haven’t you yet?”
“That’s not the point!” I shout, “Did you tell her?”
She shakes her head and I say, “I’m going to go find her. If you hear a word from her, call me, and stay here in case she comes back, okay?”
“ ’Kay, dear, I love you,” my grandmother says and hugs me tightly.
Then I rush out going to the only other place that I think she could possibly be. Taking a cab across town to her condo, I get an uneasy feeling pulling up to it. I don’t want to go inside, but I have to. Running in, I push the elevator call button and take it up the fifteenth floor. Once I am on her level, I jog down the hall and bang on the door. “Abby?” I shout, dialing her phone again. She doesn’t answer and I don’t hear it inside. So I keep banging, praying that she’ll answer, she has to be here.
“Abby!?” I holler even louder, but everything is still silent. Sliding down the door, I’m so fucking terrified. Where could she have gone? Why would she have told Maris she was going home and then just disappeared? Resting my head on my knees, I cry like a fucking pussy, feeling my world spiraling out of control the way it did when I’d thought she was dead.
Heading home from Maris’, my cell phone rings. Pulling it out, I answer the number I don’t recognize and a familiar voice says, “Abby?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, it’s Mike from your condo. I hate to bother you, but I thought you’d want to know that Darrell’s family is demanding access to the apartment.”
“Who is?”
“His mom and sister.”
“Christ! Thank you for calling, Mike, they have no right to go in. I’ll be right there.”
Telling the cab driver the address to the condo, I dial the number for George. “This is George Herron,” he answers.
“George, this is Abby McEllrath, I just got a call that Darrell’s family is trying to go into the condo he and I shared. I haven’t spoken to them, so I don’t know what they could want, but can they do that?”
“No, Abby, they most certainty can’t. Do you want help handling things?”
“No, I’ll handle it. Thank you.”
“Of course, let me know if you need anything else.”
Pulling up to the condo, I get an unsettling feeling being back here. But I persevere and hop out of the cab, spotting Mike waiting for me. “Where are they?” I ask him and he responds, putting out his cigarette, “They just went upstairs. They have all sorts of legal paperwork they gave my building manager and were really fucking adamant.”
“Well, they have no right to go in. I just spoke to the estate attorney.”
We rush inside and take the freight elevator up. As soon as the doors open, I jog down the hall, then barrel through the front door of my condo. The building manager is standing in my kitchen, completely lost, reading whatever they must’ve given him. “Mrs. McEllrath?” He is dumbfounded and I ask him, “Where the fuck are they?”
He points upstairs and I drop my bag to the ground. “Let me handle this, Mike!” I dart off running after them. These fucking twats have always had it out for me from the day I met Darrell. So I’m sure they’ve got to have some sort of a sneaky ass agenda.
Searching room after room, I can’t find them. Then, walking into the office, his sister Laura is on the computer and his mom is digging through the files inside of the desk. “What the fuck are you doing in this house?” I snap and their heads turn like vultures zoning in on their prey.
“Well, well, well! If it isn’t the whore herself,” his sister sneers.
“I asked you a question, you stupid bitch. Why are you here?”
His mom steps to me and I stand my ground. She points her sharp fake ass nail at me and says, “This isn’t your home, and it hasn’t been since you killed my son.”
My blood pressure sores at her accusation. “How dare you?” I grab her finger out of my face and shout, “He killed my baby!” bending it as far backwards as I can. She screams and Laura tries to pull me away from her, knotting her fingers into the back of my hair. Adrenaline courses through my body and I elbow her, slamming her square in the face. Her nose cracks against my arm and she screeches, then Bernadette slaps me across the face. I hold my cheek looking at her with a crazy smirk and automatically unleash a fury of venom upon her. Everything blurs as I take out every bound up bit of aggression burning in my soul.
But suddenly, I’m pulled backwards and Mike shouts, “Stop it, Abby!” Brushing the hair out of my face, I holler, “I want them out of my house!”
Laura is on the phone holding a mound of tissue over her nose, and I yell again, “Get the fuck out! NOW!”
Laura walks off and Bernadette scoffs at me following her. Catching my breath, everything inside of me is sore. My body wasn’t ready for that. But when it comes to those two, I always lose my temper. This isn’t the first time it’s happened. Things got so volatile in the past that Darrell and I stopped going to family functions.
Mike lets go of my arms once the room is empty and asks me, “Are you okay?”
I nod focusing on my breathing and hold on to my shoulder, having tweaked it in the process of throwing elbows. Looking around the office at all of Darrell’s things left in the exact place he put them before his suicide mission, my stomach knots up, and I say, “I’m fine, I just need to get out of here.”
