AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, I appreciate it, but I actually have to get going. My sister and her friends decided they wanted to throw me a little baby shower.”
“That’s sweet of them. I won’t keep you then. I hope you have fun.”
“Thanks, Tom. I’ll see tomorrow.”
* * *
I have to give credit where credit is due, Tabitha’s done an amazing job of decorating the apartment for my impromptu baby shower. It seems she’s found her calling. Event planning is definitely in her wheelhouse should she choose to pursue it as a career.
Pretty pink and blue streamers hang from the ceiling, along with colorful balloons, an ice cream cake on the kitchen counter to thaw, and an impressive mound of presents piled high on the coffee table in the living room. Her friends, Dolly and Rachel, have already started chowing down on the pizza they ordered. The whole apartment smells of cheese and pepperoni, and I’m not complaining.
“Do you like it?” Tabitha asks, her cheeks rosy and smile beaming with pride. “Ask me how I got the streamers on the ceiling.”
I laugh. “How did you get the streamers on the ceiling?”
“I got myself one of these bad boys!” She reaches to her side and pulls out an extension grip with a two-pronged pincher at the end. “I don’t know why I didn’t buy one sooner. Now I can reach the top shelf without your help, not to mention hold baby diapers at a distance when I take out the trash,” she laughs.
“That’s very clever.”
“Come on, come on! Don’t you want to open your presents?”
I giggle as I take my seat on the couch. Tabitha passes me the first box. It’s got a pretty bow on top and sparkly wrapping paper. “Who’s this from?” I ask, curious. I don’t have a lot of work friends, and I’ve pretty much been keeping my pregnancy under wraps.
“It’s from me,” Tabitha says. “Most of them are. And that one there is from Dolly and Rachel together.”
“We hope you like it,” they say together.
Without further ado, I tear into my gift, my lips stretching into a big smile when I see a little onesie inside, custom-etched letters reading:Future FBI Agent. It’s so unbelievably sweet. “How did you even afford this?” I ask, my eyes welling up with moisture.
Tabitha grins. “I’m really resourceful when I want to be. I’m juggling, like, four work-from-home jobs right now.”
“You are?” I’d been so preoccupied the last few months, I didn’t even notice my sister was working.
“I’m an adult and you have a baby on the way. I have to chip in around here somehow.”
I run my hands over the onesie, taking in the softness. It boggles my mind that this time next year, I’ll have a little baby boy or girl to dress up and love with all my heart. There’s still a lot to get done. It’s kind of overwhelming, to say the least, but the pay bump that comes with my promotion will help.
I need to think about buying diapers and finding suitable daycare and deciding whether or not Tabitha and I should find a bigger place to live. Would she even want to come with me? She’s old enough to be on her own, but a small part of me isn’t ready to let her leave the nest quite yet.
All of a sudden, my thoughts start to spiral. I don’t know what’s happening. Everyone’s going to leave me one day. Luka’s gone. Tabitha’s grown and will, sooner rather than later, start her own life. My child is going to grow up and leave me, too. I’ll be left all alone.
Damn, these pregnancy hormones are a real bitch.
“Dani?” Tabitha asks, concerned. “Aw, sis, why are you crying?”
“Sorry,” I sniffle, wiping at my eyes. “I’m fine, I swear. It’s just sosmall.”
“How about we take a pizza break?” my little sister suggests. “You’ll feel better on a full stomach.”
I nod wearily.
As I eat, my mind wanders. No matter what I do, I always seem to come back tohim. The look on his face when we parted that day. The hurt, the betrayal. Some nights, I wake up in a cold sweat, panicking about whether I made the wrong choice. I fought so hard to get back to him, only to let my sense of justice stand in the way. My brain tells me I made the right choice. I wasn’t going to let Luka and his brothers be cold-blooded murderers. They’d be no better than The Trinity.
But my heart says otherwise. Not just for my sake, but for the baby’s sake. Luka doesn’t know about his child, and I live in quiet anxiety of the day when my baby is old enough to ask about their father. Where is he? Why isn’t Luka around? Where can we find him? When that day comes, I don’t know how I’m going to answer.
All I can tell them is I had a choice to make.
And with every passing day, I’m starting to question if I chose wrong.
