Chapter 29
TWENTY NINE
DARCY
“Did you get a chance to look over the guest list I sent you?” Linnea asked.
She had a floral notebook open, her dainty, impeccable handwriting scrawled all over it.
The whole thing was entirely dedicated to the baby shower, which felt like overkill to me, but Linnea called it being organized.
I didn’t see how a three-hour party needed this much planning, but it wasn’t my party, at least, not really.
I nodded, taking a sip of orange juice and stabbing a bite of pancake with my fork. “I did. It’s a lot of people—I don’t think I know half of the women on it.”
“Well, some of them are ladies from my book club. They’re all so excited for you!” my mom fessed up from my right.
In the three years I’d lived out here, my mom had only visited a handful of times, all of which were to attend something for Linnea.
Of course, we’d all meet up for lunch and hangout while they were in town, but she’d never come to visit me specifically.
It hadn’t occurred to us that she’d never seen my apartment until she and Linnea came over for dinner last night, and she had to ask where the bathroom was.
I didn’t fault her for it, though. My mom didn’t love road trips, and I went home often enough that her coming all the way to me never seemed necessary, but I had to admit.
It was nice having her in my world, sitting at my favorite brunch spot for me this time.
“You don’t have to know them to let them buy your baby things. I vote keep the guest list. Maybe add more,” Shayna added, sipping her mimosa, and I hated her a little bit for being able to have one. It looked delicious.
I shrugged, and took another bite of food. “Fair enough. Guest list looks great. What’s next?”
Linnea flipped to a different page in her color-tabbed notebook, and ran her pen down the list she’d made. I envied how organized and put together she was; the girl was efficient. “Next on the agenda is to finalize the menu.”
“Menu?” I asked. “What’s wrong with pizzas and salads?”
The expression on Linnea’s face was pure horror. “It’s a baby shower!”
“Well the baby loves pizza. Oh, and ice cream.” I grinned, knowing this would set her off, but also because I was completely serious. Why couldn’t pizza be baby shower food?
My mom jumped in like she always had anytime Linnea and I butted heads. “Lins, why don’t you and I do the menu? I’m gathering Darcy isn’t too particular?” Her voice rose up in question at the end.
“No, I’m not,” I answered, giving her a grateful smile.
There wasn’t a whole lot that I cared about in regard to this party, mainly because it made me uncomfy.
But I wasn’t so uncomfortable with the idea that I couldn’t acknowledge how helpful it would be when it came to getting everything ready for this baby’s arrival.
My sole request was that we not open presents there.
I’d send personalized thank you notes after, but I couldn’t handle sitting there with everyone watching me while I said variations of “oh my gosh, it’s so cute” over and over again.
Not to mention, my poker face was nonexistent should I get something that wasn’t “so cute.”
Mom shot me a wink, then turned to Linnea. “How about we talk about the games. That might be more up Darcy’s alley.”
“Oh, yeah! Let’s talk games!” Shayna chimed in excitedly. “Do a blind-folded baby food challenge! Players will have to guess the flavor.”
I laughed. “That’s a good one! I like that; write that down!” Linnea flipped to her purple tab and wrote it down.
“Oh, and what about a baby bottle chug? Way harder than it sounds and it looks ridiculous!” This is why Shayna was here. Aside from her obviously being my best friend, she knew how to make a baby shower, the tamest of all parties, fun.
“Yes. How many games do we need?” I asked.
“Well, since you’re not opening presents, you might want three or four,” Linnea answered.
I nodded. “Could we maybe do one game where people can give advice. Like write it on a diaper or something?” All three women stared at me, and I shrugged. “I’ll take any and all the help I can get.”
It was the truth. I was a couple days past the thirty-week mark, and reality had hit me full force.
In about ten weeks, give or take some days, I’d be holding my baby in my arms. I’d be a mom.
Archer would be a dad, and the man had done his research, a fact that I’d discovered over the past few weeks when I spied a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting on his desk. However, for as much as I loved books, I was also very aware that they could only help me so much. If my mom’s book club friends had tips, tricks, advice, or secrets that could help me, I’d take them.
