Chapter 7 - The Return from the Dead
Ryan stared at the papers in his hands as if they were written in a foreign language. His eyes scanned the bold text at the top of the cover page:
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO EMERGENCY EX PARTE PETITION FOR FULL CUSTODY, TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER, AND EXCLUSIVE USE OF MARITAL RESIDENCE PETITIONER: EMMA CARTER RESPONDENT: RYAN CARTER
"No..." Ryan whispered, his breath catching in his throat. "No, this is wrong. Emma is... Emma isn't here! She abandoned me!"
"Mr. Carter," the deputy said coldly, taking a step inside the foyer. "You need to step back. The petitioner is arriving to reclaim her residence."
Ryan’s eyes darted toward the curb.
The door of the black SUV opened. A private security guard stepped out, holding an umbrella over the rear passenger door.
Then, a pair of dark leather boots stepped onto the pavement.
I stood up, holding my shoulders high, dressed in a long camel-wool coat that covered my healing surgical body. My dark hair was pulled back into a sleek tail, my skin clear, and my eyes burning with a fierce, cold light.
Beside me, Clara stepped out of the vehicle, holding a cozy car seat wrapped in a soft blue blanket. Inside the seat, ten-day-old Ethan was fast asleep, breathing peacefully.
Ryan’s jaw dropped. The papers slipped from his hands, scattering across the porch floor. His eyes bulged out of his head, his face turning an eerie, ghost-like shade of blue.
"Em... Emma?" he choked out, staggering backward into the foyer. "You're... you're alive?!"
I walked up the porch steps with slow, deliberate grace, stopping just inches from him. The scent of bleach was wafting out from the front door, heavy and sickening.
I looked him dead in the eyes—the same eyes that had looked down at me three days ago with utter disgust as I lay bleeding on the rug.
"Disappointed, Ryan?" I asked, my voice as smooth and lethal as polished ice. "Did you think three days of bleach would wash away my existence?"
"Emma..." Ryan stammered, falling onto his knees on the porch, his hands shaking violently as he reached toward me. "Emma, baby! Thank God! I thought... I thought something terrible happened to you! I came home and there was blood, and you were gone! I was out of my mind with worry!"
"Worry?" Clara let out a loud, contemptuous laugh from behind me, holding Ethan tight. "Is that what you call it when you buy a thirty-thousand-dollar watch in Aspen while your wife undergoes emergency surgery for two liters of internal blood loss?"
Ryan looked at Clara, then back at me, his lie instantly crumbling. "I... I didn't know! You said it was just a period! You always exaggerate!"
"I lost two liters of blood, Ryan," I said, leaning down so my face was just inches from his pale, trembling ear. "I had a complete uterine rupture. If Clara hadn't come through that door twenty minutes after you drove off to drink Scotch with your friends, Ethan and I would be in the county morgue."
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"Emma, please!" Ryan sobbed, tears spilling down his cheeks as he tried to grab the hem of my coat. "I made a mistake! I was stupid! We can fix this! We're a family!"
"We aren't a family," I said, stepping back so his hands clutched empty air. "You are an eviction subject. You have twenty-five minutes left to get your clothes out of my house."
