She stared out of the Greyhound bus window as the scenes of farmland and cattle went by in a blur. In her head, her life was going by in a blur as well.
How the hell had she gotten here?
She was many hours and hundreds of miles away from the home, the place that she had made for herself and the love of her life. Her journey had started off in her car with two oversized suitcases, a backpack, her tablet, and her purse. She’d ditched her car last night, though, knowing it was a smart move to make. With that GPS technology, it would have only been a matter of time before the cops tracked her down. That OnStar was a double-edged sword. She hadn’t brought her phone with her. It still lay on the bathroom floor, shattered. Her backpack was filled with cash. The envelope that held some of Caesar’s Molly pills was in her oversized tote. She’d taken the cash he had in the house and on his person with her as well. One of her suitcases was full of her clothing, and the other was full of merchandise. If she had to make a fresh start, then she would need some things to start up with. She carried with her the most valuable and fastest moving items she had. She left behind everything else . . . and everyone else.
God knew that she loved Bella and Caesar with all her heart. Over the years, they’d each given her their share of advice, never steering her wrong, but this time she just didn’t see eye to eye with them. There was no way she could turn herself in to the police. Maybe at first the police would buy her story. After all, it was true. When she confessed to Caesar what had really happened to her baby, that she hadn’t really taken him to the fire station like she’d led both him and her family to believe, she’d told the whole truth. If she got on the stand, raised her right hand, and swore on the Holy Bible to that same story, a jury of her peers might be sympathetic to her. Though she had only been a teen mother and hadn’t known any better, she still should have said something and not covered it up, which made it easy for her uncle to basically get away with murder.
It was believable because it was the truth, but sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.
She sat on the bus, trying to convince herself that leaving was the best thing to do. After all, Virginia was a Commonwealth state, and when it came to the laws there, they could definitely be unpredictable. She could have been thrown in prison for the rest of her life, and she wasn’t willing to take that chance. The fact that Bella and Caesar would even want her to take that chance struck a nerve deep within her. The fact that they’d be okay with only being able to see her through bars for the rest of her life left a bad taste in her mouth when it came to them. But none of that mattered anymore. She’d left all of that behind. The same way she’d managed to sweep her crime under the proverbial rug before and move ahead with life, she’d do it again. She was a survivor. God had given her the strength to survive a gang rape and the birth of a baby out of her fourteen-year-old body, and now God would give her the strength to overcome her grief and rebuild her life in a new place.
Until now, she hadn’t known what Peanut did with her baby boy. She had always assumed her baby was alive somewhere. Now she knew her baby was dead, and she felt a strong sense of sorrow sweep over her. She began to cry again. Her heart went out to her little baby, who, from all appearances, had had Down syndrome. Small wonder, with his uncle being his father. One day, she knew, Peanut was going to pay for killing her baby. His baby.
She cried some more as she thought of her sister, Bella, who had been the only person in her family who seemed to love her since her pregnancy. She hated leaving town and not being able to say good-bye to Bella. She cried for hours straight as she exited the city limits, knowing that it was more than likely she’d never see her sister again. There was no statute of limitations on murder, so the police would always be on the hunt for Bianca. Bella had a good heart and a conscience. Besides Caesar, she was one of the most truthful people Bianca knew. If the police asked her where Bianca was, if she knew, she’d tell them. Bianca didn’t want to put her sister in that position. It would be too much to bear for her.
Bianca was used to being able to let things go and slide off her back. She’d learned that growing up. So, once she’d made up her mind to let go of the entire incident concerning the baby, that was just what she did. Carrying around those thoughts would have hindered her life, even more than if the baby had still been alive for her to have to take care of.
No questions asked: That was the promise that the law allowing children to be dropped off at fire stations or hospitals made to the mothers who dropped them off. Even when Bella and her mom asked Bianca where the baby was the day they came home to find the bassinet empty, once she told them what she’d done, they didn’t even ask questions.
“I knew she couldn’t take care of no baby. She can hardly take care of herself,” were the words Ella had said to Bella before rolling her eyes and walking off.
It was just like déjà vu for Bianca. The same way her mother had walked
