Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (76 page)

The security guards at
the check in point were eyeing me closely. One grabbed my arm.

"Miss, what’s
under the shirt?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

I took a deep breath
and thought fast.

"Baby," I
whispered. "Breastfeeding." I shrugged. "I don’t like to make it
a public thing."

The guard let go of my
arm. "Um…oh…"

I lifted the sweatshirt
slightly so that they could see the bottom half of Cole and then acted as if I
was going to completely uncover him.

"That’s okay
miss." He ushered me along and I rushed to the shuttle that would take me
to my gate.

Panting I sat in my
seat on the plane. Cole was fussing, so I took him out and gave him a bottle
that I had in my back pack. It was during this flight that my newest course of
action began to fester in my thoughts.

I would never escape my
father, not while he was alive. There was no way that I could get close enough
to kill him myself, and the thought of putting Cole in danger with close
proximity to my father tore my heart apart. That’s when the seed of a memory
started to fester, ‘she realized the only way that she would be free was death’.
My mother had to kill herself to escape him.

Once we settled in
Iceland, the seed had sprouted into theory and then into a full blown plot. The
thought of not having my son in my life was breaking my heart, but knowing that
I had to do whatever I could to keep him safe over-rode that pain. If I had to
sacrifice myself, then that is what I would have to do.

Arrangements needed to
be made accordingly.

Two months in Iceland
and I had finally gotten all of my affairs in order for what was about to go
down. Cole was eight months old and was the epitome of beautiful. For our last
week together, I decided that we would go back to Germany to see my Aunt Beth,
plus she played an unknowing part of in my plan.

Arriving late at night,
she rushed us into the house. "Dear, there have been people asking around
for you?" My eyes widened as I sat down.

"Who?" I spit
out as I lay Cole on the couch, fast asleep.

"They seemed to be
investigators or policemen." She shook her head. "I’m not sure, but I
believe that they have traced your letter back to me." She knelt on the
floor in front of me. "They were here a week ago and that was the second
time they had been here."

I swallowed the large
lump in my throat when I realized that I was going to have to do this sooner
than planned. "Aunt Beth?"

"Yes dear,"
she put her hand on my knee.

I placed my hand on
hers. "If anything happens…"

"Don’t be silly my
child, nothing is going to happen." She stood as she scolded. I could hear
the sadness and the tears in her voice.

"If anything happens,
I need you to open this." I held out a large yellow envelope as she turned
to face me.

"What is..?"

"It’s only if
something happens." I forced a smile. "Please keep it somewhere
safe."

She nodded.

That night I lay on the
bed that I gave birth to Cole. He was so angelic as he slept. My fingers traced
his face and my lips were pressed to somewhere on his body every few minutes.
Tears started to saturate the blanket beneath me. If things didn’t go as I
hoped, then this could more than likely be the last time I would ever see my
son.

Before dawn I wrote a
letter to my aunt and left another envelope for her, inside was a letter to
Cole among other items. Quietly I left her house and flew back to New York,
back to my father, time to put my final plan into action, hoping to make it out
alive.

End

There
you have some extras and deleted scenes.  Thank you for taking the journey with
Aidan, Lilli, and the whole M.A. gang!

"Cheers!" 
from Viola.

Much love,

Sadie G.