A New Beginning

Chapter 94: Anticipation

Daylight could not come any faster. Emma tossed and turned most of the night, trying to get comfortable but can't no matter what she tried, even when she was cradled in Peter's arms, her mind would not shut off long enough to find any semblance of slumber.

Not that lack of sleep was anything new. It had been weeks since she'd slept soundly and without worry... and that was before the wedding. She just hoped that Jack and Rose were okay and safe... both of which are extremely questionable with Caledon Hockley behind everything. Why had that monster taken it to this point? Even on the ship. She and Peter were not technically involved in the ending of his engagement and yet he kidnapped Sybil, shot Peter, and shot her in retaliation for being friends with Jack and Rose and showing his former fiancée what her life could be like. Even now... after everything that he'd done. He could have easily gotten engaged to another woman and moved on. The money would no doubt attract someone (although at this point Emma prayed that no woman ever fell in love with Cal because of who he had turned out to be), and yet he pursued Rose after she'd left him for good. The private investigator, ruined their wedding, arresting Jack, the abduction and now, holding them both as hostages. How could someone be so obsessive, did he just hate to lose that badly? Normal humans would cut their losses and move on, but here they all were. How did life come to this point?

The anticipation of the interrogation tomorrow also kept her from escaping the waking nightmare. She knew that Nathan Hockley would hardly say anything and demand a lawyer... his lawyer so they couldn't step in and get something out of this. There's not a doubt that he would be sympathetic to them or anyone. He simply would not care... like father, like son no doubt. Cal had to learn his snobbish ways from someone, and she doubted it was from the moving picture shows.

Emma quietly slips out of bed and goes down the hall to where Rose and Jack had been sleeping. Their bed was still made, with the expectation that it would be slept in the day after their wedding. Molly had paid for the couples to stay in suites at hotels to spend their wedding nights together (her gift to both of them) but of course, this never happened. The whole world and their lives had been put on pause before being turned upside down and inside out.

Why couldn't they catch a break?

Maybe the only way to escape this madness was to move away.

She walks down the hall and checks on her sister before going into the living room. Sitting on the couch, she opened a drawer next to it and pulled out an album. The curtains are parted to let some moonlight spill in so she can look at the pictures. There was hope that no reporters were outside, that they'd all gone home to their families instead of camping outside their house day after day. Sure, the media was helpful in the search for Jack and Rose, but to cover every time anyone left the house was beyond excessive and without any kind of privacy.

Fortunately, no flashes of cameras. She opens her album and stares at the gloom through some of the photos. There are other things within the pages such as notes, dried leaves, and other little trinkets from their lives before. It was opening a time capsule. She gazed at the picture of their old home... the one in Canada down by the lake... the place she had grown up. Her family still owned property up there but they did not visit very often. After she and her parents had moved to New York, they never really went anywhere else. Now... maybe it would be the place to go.

Emma leans her head back and wonders if she should give Sybil the same kind of childhood. Learning how to swim and sail, finding places to explore, long walks in wooded areas, experiencing the frigid winters, and everything else it had to offer. It might be nice...

Back where I belong...

She shuts her eyes and lets her mind wander.

The next thing she remembers is Peter waking her up with a few shakes as she'd fallen asleep with the album in her lap.