She'd disappeared into thin air.
Vanished . . .
2
Ben Edwards
Grace was gone and Ben became a shell of the man he used to be.
Looking . . .
He kept his phone by his side twenty-four/seven.
No one received a letter.
The local post office requested he leave more than once.
No one found out what happened.
He never found the peace associated with acceptance. After being told to sit tight for the most painful forty-eight hours of his life, he couldn't wait any longer and went to Chicago. He refused to give her up without a full-fledged fight. There was no way she disappeared without any witnesses. He would find them. If it took years, he would find her. Ben filed a missing person report as soon as he landed. He prayed she was alive. Praying was something he didn't do much, but he did then.
He doesn't anymore.
That went to the wayside along with hope over the course of three years. Grief didn't strike once. It devastated your heart and your hope over and over again, beating it down until nothing remained of it. Not even yourself.
Ben spent days in the waiting room of every hospital in Chicago as nurses searched their records. He was told the same thing as if on repeat, "I'm sorry, sir. There are no records of a Grace Elizabeth Stevens having ever been admitted." No records of a Jane Doe. Nothing. The phrase was always followed by a sympathetic smile.
Chicago Memorial was the last hospital he visited. He was exhausted from the tireless searching, weary from the lack of sleep, and emotionally broken by that point. By the end of the first week of her disappearance, the cops told him to consider the options, options he denied in his mind.
Nope, he would not consider them. It didn't matter that the police were investigating him as a suspect, or that they asked about their home life as if it was anything less than everything he dreamed it had been. "Mr. Edwards, have you considered that she left on her own accord and doesn't wish to be found?"
"She wouldn't leave me."
"But she migh-"
"No. We're getting married in a month."
"Are you sure?" the officer asked carefully while studying Ben.
His eyes flashed to the officer's. "This isn't in my head. We had a good life." Ben closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. When he looked up, he said, "We have a life. Even if she wanted to leave me, Grace wouldn't leave her family. They were very close. There's no way she could do this without Emily knowing."
"Who is Emily?"
"My sister, and Grace's best friend. We grew up together."
"Ah. Okay. Look, Mr. Edwards. I know this is hard, but I have to be honest. Most of these cases . . . the signs were there, but we're too blind to see them. Maybe she wasn't happy and moved on," he went on without regard to Ben's breaking heart.
"Not my Grace." It was a fight. Nothing more. "She wouldn't leave me alone, not like this."
Overworked.
Stressed from the wedding planning.
Not enough time together.
A stupid fight.
They were always quick to make up. Nothing was left hanging over their hearts for long. Nothing had been . . . except her disappearance.
Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk in front of a building he'd had a hand in designing, Ben never accepted the theories that his Grace no longer graced his world. No, he couldn't.
He wouldn't.
Ben was standing downtown lost in the memories when he should have been texting Rebecca. He met Rebecca while searching for Grace. He couldn't bear for someone else he loved to call him Ben, so Rebecca called him Benjamin. She didn't ask much of him, but he rescheduled the client meeting, which would free him to attend her awards dinner. It was an important night for her. Not only would various medical achievements in Chicago be recognized, but they'd also have the chance to schmooze with the on-staff doctors and attempt to secure a permanent position.
Rebecca was nominated in the impressive "Leaders In Residence" category, which meant an official job offer after her stint at University if she won. During the last nine months they'd been together, she'd worked hard to earn a place at the hospital, while simultaneously trying to win Ben's heart. She'd stuck with him through dark months of his attempts to let go of something that had moored him for so many years. His life with Grace. He and Grace had been friends for four years, dated for seven, and engaged for almost two. Without Grace, he'd buried himself in work, which earned him three promotions.
He had money.
He had success.
He didn't have Grace.
He had Rebecca.
She never once complained about his work schedule, maybe because she also had a busy schedule. She attended his holiday party and executive dinners, and she never insisted on staying at his place when she wasn't asked. It was an understanding they had, although she wasn't happy about it. She didn't push though, which he appreciated. She remained patient, his amiable companion. She knew about Grace and the hole her loss had chiseled in his heart. They didn't fight. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad though, but now, it was time he was there for her.