Read 3 Weeks 'Til Forever for Free Online

to
relay them to readers.”
     
    “Well I hope what you ‘sample’ on your
travels is limited to food, drink and sporting activities,” he replied.
     
    “Why are you insulting my honor, Mr.
Hillyard?” she asked coyly in her most charming southern accent.
     
    Glad
that she could take a joke, he replied, “Well most certainly not madam; I’m
only thinking of your virtue and safety.”
     
    The
bartender promptly appeared with their drinks, then just as promptly
disappeared.
     
    “We
missed the sunset, which is where I was going to take you this evening, then to
see a steel band up the beach. We can still catch that if you want, as I hope
I’ve answered all of your questions about there being a woman in my life and
that you have no more reservations about going out with me.”
     
    “Actually,
I’m quite enjoying our conversation; so can we play it by ear? You’d just
gotten to a very interesting point in your life story, which was about finding
love … again. Care to expound?”
     
    “Nosey
little devil aren’t you?” Redmond kidded.
     
    “I
prefer the word curious. In my line of work, it pays to be curious,” Janey shot
back.
     
    Redmond
chuckled at that, then quickly turned from her, planting his gaze on the early dawn
of the evening out the window. Mars couldn’t have been farther away than he was
from her at that moment.
     
    Janey
just sat quietly, letting him take his time to tell his story.
     
    “Layla
was the love of my life,” he started.
     
    “We’ve
known each other practically all of our lives. We started dating when she was
14 and I was 16. It was puppy love that grew into lasting love, at least for
me.”
     
    “We
got married when I was 21 and had a daughter when I was 30 – which was a total
surprise because we’d basically given up on having children. But we were happy
together, or so I thought.”
     
    Redmond
paused to pick up his beer, and just held it.
     
    Janey
continued to sit quietly, knowing that something that was obviously so painful
could only be shared when the person was good and ready to do so.
     
    Redmond
looked over, taking note of how patiently she waited, not pressing him. He
appreciated that. Most people weren’t that intuitive, he thought.
     
    Taking
a sip of his beer, he continued, “One day, I came home from work to find my
wife and daughter gone. Layla had taken her to my mother’s house on the other
side of the island. Of course, I didn’t realize this at that precise moment. I
just thought they were out and would be home soon.
     
    “But
as it got later – 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock – I started to worry because they were
almost always home when I got there, and it gets dark as you probably know
around 7:30. So when I hadn’t heard anything by 7:45, I started calling her. No
answer. Her phone kept going straight to voice mail.”
     
    “I
panicked. I called her friends and nobody had seen her all day.”
     
    “Finally,
I called my mother. She said that Layla had dropped our daughter off earlier
that afternoon and said she was going to be back a little late, like 8 or 9.”
     
    “That’s
why my mom hadn’t called me, because it was still well within the timeframe
that Layla had given her for picking up Kemalia. That’s my daughter’s name.”
     
    “I
relaxed a little, because by then it was only 8:15, but I was still worried because
I couldn’t reach her by phone. However, I reasoned that if she told my mother
she’d pick our daughter up by 9, then she would. So I just waited.”
     
    “By
9:30, I was in full-blown panic mode. I called my mother several times and
Janey never showed up.”
     
    “I
called the police, but much like in the states from what I understand, they
won’t start looking for an adult until at least 24 hours have passed.  And
as my child was safe, there was nothing I could say or do to get them to start
looking.”
     
    “At
that point, all I could do was wait.”
     
    “To
make a long story short, two