Chapter 7
The final month of pregnancy moved fast and slow all at once.
Lila’s legs swelled. Her back ached. But her eyes shone bright.
We set up the crib. We washed all the tiny clothes.
Then one evening, my phone rang. It was the police.
My heart dropped.
It turned out Mom had been in a minor car accident. She wasn’t hurt badly, but she’d mentioned our names while being checked over.
The officer asked if someone could come sit with her.
Lila saw my face. “Go,” she said. “I’ll be fine here. Call me if you need anything.”
I found Mom sitting in the hospital waiting room, holding an ice pack to her wrist.
She looked relieved when she saw me. “I didn’t mean to bother you. I just… I didn’t know who else to ask.”
I sat down beside her. “You’re not a bother. But you have to keep your word. No more lies. No more control.”
“I know,” she said. “My therapist says I have to stop seeing you as my property. You’re your own man. Lila is your partner.”
We talked for hours. Not about old fights. About how lonely she’d been after Dad died. How she’d clung too tight.
“I was wrong to take it out on her,” she said, tears in her eyes. “I was so wrong.”
I drove her to Aunt Sarah’s place when she was released.
May you like
“Take it slow,” I said at the door. “We’re not ready to be close yet. But we’re not cutting you off forever.”
She smiled, a small real smile. “That’s more than I deserve.”
