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Chapter forty-five

Cecilia

Should have gotten her checked…

~ New Year’s Day ~

The day of the year that I love and loathe the most. Two years ago, this day was the start of a new life with Silas, a beautiful and magical one. Last year, it nearly broke us, almost ruined us to the point of no repair.

As much as I want to focus on what this day is really about, Silas’s birthday, I can’t help my mind from remembering the past year. But it’s all over and gone. Now we have each other and our baby boy.

I need to focus on that.

I’m now thirty-two weeks pregnant and huge. Extremely exhausted and needing to pee all the time. It’s driving me crazy. The boys have a home game right now, and all the girls are already at the arena waiting for me to join them.

The guys wanted to take Silas out for drinks after the game, even if he still doesn’t drink, just to have a little celebration, but Silas refused to go. I think he still fears that he’ll make another mistake and doesn’t want to risk it.

I felt guilty knowing he was holding back from spending time with them for me. So instead, we made a deal. I would come to the game tonight, but only for the last period, and then we would all go out to the bar together.

I hate missing out on his home games, but I’ve had zero energy lately.

I knew that if I watched the whole game, I would have never made it to the bar afterwards.

So instead, I stayed home and napped until my alarm rang, telling me I had thirty minutes before I had to head over to the arena to join them.

I let Milo out in the yard one last time before leaving the house. Once he’s done his business, I bring him back in and make sure he has water and food, then I grab my car keys and purse and head out.

The drive from our place to the arena is around thirty minutes, and usually I don’t have a problem getting there.

I know the route by heart. But right now it’s pretty dark, and ever since I got pregnant, I’ve developed this fear of driving at night.

So I’m going below the speed limit and have both hands gripping the steering wheel.

I’m ten minutes from the arena when my phone starts to ring, and Emma’s name appears on my dashboard screen. She’s probably calling to see if I’m on my way.

I press the button on my steering wheel to answer the call, but it won’t work. I’ve been having issues with it for the last two weeks but haven’t taken the time to bring the car into the garage.

I tap the answer button on the touchscreen, but it won’t connect either. “Ugh! I really need to get you checked, girl,” I say to my car.

I look down quickly at my purse that sits on the floor of the passenger side and can see my phone lighting up on the side. It would be a quick grab. I look around, noticing there aren’t too many cars around me. I could easily bend and grab it without worry.

My phone stops but starts up right again. I sigh and bend to the side, reaching down with my hand toward my purse. I’m coming up to an intersection when I finally pinch my phone between my fingers, but my light is green, so I don’t stop.

I’m just pulling it up when a loud horn blasts from somewhere. I sit up quickly with my phone in hand and look to my right, where the sound is coming from.

Everything happens so quickly.

Headlights blind my vision, growing bigger and bigger as they get closer. The honking of the truck gets louder and louder as it approaches the side of my car.

There’s nothing I can do, there’s no way out of this. So I do the only thing that I can think of. The only thing that matters.

Protect my son.

I wrap my arms tightly around my stomach and duck my head while the sound of crushing metal and shattering glass resonates around me.

My body slams into the door frame as I pray to whoever can hear me. Pray for them to save my boy. A second later, the world turns silent. One last image flashes through my mind, before it all goes black.

Silas.