Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

ANEKO

Three years later

I can’t believe this is happening. Today we would have been celebrating our first year of marriage, but instead of celebrating it with my husband, alive and by my side, I am standing here, bawling as they cart his lifeless body away.

It’s time to get away. He was so perfect for me. Every moment with him was a blessing. From the day we met on Hollywood boulevard, to last night when we fell asleep after hours of making love, he was my rock.

Now, here I am, sitting in our house in Nowhereville, Nebraska. We moved here after exploring every single state together, all but one. North Carolina. We avoided that state for one reason, Kaloosh.

My high school sweetheart, Kaloosh, decided to stay in our hometown of Brevard, North Carolina. I had to get out of Brevard, out of Transylvania county, out of the whole state. I just had the urge to leave and never look back.

Kaloosh respected that. He was happy to let me go, but he made me a promise. One I think I need him to hold himself to. I need to find my place back in Brevard, back in Kaloosh’s heart.

I’m pulled from my thoughts as Morina, my now dead husband’s step-sister wraps me into her arms. “It’ll be okay, Aneko. I will help you in any way you need. It’s what Jimmy would have wanted.”

Squeezing her tighter, I groan, “I know you will, Morina, but I need to go. As soon as the funeral is over, I need to leave and never look back.”

Her eyes light up as she smirks. “Then I will have to just go with you. Jimmy wouldn’t hear of you going off on your own, Aneko.”

I just nod against her shoulder as we cry together, the two of us mourning her lost step-brother, and my lost husband. For a while, the two of us are just huddled in a corner, leaning against each other for support.

I look into the eyes of the sister I’ve come to love almost as much as the husband I just lost. “Okay, sis, let’s do this.”

The cops are here and working around us. The man I once loved died in our bed, as we slept. I still don’t understand what took him, they said something about an aneurism, but that doesn’t help me understand.

After what feels like forever, the cops and the death watch teams clear out. Now it’s just Morina, myself, and this one who no one, not even Morina, knows about yet. Rubbing my tummy, I stand up and head to the kitchen. When I get there, I see Morina making something that smells delicious.

Coming up behind her, I wrap my arms around her waist and whisper, “What’s cooking, good-looking?”

Her giggle is so out of place in this house that feels so sad, today. “Only Jimmy’s favorite.” Together we finish her sentence, “Meatloaf.”

“That feels like the exact right thing to eat today. Thank you, Morina for staying here. I know the funeral won’t be until next week, but we have a lot of prep to do. I need to go through all our pictures, and you need to go to your mom’s old storage locker.” She nods as she takes a pot of mashed potatoes off the stove, putting it on the hot pad on the table. “I think I need to tell you…,” I start but am interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” she asks, her eyes darting to the door.

“I don’t know. Maybe the police forgot something?”

My previous thought forgotten, for now, I head to the door to find out who is knocking. The knocks come in short bursts, sets of three. By the time I get to the door, all I see is a beautiful bouquet of flowers, roses and marigolds, just like Jimmy gave me, the day of…

My heart sinks as I remember the day that we were supposed to have today. Instead, I’m sitting here on the stoop of my house, tears filling my eyes as I hover over the flowers Jimmy had sent here. It’s not the flower delivery people’s fault. They don’t know that he died.

I feel a hand on my shoulder as the flowers disappear from my grip. “Oh.”

Rustling hits my ears, as Morina walks away, doing I have no idea what with those flowers that I have probably ruined. Still, I sit here huddled in on myself as the tears make their way down my arms and onto the stoop.

“Aneko, your name means ‘older sister’, but it brings nothing but love to my heart. Here we are, going strong after a whole year of marriage. I know you think I don’t know…” There’s a pause in her voice as I hear it crack, “but I know that we are expecting a little life. I saw the test in the bathroom trash when I took it out last week.”

Morina stops talking and falls down beside me, her arms wrapping around my shoulders as she holds me close. “I’m pregnant, Jimmy,” I say to my dead husband, who apparently already knew.