Chapter 28
WILLOW
I hear a crying sound.
When I open my eyes, it’s morning.
I reach for my stomach. Instinct, I suppose.
My stomach is… normal.
I quickly sit up in bed and throw the covers off my body.
I hear the noise again.
Definitely crying.
Not an adult crying.
It’s a baby crying.
I hurry to get out of bed and look around.
This is not my room. Not at all.
There are windows and furniture and… it looks too…
I walk to one of the windows.
I’m not on the ground floor like in my dorm.
I’m in a house. A bedroom in a house.
I’m looking outside to a front yard.
There’s a small white fence around the front yard.
A curved sidewalk with stone that is gray and red mixed together.
I hear the crying sound again.
I hurry around the large bed and out the bedroom door.
My toes dig into the soft carpeting of the hallway.
The crying sound is coming from downstairs.
“I’ve got you,” a voice says from downstairs. “This is a good time to learn the art of patience. Can you do that?”
The crying sound echoes again.
I begin my descent down a set of steps I’ve never seen before.
I come to a landing, turn to my right and continue down more steps.
Now I’m downstairs.
There’s a large window next to a front door.
“Almost ready for you,” a voice says.
I walk - carefully - and end up in the doorway of a dining room.
I walk through into a large, bright kitchen.
When I see the highchair and the baby sitting in the highchair, I cover my mouth.
Then I see someone standing at the sink.
A pink towel over his shoulder.
I know it’s Knox… but… what is happening here…
Knox turns around, holding a bottle in his right hand.
“Hey, baby,” he says. “Did you get some sleep? You were out cold when I woke up. This little princess has been awake for four hours already.”
I look at the baby in the highchair.
It’s a girl. She has piercing blue eyes and she smiles when she sees me.
I start to cry.
“Willow,” Knox says.
That’s when my eyes pop open in real life.
I sit right up in bed and touch my chest.
My heart is slamming as I take deep breaths.
That had to have been one of the realest dreams I’ve had in a long time.
My mouth is dry.
My hands are shaking.
I look to the other side of my bed.
Empty.
I really wanted Knox to spend the night and morning.
I wanted to wake up next to him and just have a moment for us.
Reality though…?
Knox and I aren’t together.
He doesn’t owe me a thing more than what he’s done so far.
I climb out of bed to go pee.
I feel like I sit there for two days just going and going.
My next step is to find coffee.
I’m not sure about caffeine and pregnancy though.
I have to do some research or maybe I can just ask Mila for her advice.
If I have to give up coffee for nine months, I’ll do it.
As I shuffle out toward the kitchen area of my dorm, the door opens.
I gasp.
“Oh, shit, did I scare you, baby?” Knox asks.
“Knox,” I say with a smile.
“I wanted to get back before you woke up. I snuck out to get some coffee and donuts for us. I, uh, I don’t know how you take your coffee or what you like to eat… so I kind of just… grabbed a little of everything.”
I nod.
I swallow hard.
That’s kind of a weird thing too.
The fact that Knox and I don’t know much about each other.
He doesn’t know how I like my coffee… two creams, four sugars.
He doesn’t know my favorite donut is glazed with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.
Yet I’m carrying his baby.
I swallow hard a second time.
“Is this okay, Willow?” Knox asks. “I don’t want to be too… you know… pushy or up front or in the way…”
“It’s perfect,” I say. “It’s exactly what I want and need right now. It’s such a sweet-”
I instantly stop talking and turn and run for the kitchen sink.
No… fuck no… no…
I grab the edge of the sink and lean over it.
Guess who suddenly has morning sickness?