SCARRED - Part 2 (The SCARRED Series - Book 2) Read Free Page B

married the following year.
    Derek loved his life with Sarah and the night she died he thought that nothing could ever repair the damage done to his heart and soul. It was like a piece of him would be eternally missing. He’d gone through the motions of life over the next two years because he didn’t really have any other choice but his outlook on life had become monochromatic and the only time he saw anything in vivid color any longer was when he spent time with the people who had loved her as much as he did...until the day he met Chloe. He believed that fate had led him to her as well and he wasn’t going to let her go without a fight.
    Trevor and Samantha lived in a two-story five-thousand square foot Saxon style home in Albany adjacent from Saratoga Lake. It was a beautiful home set on expansive grounds but yet the home, like the Whitemore’s was very unassuming.
    Instead, it conveyed a feeling of comfort and warmth and made Derek feel at peace in his heart just by walking through the door.
    Derek pulled into the circular cobblestone drive and sat there for a few moments trying to figure out what the best way to approach this would be. They were going to wonder why he was asking so many questions about something that happened long before he’d entered their lives. He reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up to the photo he carried there of Sarah. Running a finger along the smooth line of her pretty cheek he said, “Wish me luck, my love.”
    “Derek, are you coming in?” Trevor was at the door now, undoubtedly wondering what his son-in-law was doing sitting in the car in the driveway. Derek took a deep breath and stepped out. Trevor greeted him with a hug and a hearty clap on the back as always but the older man’s smile faded as he looked at Derek’s face.
    “Are you okay son? Come in and tell me what’s troubling you.”
    Derek followed Trevor into the living room. It always reminded him of something you’d see in the country or maybe a cottage in Nantucket. He loved it here. Samantha was sitting in one of the oversized chairs with a roll of yarn in her lap and a cat curled up on either side of her. She started to get up when she saw Derek.
    “No, don’t get up,” he told her. He went to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
    She patted his face and said, “You get handsomer every time I see you. But, your eyes look sad. What’s wrong, Derek?”
    He smiled. These people knew him so well that getting anything past them was going to be next to impossible. “Nothing is wrong,” he said, glancing from Samantha to her husband. “I just need to ask you both some things and I’m not sure where to start...or even how to go about it.”
    Samantha put her knitting down and Trevor took a seat next to her. “Sit down, Derek,” Samantha told him. He took the seat opposite them and she said “Do you need anything to drink, or eat? Have you eaten?”
    Food was a big part of the way Samantha expressed her love to her family. If someone didn’t know better they might expect both her and her husband to be abnormally large people.
    He smiled again, “No thank you, Samantha. I’m fine.”
    “Okay then,” she said, “Tell us what’s on your mind. If there’s something you need, all you have to do is ask, you know that.”
    “I do know that,” he said, “Thank you. The questions I have for you are about a very difficult subject...for the two of you.”
    “Is it about Sarah?” Trevor asked. The only thing in either of their lives that had been difficult enough that they’d had trouble moving past it were the deaths of their daughters.
    “Sort of,” he said. “Can you tell me about when Sarah and her sister were born? Where were you? Who else was there? Who told you that the one baby had died?”
    “Of course Derek,” Samantha said, “But why?”
    He looked from her face to Trevor’s. He could see that the loss of that child showed as fresh on them both