I slid down the wall, slowly, until I was crouching on the floor. Tears hit the cold tile one by one.
He'd finally said it.
So my very existence had been suffocating him all along.
But back then, he was the one who begged me to stay.
My hand drifted to my stomach. A sob caught in my throat.
"You shouldn't have come," I whispered. "Neither of us should have."
Darren and his parents fell into a cold war. I pretended I hadn't heard a thing.
Abner and Sophia asked me again and again who had done that to me in the snow.
I never told them.
Not to protect Kitty. The time simply wasn't right.
Whether it was guilt over misjudging me, or anger at himself for being manipulated—I wasn't sure which.
Darren took over all of my care for the duration of my hospital stay. He even declined Kitty's calls several times.
Once, when she called again, I caught the hesitation on his face.
I grabbed his hand and pressed it against my lower belly, looking up at him with the same wide-eyed dependence I'd perfected as a child.
"Darren, feel this. Our baby's sleeping right here."