Be With Me

Chapter 78

Dead silence was heard in the car. Even the dog seemed to understand the moment was disturbing, not even Ozzie made a sound. James drove with his eyes set on the road, hands gripping firm onto the steering wheel. Rafaela could hear him breathing heavily, though she didn't look at him. She was looking out at the street, arms folded around her chest, and she thought about what had just happened. Nothing made sense in her head. Kelly was always there for them, to help them ever since Liam died. She was the one to avoid the worst, she was the one to call 911 and saving Rafaela's life, but then, she also never claimed that she had lost her bracelet. Rafaela shook her head; confusion was taking over. Her head was flipping inside out. Thoughts running a mile per second.

As James parked the car, she hopped off it and opened the door to Ozzie. James watched her as she took their bags off the trunk. She was serious, maybe angry as she placed the stuff on the ground fiercely. Then he grabbed the bags and began to carry them inside the house. He noticed how her hands trembled a bit as she opened the door. Maybe taking her to the police station wasn't a good thing. He was seeing her too nervous.

"Where do you want this?" James asked as he knew the first thing she was going to do was to choose the clothes that needed to go to the laundry.

"Take it to our room please." She said and then looked outside again. "OZZIE!" She yelled and the dog came running.

Rafaela followed James upstairs, and then he placed the bags on the bed. Immediately she opened them and began to separate the clothes, while he put the clean ones back in the drawers. She didn't say anything, not even a word, but he could see confusion and some chaos written on her face. He put the clothes down and went up to her.

"Hey..." He said grabbing her hands and taking a shirt off them. "Sit down a bit, let's talk." He said sitting on the bed and tapping on the mattress right next to him. She did so. "What's the matter? I mean... I know what's the matter, but I want to hear you." He said as he felt her too disquieted, like he hadn't seen her yet and that couldn't be good.

"I didn't know she had menaced our kid." Rafaela said, and James remembered he never told her of that episode, to protect her obviously.

"Remember that night at the club when she was high and began to say nonsense things?" Rafaela nodded, then she remembered how James had asked her to be careful with her. "The day after, I went to look for her and we talked. She was crazy, ok... I know she was consuming and shit, but she was crazy, and she told me you would never have that baby."

"But I had him and five years passed..." Rafaela took both her hands to her head and shook it. "I don't understand... she saved me, if she hadn't been there on time I would be dead. She's been a friend; it doesn't make sense."

As she babbled James realized it was getting violent inside her head. "We don't know for sure what happened, so don't panic." He said trying to calm her down.

"At the same time..." She raised her head and looked at him. "...it's weird that she never complained she had lost that bracelet. Don't you think it's weird she never said anything to us? I mean... wouldn't you talk about it with your friend if you had lost something in their garden, even if it was just to make you aware of it?"

"Yes." James said firmly.

"Could she hurt him? I mean... Liam liked her, he played with her sometimes. Why do anything to him so many years later? I don't understand..." She began to shake her head again. So much confusion written on her face and she kept shaking her head and James held her tight.

"Hey... hey..." He patted her hair and kissed the top of her head. "Calm down babe. Please..."

"I'm calm." She set herself free. "I am calm. Maybe a little confused right now but I am calm. Do you think she did something to hurt Liam?"