Henry

Chapter 11

I wasn’t looking forward to having to look Blake in the face and tell him that Aggie wasn’t coming. He had put so much faith in me to get her home, and I had failed. The car came into view followed by a lurch in my stomach. I knew it had nothing to do with my pregnancy.

“Well?” Blake said expectantly as I got into the car. “Is—is she coming?”

I hung my head in disappointment before meeting his gaze. “I tried, Blake… I really tried… In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever said anything so powerful. She’s just really attached to that animal.”

His eyes slowly looked down as his head turned back toward the front of the car. He held his hands in front of his face and a tear rolled down his cheek.

“What have I done?” Blake muttered. “I destroyed my marriage before it even began. I drove away the woman I love… I’m such a bastard!” He balled his hands into fists and slammed them down loudly against the steering wheel.

I placed a gentle hand on his arm. “Blake Holland, you listen to me. Agatha told me herself. She forgives you. And she still loves you. She told me that she had already decided before you hit her that she was going to come and live out here with Henry.”

He shook his head, refusing to believe it. “It’s my entire fault. If I had just listened to her when she thought she heard something out in the forest during our camping trip… if I had tried a little harder to rescue her as that monster dragged her away from me… she would still be home and safe in my arms… she would still be able to race…”

Blake fell quiet and stared through the front window. I turned and closed my car door to alert him that it was time to go. “I’m going to stay with you tonight, alright? The last thing you need is to be alone.”

“But your husband—won’t he worry?” Blake stammered.

I shook my head with a small laugh. “I’ll call him. Don’t worry, you’re literally like a brother to me—he’ll understand.”

Without another word, Blake started the car and drove back to his home.

                                                            ***

            …In the mind of Aggie…

            I never got angry at Naomi before today. She had said something that I hadn’t seen coming. I kicked pebbles and rocks about until I was sure that she was gone before I ran back into the cave to rejoin Henry. Before I had been interrupted by my sister, we had been stacking rocks to see who could go higher before they toppled over. He was obviously still quite determined as he was still at it when I came back.

            I got onto my knees and wrapped my arms around Henry’s neck. I never wanted to lose him. I felt his massive arms curl around me in response before his child-like personality brought him back to stacking rocks. I crawled back to my pile of rocks and got right back into the groove of the game.

            We lay next to each other, later that evening, by the fire that Henry had made all by himself. He had helped himself to a large dinner that he had caught earlier while I ate from the food I had brought along, so we were stuffed. A cool breeze had flown into the cave and gave me goose bumps. I cuddled up next to Henry—by now, the nasty smell that radiated from his body was not even there, I had gotten used to it so much. My eyes closed and I almost began to drift into sleep until I felt something very unexpected.

            My eyes shot open and stared down at my chest to see Henry gently caressing my right breast. I looked into Henry’s eyes to see curiosity before I pushed myself away from him. I stared at him questioningly, raising my right hand and touching the breast that he had been holding mere moments before.