“Okay,” he walks with me downstairs and I tell him, “Thank you for calling me. I’m sorry I lost my temper.”
“It’s okay. I totally understand.”
He pulls me into a friendly hug, and then I grab my purse from the floor, opening the door to the condo, but I am stopped dead in my tracks as two police officers come walking up with Laura.
This fucking cunt called the cops…for real?
She gives me a dumb ass scowl, still holding tissue over her busted nose. “Seriously? After you break into my home, you’re going to call the cops on me?”
“We didn’t break in. We have the legal right to enter the property, per the estate documents, and quite frankly…this isn’t your house anymore.”
I shake my head and a police officer says, “Mrs. McEllrath, did you hit this woman?”
“I didn’t hit her. I elbowed her to get her off my back. She was attacking me.” The cop looks me up and down.
“I don’t see any marks.” I look down at my arms and he is right, there is nothing. “Please put your hands behind your back.”
“What? No! Why?”
“You’re under arrest for aggravated assault.”
“They were in my house!”
“With permission from the building manager, pertinent to the proper legal documents.” I stare at Mike, blinking a few times as my hands are cuffed together and he reads me my Miranda rights, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you, Mrs. McEllrath?”
I nod, mortified that I am being arrested and hauled away like a fucking animal for protecting what is rightfully mine.
Whatever happened to questioning all parties before jumping to a conclusion?
“I’m starting to freak the fuck out!” I shout at my grandma and I can see she is just as worried, but she’s trying to act strong for me.
“I’m sure she’s fine.”
“She fucking disappeared. What makes you think any part of that is fine? Can’t the cops help?”
“They wont do anything until it’s been twenty-four hours.”
“Then I’ll lie and say it’s been that long.” My phone rings from a blocked number. Right away, I answer it. “Hello?”
“Latch?”
“Abby?” I yell and a tsunami of relief crashes over me and finally after stressing my body to the max, I sit down, trying to focus on what she’s about to say.
Thank God it’s her.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I need you to listen to me.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at the police station, I got arrested.”
“What the fuck for?” I shriek.
“For assaulting Darrell’s mom and sister. It’s a long story; I’ll fill you in on the details later.”
“Fuck, baby, you’re not hurt are you?”
“I’m okay, baby. Please listen to me. I don’t have long on the phone. I got a call that his family was trying to go into the condo and when I got there, I caught them going through all his stuff. Then I lost my temper.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“It all happened so quickly. I need you to call George Herron, he’s the estate attorney. He told me they weren’t allowed in the house, but they flashed all sorts of paperwork to the building manager which got them in and got me arrested in the process. George will have what we need to prove they weren’t allowed inside and to get me out of here.” Abby is panicked, speaking a million miles a minute and I feel terrible this happened to her.
Getting up, I walk to the fridge and write the attorney’s name on a notepad that Maris has, and then repeat it to her.
“Yes, baby. I’m so sorry. I feel like an idiot,” she says.
“Don’t ever be sorry, you hear me? I’m so happy you’re all right.”
“Thank you, Latch, for everything. I’m sorry for this morning. I love you.”
“Don’t be sorry. I love you more.”
“Now get me out of here.”
“I’m on it, babe!”
I don’t want to hang the phone up, but I’ll always listen to Abby, no matter what she asks. It’s why I let her go earlier today, when it killed me to do so.
“What did she say?” my grandma asks me.
I fill her in on all of the details and neither of us can imagine Abby doing that, and then do as she asks, looking up the number for Darrell’s estate attorney. As much as I want nothing to do with Darrell, or his estate, or anything that is connected to him, right now this man holds the key to Abby’s freedom. And I’ll stop at nothing to have her home and back in my arms again.
“Stop!” Maris says as I bounce my knee up and down, anxiously waiting for Abby to be released.
“Sorry. But it’s been hours. I don’t get what the fucking hold up is.”
“I don’t know, dear.”
Placing my head in my hands, I rake my fingers through my hair. George has been speaking with the cops forever. He’s got all the documents that state Abby is the sole executor, and I’d bet the beneficiary too, of Darrell’s estate, which absolutely blows my mind. Why would Darrell go through all the hassle to cut his family out, and then give it all to Abby, especially when he tried to kill her?
I keep coming back to the same reasoning: his name and his innocence. Whether she lived or not, he wanted it to look like she was his world and he would never do anything to hurt her. That’s the only explanation. It just goes to show how truly sick and demented of a person he was.
Regardless of his reasoning, I couldn’t give two shits. I don’t want a penny of his money. He killed my child and that is something that I will never be able to look past.