Linnea smiled. “I know the perfect game. You’re going to love it.”
My mom reached under the table, setting her hand on my knee and giving it a gentle squeeze. “You’re going to do great, Darcy girl,” she whispered.
Tears burned the back of my eyes, and I swallowed hard. “Thanks. Mom.”
By the time brunch was over, and the four of us were walking outside to our cars, we had an entire baby shower planned for the end of April.
We were about to say our goodbyes when Shayna’s phone started ringing.
Glancing at the caller I.D. she groaned, giving me a quick hug before hurrying to her car.
“When are you going back home to Massachusetts again?” I asked my mom. She definitely told me earlier, but I couldn’t remember for the life of me.
She wrapped me in one of her infamous hugs, and held it for longer than she normally did. When she pulled away, she glanced over at Linnea. “We were going to leave tomorrow morning, but we’re going to take off after we stop back at your sister’s place.”
“You remember Paige and Kelsey from high school? They’re back in Boston for the weekend, and we’re going to meet up with some other people tonight for dinner and drinks.”
“Sounds like fun. Tell them I said hi, and drive safe. Text me when you’re home.” I pulled her into a hug, then unlocked my car.
“Will do. I love you, Darcy,” my mom said, hugging me again like I knew she would, which was precisely why I didn’t get in my car yet.
“I love you too, Mom. Thanks for visiting.”
“I wish I was staying longer, but I’m scared your father is going to convert more of the backyard to berry fields.
” She laughed, and I joined her. Her fear wasn’t entirely unwarranted.
It was something my father would do. If I remembered correctly, the last time he expanded the fields was when she left him for a similar weekend trip.
“It’s fine. You go! I’ll see you in a couple of weeks for the shower.” I smiled then got into my car, watching as Linnea and my mom got into hers. Once I had music playing, I backed out of the parking spot, and began the seven-minute drive home.
I drove down the road, hitting a bizarre amount of green lights, but that was probably because the streets weren’t as congested as they often were.
March had Gettysburg seeing fewer tourists, the weather still too cold for most to want to visit all the historical landmarks, but it’d be slowly picking up over the next few weeks.
Singing along to the song playing, I grabbed my water bottle and took a sip as I approached another green light. The gym was down the intersecting street to the left, and I glanced out of habit to see how busy it was.
Which is when I saw the truck.
There was no time.
One second, it was twenty feet away going far too fast through the red light it should’ve stopped at. The next, it was crashing into the driver’s side of my car. My side.
The impact sent my water bottle flying out of my hands, glass shattering and slicing down over my skin.
My tires screeched as the truck drove my car sideways across the asphalt, and I gripped the steering wheel, trying in vain to keep it steady.
It wasn’t until we crashed into a telephone pole, the metal of my passenger side bending forcefully around it, and my head slamming into the side of the door, that we finally stopped.
Ringing.
That’s all I could hear.
Ringing, and a faint hissing sound like water on a hot burner.
I lifted a hand to the side of my head, my fingers coming away wet with blood.
“Oh god! Oh god! What have I done? Ma’am? Ma’am, are you okay? I-I’m going to call for help.” The voice sounded a million miles away, echoing through the steady roar in my ears. I couldn’t see anyone. All I saw was the headlight and grill of the truck.
Black crept in around the edges of my vision, reality slipping further away from me as I fought to stay alert, but my head was too heavy. My body throbbed, all of my limbs feeling like they belonged to someone else.
Someone else.
My baby.
Panic lanced through me, my heart pounding in my chest, but I couldn’t move. The ringing in my ears had intensified, and the black had almost completely swallowed my field of vision, or maybe that was my eyelids shutting, I couldn’t tell.
No longer able to hold my head up, it collapsed against the steering wheel.
“Help!” I croaked, trying to yell as loud as I could, but it felt like I was screaming through sludge. “My baby! Please! Someone, help me!”
My body, which had previously felt warm, grew cold, and the last thing I thought before I lost consciousness was that I was going to die, and I’d be taking the baby I never met, never named, with me.