Not even when her heart of hearts knew another shoe was about to drop.
Chapter 8
Gone
“That was Eva.” Henry put his phone back down after his and Monica’s nap were interrupted. Their car carefully meandered down the mountain back toward town. “She says that they’re arriving around the same time as us. Abigail should be delighted.”
Monica yawned. “She’ll think we all went somewhere without her.”
“I mean, in a matter of speaking.”
Already, Monica was half-asleep again. She leaned her head against Henry’s shoulder and entwined her hand with his. “Back to the grind,” she said.
Henry was too alert to join her in dreamland. “Rather strange we haven’t heard from my mother. She checked in at the strangest time after we went to bed last night. Acted like we were already up this morning.”
“Sometimes I wonder if your mother is losing her mental faculties.”
Yet something Henry said was also keeping Monica up as she attempted to fall asleep on his arm.Wish I could blame the rocky part of the trip down, but…It was unusual for them to not hear from Isabella and Abigail at least once a day. Both Monica and Henry had fired off texts to Isabella in a vain attempt to check-in.They’re probably at church or something.Granted, it was the afternoon now, but…
There was no point thinking about it. They were halfway home, already.
Monica was jostled back awake when the car pulled in front of Warren Manor. Henry already gathered their things in the backseat and didn’t wait for the car to stop idling before unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door.
“What’s wrong?” Monica asked.
He hesitated. The driver opened Monica’s door, but she wanted to hear what her husband had to say first.
“Do you ever suddenly have a bad feeling in your stomach?”
He didn’t wait for her answer. Henry was already out of the car, taking only what he could carry up to the house.
Another car pulled up behind them. Monica was so distracted by everything going on that she forgot the driver was patiently waiting for her on the other side of her opened door.
“How about that?” Eva leaned against her Jaguar, the car parked behind Monica’s. Nearby, Nadia adjusted her belt and sunglasses as she assessed the bags in the backseat. “We got home at the same time. Almost like we planned it.”
The driver closed Monica’s door when she stepped out. “Did we?”
“Pfft. No.” Eva stretched both arms above her head. “We’re not that cool.”
“Do you have any idea why Henry is hauling ass inside?”
Eva regarded her sister-in-law with bemusement. “Was he? Didn’t notice.”
“Said he had a bad feeling. Have you heard from your mother since yesterday?”
“No! Thank God. That’s part of my plan.”
“Right. She’s not watching your daughter.”
Eva lowered her sunglasses. “You think there’s something wrong with Abby?”
“Not necessarily. Anyway, I’m heading inside. Hope you two had a pleasant trip.”
“Will be officially over when your driver moves the damn car so I can park…”
Monica ran into Nadia when they both entered the main house at the same time. This was Nadia’s second trip to carry things out of the car since she was the type to insist on doing it herself instead of letting the staff help.
Not that Monica had seen most of the staff…
