She Never Knew (18 page)

“Mr. Deveraux
had gone to Libby’s Gift Shop to purchase a housewarming gift for a client. He
always buys the new homeowner a gift before closing on a home,” Rosa said
fondly.

Feeling a rising
sense of panic, Kat forced herself to remain calm. She leaned forward and
gently prodded William’s secretary to continue.

“Rosa, can you
tell me what happened?”

The older woman
exhaled sharply. “Apparently, a gunman stormed into the place and demanded
money from the cashier. Mr. Deveraux had been at the checkout counter when—”
Rosa voice caught and she began to sob.

Kat looked
wildly around the room. She spotted a box of tissues in the conference room and
quickly retrieved them. She was afraid to hear what Rosa had to say next, but
she needed to know.

“Rosa?” Kat
whispered. She gently rubbed the woman’s back as she sat there wondering where
William was and if he would be okay. As if on cue, Rosa found her voice again
and gazed at Kat sadly. “He took a bullet to the brain. The doctors at Union
say he doesn’t have much time left.”

Kat’s had flew
to her mouth.
Oh God, no! This can’t be happening!
She stood up and
bolted for the entrance. She had to see William and let him know she was there
for him. He had to know she would be by his side. The question remained, would
she make it there in time?

Kat sped to the
hospital and when she arrived, she learned that visitors were restricted to
family members only. As she stood peering through the blinds of the glass
window, she saw William in his bed. His body was covered in white sheets and
his head was heavily bandaged. Kat assumed William was sleeping soundly after
enduring hours of surgery, but when she saw that he was surrounded by people
who loved him, including a priest, she realized she was too late. William was
gone.

A strangled cry
escaped her throat as she turned away from the window. She suddenly felt ill as
memories of Michael’s death came flooding back to her. Holding a hand over her
mouth, she ran down the hall until she found a bathroom. She vomited just as
she entered a stall. She vomited again and again until she thought she would
faint. She lowered the seat cover and sat down, grabbing at the roll of toilet
paper. She tried to wipe her face but she couldn’t stop shaking.

Kat forced
herself to take deep breaths. After about ten minutes in the stall, she felt
calm enough to leave. She quickly washed her face and navigated her way out of
the hospital. She didn’t know how, but she found herself in the parking lot of
the church and sat in her car for a long time. Tears streamed down her face as
she remembered how she and William met, the bike ride they had shared, the
conversations they had while Tyler fed the ducks, the way he had taken an
interest in her son, and the way he had kissed her hand. She had only known him
for less than a month, but that didn’t make the pain of losing someone any
easier. She wasn’t supposed to be sitting in her car crying, she was supposed
to be out with William looking at houses. When she grasped the fact that their
afternoon together would never come to fruition, she thought her heart would
break. She would never see William again.

As she sat there
pondering her next move, her eyes drifted to the sign that was mounted near the
entrance of the sanctuary. The message had recently changed to a verse from
Psalms 37:4,
“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of
your heart.”

Startled by her
cell phone ringing, Kat answered it when she saw that the caller was Rhonda.
Kat had almost forgotten that it was her turn this week to bring the boys to
their Faithweaver class. She explained where she had been and stated that she
would bring the boys home after class ended. Rhonda was sorry to hear of
William’s death and worried that her friend might sink into a state of
depression. She invited Kat to come to the house so they could talk, but Kat
wanted to go inside the church. She wanted to have another conversation with
God.

Seated
comfortably in a pew, Kat bent her head and silently murmured a prayer. When
she was done, she looked straight ahead and focused on the cross that was
displayed above the altar. Kat studied the figure of Jesus and thought about
what it meant to see Him nailed to the cross. Tears began to well up again in
her eyes as she realized what her Redeemer sacrificed for her.

Her thoughts
drifted back to William and how peaceful he had looked in his hospital bed. As
she kneeled, she hung her head and drooped her shoulders.

“Kat?” She
looked up to see Daniel standing in the aisle. He became concerned when he saw
that she had been crying.

“We meet again,
it seems.” She smiled weakly.

“Are you all
right?”

Kat sniffled and
shrugged her shoulders. “I will be.”

“Want to talk
about it?”

“You got all
day?”

“I’ll be glad to
listen.” Daniel smiled at her warmly.

Kat realized
that when she first arrived, there was nobody in the sanctuary, so she wondered
where Daniel came from. She also wondered how long he had been standing there.

As if he read
her mind, Daniel replied, “Something came up the other day when I was here and
I had to leave. So I decided to come back today and finish the job.” He pointed
to the sound system in the back of the church.

He sat down in
the pew in front of her. “You look like you lost your best friend.”

She smiled sadly
at Daniel and described the events of her day, right up to the moment she saw William
lying on his deathbed.

“I feel so lost.”
She lamented.

“I can certainly
relate to that.” Daniel agreed. He appeared forlorn, as if he knew exactly what
Kat was feeling at this very moment.

For the next
hour, Kat and Daniel talked about past relationships and what they learned from
them. Daniel was hesitant to talk about his ex-fiancé because he felt it was
inappropriate considering what Kat had just been through. However, she took
comfort in his company and insisted on hearing his story. She listened with great
interest as Daniel explained how he had found his older brother in bed with his
fiancé the night before their wedding was to take place. The maid of honor
decided to crash the bachelor party after Daniel left. Much alcohol had been
consumed and one thing led to another.

