"Learn your place. Stop clinging to Darren, and maybe I'll let you play Mrs. Farley a little while longer. Understand?"
"Anyway, I'm done wasting my breath on you. Darren's waiting for me."
The world went silent. I lay curled in the snow.
Through the haze, a memory surfaced: the year I turned eighteen, when Darren had insisted on programming his number as my emergency contact.
"Jules, sometimes in an emergency, you only get the chance to dial one number. There's no time to call the police."
"But no matter when it is, no matter where you are, one call from you and I'll fly to your side to protect you."
I closed my eyes slowly.
He never kept that promise.
When I opened them again, I was in a hospital.
A nurse smiled at me. "You're awake! You have some frostbite, but luckily the baby's fine."
"Congratulations. You're pregnant."
She removed my IV, turned, and left.
I sat there alone, staring at nothing.
Once, I'd believed Darren truly wanted a child with me, a symbol of our love. I'd let myself hope for it in secret, let myself feel that quiet thrill.
But now that it was real, I didn't want it anymore.
A sharp slap echoed down the corridor.
I crept to the door and heard Abner's voice, thick with fury.