Chapter 20
Violet
I was thirty-five weeks pregnant and felt ready to burst as I got myself back together after my latest doctor’s visit.
Everything with the baby was fine, but I was a bit concerned that Dr. Carson told me I was two centimeters dilated already.
I didn’t believe him for one minute when he told me not to worry, that some women walk around for weeks dilated to two centimeters.
It felt like an omen - and not a good one.
It took forever to check out, get my new appointment for the following week, and waddle my ass down to my SUV. I just managed to buckle my seatbelt when my phone started to ring.
“Mom?” I asked after checking the caller ID.
“Hi, sweetie. I need you to do me a favor.”
I loved my mother. I really did. Some days, I wondered why, though.
“You do remember I’m heavily pregnant, right?” I asked.
She made some dismissive noise. “Listen, I’m in the middle of having my color set, but I forgot your brother couldn’t ride the bus home today. I need you to go pick him up. Kay? Thanks. Bye.”
And she was gone without waiting to see if I could even do it.
It was definitely one of those days when I questioned my ongoing involvement with her.
Most days, she could be great. Then there were the days when she was a terror and felt like the world existed to serve her. I hated those times - like right now.
“I love my brother,” I reminded myself as I pulled out and headed to his school. As soon as I pulled up, it was obvious why he couldn’t ride the school bus home. He had all his batting gear with him, and he was still in uniform. How could Mom forget he had practice?
“Hey, Drake,” I said as he made his way to my vehicle and opened the door.
“Where’s Mom?” My little brother looked me up and down and shook his head. “Aren’t you supposed to be giving birth any minute now?”
“I still have five weeks to go.”
“Doesn’t look like it,” he muttered, and his tone didn’t sound like he was teasing me.
“You could walk home,” I offered. He quickly put his seatbelt on and smiled at me.
“You’re looking great, Sis. Not at all like an overinflated balloon about to pop.”
“Gee, thanks,” I grumbled back.
“Seriously, though, where’s Mom?”
“Getting her hair dyed, and honestly, I think she forgot you had practice.”
“She didn’t forget, it was just too much trouble to pick me up today. She wants to look good in case you go into labor early.” He rolled his eyes at the thought.
“What the hell?”
“You know, in case she’s in a birth announcement photo or something that makes its way to social media.”
“No pictures of me or my baby better make it to social media.”
“You’re going to have to figure shit out about that, Vi. Mom and Dad are about to be first-time grandparents. They’re going to want to show the baby off to everyone.”
I knew Drake was right, but that didn’t mean I had to be excited about it.
“I need to run by my place first. Since I have to take you home, might as well get that pack-in-play Mom wants to keep at the house for when the baby comes.”
My brother raised a brow in question.
“What?”
“Are you nesting or something?”
“What in the hell do you know about nesting, Drake?”
“I don’t know. I read some shit somewhere.”
My brother rolled his shoulder and massaged it as he winced. I knew better than to ask if he was injured, though. He would tell me if it was more than normal workout soreness.
“You read some shit somewhere. Way to go, Uncle Drake. I’m going to put out a bad word jar.”
“You do realize you cussed before and after me, right?”
“Shit!”
“And again,” Drake teased.
“Yeah, I know. Damnit.”
My little brother laughed at my inability to curb my own horrible language.
It was all my fault. I had stopped taking clients a month ago when I realized how difficult it was getting to put everything together when I planned parties.
I was very physically involved before my pregnancy, and it wasn’t possible any longer.
I also didn’t have the luxury of training someone new so late in the game.
“I blame the lack of adult conversations I have now.”
My brother didn’t respond at first and then he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “You know I’m here if you ever want to talk about anything, right?”
“Okay, well, I was thinking about trying a natural birth without drugs.”
“Nope. Anything but that. We’re not going to talk about the baby coming out of your body at all.”
“Why not? It’s natural!”
“Nope. Not going to do it. La, la,la,la,la.” The jerk stuck his fingers in his ears as I parked my car in front of my apartment.
“I’ll be back in just a minute,” I told Drake.