Kat stared at him
in disbelief, shocked that a family member could do something so cruel. “And I
thought my problems were bad,” she mumbled. While the circumstances of their
situations differed greatly, they shared one thing in common. They both had
lost someone they cared about deeply.

Daniel rubbed
his eyes. “Yeah, it wasn’t a good day for me.” Shaking his head, “It’s
something I’ve tried to forget, but it’s kind of hard to do that when the guy
she had the affair with is your own brother.”

They sat
together in peaceful silence. Then Kat spoke. “You haven’t talked to your
brother since then?”

Daniel shook his
head. “I never want to see him again. I’m afraid at what might happen.”

Kat reached for
Daniel’s hand. She held it as the two sat there in their respective pews, comforting
one another. It all seemed so normal to Kat to talk to Daniel about anything.
Well, just about anything.

Daniel gave Kat
his phone number in case she ever needed to talk. Since they both attended
church services at different times, they weren’t sure when they would see each
other again.

Kat looked at
her watch. Faithweaver class was about to end. “Want to say hi to Tyler?”

“That’s the best
offer I’ve had all day.”

When the
classroom door opened, Tyler and Eli bounded out, looking for Kat. They saw her
standing next to Daniel and ran up to greet her.

She squatted
down and wrapped her arms around each child, her heart feeling lighter. It
amazed her at how being around little children gave her the strength to put her
problems into perspective.

“Mommy, how come
Daniel came over here with you?” His innocent expression made her smile.

“I was working
on the new sound system in the sanctuary and I saw your Mom.” Daniel explained,
winking at Kat. “She asked me to come over so I could see you.”

“Oh.” Tyler pouted,
noting the looks Daniel and Kat gave each other. “What were you guys talking
about?”

“Lots of things,
sweetheart. I’ll tell you about it later, okay?” She tousled Tyler’s hair and
stood up, straightening her shirt. “We need to drop off Eli and get home.”

“Okay.”

As Daniel gave
Kat a hug, he whispered in her ear, “Think about what I said, okay?”

“I will.”

That evening
after dinner, Kat and Tyler snuggled up on the couch. She told him that William
had gone to Heaven and that she went to the church to pray to God, to ask Him
to look after him. She explained that Daniel was there to help her feel better
about never seeing William again. She didn’t tell Tyler about William’s
accident, nor did she tell him about her trip to the hospital.

While his mother
slept downstairs, Tyler lay awake in his bed that night, tossing and turning.
Confused and upset, he began to cry. He didn’t understand why Daniel convinced
his mother that William had gone to Heaven. William was here on earth and he
knew this to be true because William had given him a toy car. He didn’t like
that his mother was sad because of Daniel. He liked William because William
made his mother laugh.

He decided that
he had to bring William back so his mother would be happy again. He sat up in
bed then stood on his knees to look out the window where he saw that it was
starting to become light outside. Clutching Froggy with one hand, he slid out
of bed and walked over to his desk where he had put the little car William gave
him. He stuffed both Froggy and the car inside his backpack that hung over his
chair. Next, he took off his pajamas and dressed himself in the clothes he had
on earlier that day.

Finally, he
tiptoed downstairs and tried to be quiet so he wouldn’t wake up his mother. Her
bedroom door was always open and Tyler peeked in to see that she was sound
asleep. He retreated back through the kitchen and opened the pantry to find
some snacks in case he became hungry later. After zipping up his backpack, he
slid his arms into it so that the bag rested comfortably on his back. He
circled around the kitchen once more to the door that led to the basement.

The hinges on
the door always creaked when the door was opened slowly, so Tyler gave the door
a quick yank. He paused for a moment, listening for any movement his mother
might have made.

When he was
satisfied he didn’t disturb her, he descended to the top step and quickly
closed the door behind him. He stealthily crept down the stairs and when he
reached the bottom, he opened the door that led into the garage. He was tall
enough now that he could reach the light switch easily and after flicking it
on, the garage flooded with light. Tyler immediately spotted his bike and ran
over to it. His gear was right where he left it from the last time he rode his
bike, which was with his mother and William.

He put on his
elbow and knee pads, but had a little trouble snapping on his helmet. He carefully
held the two ends of the buckle strap underneath his chin and snapped it together
in place. Good, he didn’t pinch himself this time.

Next, Tyler
wheeled his bike to the side door where he would make his departure. He didn’t dare
open the garage door for fear of waking his mother.

After he
maneuvered his bike through the doorway, he closed the door behind him. It was
time to find William and bring him back.

Darryl stared at
his computer screen in disbelief. He had hit the jackpot. He had finally
located the general whereabouts of his former instructor Kate Richards, also
known as Katarina Richards-Brennan.

For hours,
Darryl had sat in his chair, only to locate the article that lauded her
contributions to the University of Millstone, but the article did not offer any
information as to where she lived. It was by sheer luck that he had mistyped
Kate’s name as Kat when he made his discovery. At first, seeing her true name
didn’t register, but after he conducted additional searches, he was confident
he found the right woman.

Darryl needed to
be sure, though. He needed a phone number and after an exhaustive search, he
concluded Kat’s number was unlisted.

Refusing to give
up, Darryl had an idea that could work, but it was a long shot. If his work
account had not been terminated yet, he could log in from home. Chances were
good that his account was still active due to the large number of client
accounts that needed to be reassigned to new sales representatives. Before he
was fired, he had access to a nationwide database of phone numbers that were
recorded as no-calls, meaning that those numbers were registered on a Do Not
Call list. He prayed that Kat’s phone number was one of them.