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Back When She Returned Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The way he said my name made my blood boil, but I didn’t have a choice. I wouldn’t be responsible for another person’s death. I squeezed Margo’s hand before letting go. Sam’s blood pooled with Bekah’s in the middle of the floor. I closed my eyes and forced myself to step over it. I fumbled with the tie and lurched into the night air, gasping for breath, head pounding.

They’d moved Sam to the gathering tent and were racing around camp trying to find medical supplies. I hurried to Abner’s makeshift cabin. I’d never been inside, but he only had one knife—the one he used to skin all the animals with—so it couldn’t be that hard to find. I swallowed the horror creeping up the back of my throat and focused on scanning the room. There wasn’t much time. We might already be too late. No time to think. And then I spotted it on a hook above his bed. I grabbed it and rushed back to the birthing tent.

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-SEVEN

MEREDITH

NOW

I looked at the clock: 4:12. Ugh, only two minutes since the last time I’d checked. My head throbbed. I never should’ve had that second glass of wine at book club, but it had felt so good to be out of the house. Nobody had brought up our situation, even though they all knew about it, and it had been such a relief not to talk about it. I’d been up for over thirty minutes, and my body buzzed with restless energy. I eased out of bed, doing my best not to wake Scott, since he was such a light sleeper. I tiptoed into the bathroom, careful not to turn the light on or make any noise when I was finished. I crept out of our bedroom and headed downstairs. Maybe I would make a breakfast quiche for everyone, since I was up so early.

I rounded the corner into the kitchen. Kate stood beside the refrigerator, holding the phone up to her mouth. Shock stopped me in my tracks. She slapped the phone back on the wall at the sight of me. It took me a second to process what’d I’d just seen.

“Were you talking to someone?” I asked in disbelief.

Her eyes were wide, and she quickly turned around so her back was to me and whipped open the refrigerator door, disappearing behind it. “No.” She laughed nervously.

I stayed rooted to my spot. “But you were holding the receiver when I walked into the kitchen? And I heard a voice when I came around the corner.”

“Yeah, me too,” she said. She closed the door. “Are you okay?”

I pointed to myself. “Me? Uh . . . yes, I um . . . I just woke up and couldn’t fall back to sleep.” My thoughts wouldn’t come together.