Keo took that walkway now, up to the front door.
He was halfway there when the door opened and she looked out.
She had one hand on the doorknob, the slight breeze picking up her long jet-black hair. The months hadn’t dulled the brilliance of her green eyes, and Keo couldn’t have stopped the stupid smile spreading across his face even if he wanted to.
“Keo,” she said. “You’re here. You’re really here.”
“I promised, didn’t I?” he said.
She smiled. “Yes, you did.”
He was so focused on her face, on the way her hair fluttered behind her, that it took him a while before he saw the rest of her. She was clutching the doorknob with one hand-a bit too tightly, for some reason-while the other one was rubbing her stomach, which was a lot bigger than he remembered…
CHAPTER 17
“You’re pregnant,” he said.
“You always were a master of observation, Keo.” She smiled at him, though he thought it was probably a little more forced than she had planned.
“How long?”
“Four months.”
Four months.
It had been three months since Jordan escaped T18, and what had she said when he pressed her on why Gillian hadn’t left with her?
“She was different in the weeks leading up to the escape. To this day I don’t know what happened, but when the time came I was the only one who left. Only she can say why.”
Four months…
Keo watched her pour hot water from a pot into a pair of ceramic mugs, then open a package and dipped two tea bags into them. He was in too much of a daze, and had been for the last few minutes, to recall where the hot water came from.
“Tea?” he said.
“Black tea. The green ones expired a long time ago, though the guys running the farms say we might be able to grow our own very soon.”
She brought the mugs over and sat down across from him. Keo stared down at the tea, then at her.
“What?” she said. “You think I’m trying to poison you?”
He smiled. Or thought he did. “Of course not.”
“It’s really not that bad. I hated it in the beginning, but you learn to get used to things. Tea’s a luxury these days.”
He picked up the mug and sipped it. It wasn’t bad, but he was never much of a teetotaler. The Gillian he remembered had never been one, either. He remembered the two of them finishing off bottles of whiskey they had found in Earl’s basement. Then there was the occasional good red wine he and Norris would pick up during one of their scavenging trips.
But not tea. Never tea.
“It’s better with some milk or honey,” she was saying. “Or sugar. But those are rationed.”
I bet Steve has plenty at his house. Maybe I can go and borrow some.
“Hey, Steve, you got some milk or honey? My pregnant girlfriend would sure like some with her black tea.”
Girlfriend. Did he just refer to Gillian as his girlfriend?
Christ, maybe Tobias’s love-tap had done more damage to his brain than he thought.
Keo took out the pill bottle Jordan had given him and shook out two.
“You okay?” Gillian asked.
“Headache.”
“Does it have something to do with that?” She touched her own forehead.
“Lucky guess,” he said, and tried to force a smile, but gave up about halfway.
He swallowed the pills and put the bottle away. Then he watched her sipping tea across from him, sunlight from the open windows splashing across them. He wished it were darker inside the living room so he wouldn’t have to see her belly. The most painful part was that she was still as beautiful as he remembered; maybe even more so.
“I was wondering why they told me to come home,” Gillian said. She put the mug down and placed her hands over her belly. “It’s supposed to be safe for me to work until the end of my second trimester. Some of the women here are in their third, and they’re still in the fields.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” he asked, because he didn’t know what else to say.
“You would think so, but I guess not.” She pursed her lips. “I’m glad you’re alive, Keo. I spent a lot of restless nights worrying about you. When I saw you yesterday on the boat, you looked so different. I’m not talking about the scars. Everyone has scars. I wasn’t sure then, but seeing you again, here, I was right. You’ve changed.”
“For the better?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
She was watching him closely and Keo found it difficult to meet her stare, so he stood up and walked around the living room to get away from it.
The walls were almost entirely barren. There were no pictures or signs of the previous owners. He guessed that was on purpose. Out with the old, in with the new…
“It’s kind of plain, huh?” Gillian said, as if reading his mind. “I’m just glad I have a room with a carpet and a bed and honest to goodness pillows. They gave me the house because I’m pregnant. We all get one. Otherwise, they put you in one of the other subdivisions.”
“Steve told me there were five in all.”
“Steve?”
“Steve Miller. The guy who runs this place.”
“You’re on a first-name basis with him already?” she asked, sounding slightly amused.
“I make very good first impressions,” he said, managing to smile convincingly back at her that time.
“I remember,” she smiled back.
Keo found himself next to an empty bookcase. He absently ran his hand over the thick layer of dust on one of the shelves, then had to wipe it off on his pant leg.
“Aren’t you going to ask me?” Gillian said behind him.
“Ask what?”
“Who the father is.”
Christ, do I have to?
“I assumed he’s out there working somewhere,” he said.
“He’s one of the doctors.” She paused, maybe waiting for him to say something in reply, and when he didn’t, she added, “He’s a good man, Keo. I didn’t…really plan it. It just kind of happened.”
Keo walked across the living room and sat down on a stool next to the kitchen counter. The tabletop was spotless unlike the bookcase, and he rested his elbows on it and ran his fingers through his hair. It was dirty, and he needed a shower in the worst way.
“His name’s Jay,” she said behind him.
She was probably looking at him, but he didn’t feel like turning around to make sure. Instead, he stared across the kitchen at his reflection in a silver refrigerator, at the scar along his left cheek that looked freakishly out of proportion for some reason. He wondered why they still had the refrigerator since there was no electricity to run it. Maybe they were using it as an extra storage container. He could have thought of better uses for it, like storing Jay’s body. A good man or not, Keo bet he could fit the fucker in there just fine, even if he had to chop him up into little chunks to do it.
“Keo,” she said. “Say something.”
“That’s why you didn’t leave with Jordan,” he said.
“I wanted to, until I found out I was pregnant.”
Four months ago. What was he doing four months ago? He wished he could remember…
“She’s alive?” Gillian asked. “Jordan?”
“Yes.”
“Thank God. I’ve been so worried about her.” She paused, then, “Did she tell you what happened to the others? Mark, Rachel, and Christine?”
He nodded.
“That didn’t have to happen,” she said. “They didn’t have to die, but they did because we made bad choices.”
Keo stood up and walked to the back door, peering out at the backyard and the thick tree line in the background.
He didn’t know why he was moving around. Maybe he was hoping to find a way out of the house and away from her, from her belly. Of course, if he really wanted to do that, he could. None of the doors were locked, and the windows were all open…