After My Miscarriage, My Husband Locked Me Out novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Welfare Check

Hannah's POV

The bell rang at two minutes to ten.

I opened my front door and found Cillian on the mat in a gray sweater, holding nothing.

"You rang," I said.

"You told me to use the bell."

"I did."

He looked past me into the hall, at the coats on the hooks and the boxes I had not unpacked.

"I didn't bring anything," he said. "I thought if I carried a bag, you'd think I was buying my way in."

"That's the right answer."

"I had several wrong ones ready."

I almost smiled, and I stopped it.

"You said you were sorry in front of four hundred people," I said. "That was loud. This is the quiet part. I need to know you won't decide things for me again."

"I won't."

"Even if you think it's kind."

"Especially then."

"Coffee's in the kitchen. You're not forgiven. You can stay while I decide."

He came in.

Shelby sat at the end of the table in my old robe with a mug between her hands, and she looked up at him and then down again.

Nobody said anything for a minute, which was fine, because someone hit the front door.

Not the bell. A fist, three times, on the wood.

I opened the door on Gwendolyn.

She wore a camel coat, and her silver bob was perfect.

Behind her on the walk stood a young police officer with a notebook.

Up and down the street, my neighbors had come out onto their porches with their Sunday coffee.

"Hannah," Gwendolyn said, in the voice that had never once been raised in a neighbor's hearing. "Thank goodness. I've asked this officer to come with me."

"For what?"

"My son's fiancée is in your house." She put a hand to her pearls. "She's pregnant and confused."

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