“I’m going to lay down in the back seat. My shoulder hurts like a bitch.”
“You can’t sit upright because your shoulder hurts?”
“Shoulder makes my neck hurt. Hurts to sit up,” he explained. I felt bad for Drake because he worked his ass off on the team and it showed in the way he played but also in the toll it took on his body.
“Okay, I shouldn’t be long. I can grab some ice for you, if you want.”
Drake shook his head. “I have special packs at the house for this that will fit over my shoulder. I’ll take care of it when we get home.
Once I finally got my door unlocked, I had to pee. And after gathering up the portable crib-playpen hybrid, I realized I had to pee again. By the time I got back out to my vehicle and popped the trunk, Drake was sound asleep in the middle seat.
I heaved the playpen contraption up into the back and then pushed the button to shut the hatch.
Honestly, all I wanted was a banana split and to fall asleep as quickly as my brother had.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly possible since it took so long to get into a comfortable position.
Also, I had to drive him home and then come all the way back to my place before I could manage a nap.
When I pulled out of the apartment complex, a shiver ran up and down my spine.
I glanced around to see if I could figure out why I felt weird all of a sudden, and there was a black mid-sized truck that followed us onto the road.
The truck stayed behind me for long enough that I got paranoid about it and tried to wake Drake up.
“What?” he finally groaned.
“Get your seatbelt on. I think someone is following us.” I pushed the break to stop at the last red light before the turnoff to my family’s house.
Drake slung himself up in the seat and flipped the seatbelt on as he turned to see what I was talking about.
Before he could fully turn to see out the back window, the truck that had been following us rammed into the back of my SUV and pushed the vehicle out into the middle of the intersection.
I didn’t even get the chance to put my foot on the brake pedal before I heard a horn blare and then the crunch and grind of metal on metal as something slammed into the passenger side of my SUV.
All I could think of was my little brother in the back. When he popped up and quickly put his seatbelt on, he had been sitting on the passenger side.
His book bag, that he had been using as a pillow, was flung forward and to the side just enough to crash into my right arm.
It shoved forward just as the airbag deployed, and my arm was trapped between the two opposing forces at an odd angle.
I heard the snap a second before I felt my arm break.
My head whipped forward and to the left as all this happened, and I remember it bounced off the driver’s side window before a jolt of pain in my stomach caught my attention.
“My baby,” I cried as a man rushed to the side of my vehicle. I thought he said something, but my vision dimmed and darkness claimed me.
I felt weightless for a few seconds and then slowly, I opened my eyes to see that I was being placed on a stretcher. Panic set in as I tried to turn my head to search for Drake but couldn’t.
“Drake!” I yelled.
“It’s okay, we need you to stay calm, honey. You were in an accident,” someone explained.
“Where is my brother?” No one answered. “Where is Drake? He was in the back of my Highlander. Please, someone go check.”
“Your brother was already loaded into another ambulance. It took us a little longer to get to you.”
“His side was hit, not mine.”
“There was a woman with a knife,” someone mentioned.
“The black truck behind me. It followed me from my apartment and then pushed us into the intersection,” I mumbled.
“Got it,” someone said. “Do you know who it was or who it could have been?”
“Didn’t you arrest her?” I asked.
“She ran before the police made it on scene,” a woman said.
“Who would do this?” I asked.
“We were hoping you could tell us.”
“The only person who might want to harm me is the woman who raped my ex-husband,” I said because I’d be damned if I hid the truth.
“And who was that?”
“We need to get her to the hospital. You can ask your questions there” the woman who was taking care of me mentioned.
“Fiona,” I called out to him as the gurney was lifted into the back of the ambulance. The pain of being jostled must have done a number on me because I passed out again during the drive to the hospital.
I slowly woke to the sound of beeping and a very fast whooshing noise I recognized immediately. My baby’s heartbeat.
“Hello there,” a man’s voice said in a calm tone. “Looks like you had quite a scare.”
“More than just a scare, Doc.” I tried to move my arm, and it felt as if the damn thing were weighed down with a ton of bricks. “What is…”