____________________...You know how it is in the movies? Accidents occur in such slow motion, but in real life, it is not so. In real life, it happened in the blink of an eye. One second my heavily pregnant sister is waving at me and the next thing I know, she is lying ten feet away, bleeding out. "RORY!" I screamed as I dropped the bag in my hand and ran in her direction, brain-numbing fear taking over. "Rory!" I heard Eric's voice behind me as I reached my unconscious sister. "No, no, no, no!" I prayed as I cupped her face. "Rory, wake up! Please wake up!" "Someone call nine-one-one!" I screamed at the crowd. "They are on their way." Eric was at my side. God, I hated him but at this moment, I could not be more thankful that he was there. "She is going to be fine." He did not sound like he believed what he was saying. "If something happens to her, if something happens to the babies..." I cried. "Eric, Rory would die if something happened to the babies!" Eric had a hand r
____________________...Tears flowed like a river as I stared at the serene, cyanotic face of my beautiful baby girl. She was a ditto replica of her mother with her button nose and pouty lips. "I am sorry Dadda failed to protect you, my precious." I kissed her forehead as the nurse told me it was time to say goodbye. I placed another kiss on her forehead. "This one, on behalf of your Momma. She loves you so much." My voice broke as I said it, and the nurse took my dead infant away from me.I slid to the ground as grief racked through me. Tears spilled out even as I tried to be strong for my other daughter and my wife."Rowan..." Zoe sat down near me, leaning against the wall. She didn't say anything else. She knew there was nothing she could say that could fix this.Everything was over."Rory is going to wake up, you know." She finally said."The doctors say the chances are very less." I reminded her."Still, I know she is going to wake up." She decided."How am I going to tell h
_________________________...1 Month Later....One whole month and Rory still had not woken up. At least she was fully healed physically so her doctor, Dr. Rena Henkins had hopes for her to wake up any day. It was that or not at all. But I held on to the former hope that she would wake up any day now. I knocked on the door that was ajar and pushed it open. Rowan looked up from where he was feeding Ki and smiled softly.I smiled back at him and placed the package and bags I had brought on the coffee table and then moved to my sister, placing a kiss on her forehead. "You need to wake up soon, big sis, or else Ki is going to turn out to be Dadda's girl," I told her, laughing. "Oh, she is a Dadda's girl already." Rowan stuck his tongue out at me. "Not helping." I rolled my eyes at him and turned to my sister, taking her hand in mine, leaning closer to her with my elbows holding me up on the side of the bed. "Rory, Ki is turning one month old today. It would be awesome if you wou
_____________________...I had settled Ki down on her bassinet before walking over to sit on the chair beside her. "Any day man." Ashton grinned at me. "Any time. She could wake up right this moment for all we know." I nodded. My hopes were high. I was going to keep staring at her on the lookout for the slightest flutter. My girls had spent too much time apart already. It was time for them to be introduced to each other. Just this morning, I had told Gabby that Ki was a Dadda's girl. But I did not believe that. Her mother was someone who was filled with so much love and care that once Ki spent more time with Rory, she was going to be more inclined to her mother. And I had no problem with that situation. All that mattered to me was that both my girls were happy and well. I sighed. "I am scared of what is waiting for her when she wakes up." The pain was inevitable. She would have to go through it. I was just worried that my wife would not be able to handle it.When she wakes up
_________________________ . . . "Rory, do you even hear her?" Sonya yelled as she came down the stairs, stomping her thigh-high boots. I looked up from my laptop and lifted my hands, shrugging. "I didn't. What's going on?" I asked as I closed my laptop and got up from the living room couch. "She's being disgusting. That's what! I am sixteen years old. What does she take me for?" Sonya came to a stop in front of me and pointed at the stairs where I saw no glimpse of her mother. I knew better than to listen to a sixteen-year-old's one side story so I waited for her mother and my mother-in-law, Elizabeth Keller, to come down the stairs. "What's going on, Beth?" I asked her, a small smile playing on my lips. Teens and their mothers made up for some fascinating drama, and I missed that experience with my mother because I was in a boarding school on another continent, but watching Elizabeth and Sonya fight over the smallest things was very endearing. "You need to come upstairs and
~2 years ago~"This is such great news!" Bianca Stanley, my best friend, squealed as she jumped around in our apartment. I rolled my eyes, sitting back on the couch and resuming the movie I was watching."I know." I smiled. "Dad finally thinks I am ready to face the world."Bianca stopped hopping around and looked at me with a wide smile on her face and pride in her eyes. "My baby is all grown up." She sniffed dramatically as she wiped away invisible tears making me roll my eyes. "You make Momma hen so proud.""All right drama hen. Sit down!" I patted the spot next to me on the couch. She sat down excitedly and gave me a side hug, not failing to rearrange a few bones in the process. She had too much strength that she wasn't aware of."We will go clubbing!" She exclaimed. "I will inform all our friends and we will go clubbing to celebrate you finally getting the job that you wanted in your dream company."She was already on her phone as she spoke and I knew better than to try to talk h
_________________________...~The present~"I want a divorce.""What?" "Is there any connection problem, Rowan? Did you not hear me clearly? Should I text you instead?" I sass, rolling my eyes. "I think there is, Aurora. Because you clearly could not have just said what I think you did." Obviously, what I said must have gotten rid of all of his sleep because his voice is clear and alert now."Try listening more carefully now Rowan. I said I want a divorce." "Excuse me?" The indignancy in his voice makes me almost want to snort. He is reacting as if he did not see that coming despite his actions."You heard what I said, Rowan." I roll my eyes again as I take the turn to our penthouse. "I am going into the apartment and packing my bags right now.""We signed a contract!" There is shuffling on the other side and panic in his voice. He cannot get a divorce now, because if he did, then Simon will pull out all the investments he has made for the new project.It is one of the reasons
_________________________...Bianca and Roselyn wanted me to move in with them until I find a place for myself. They said that it is my apartment and Bianca and I used to share the place before my marriage. But I refused, feeling that I should not invade the privacy of the married couple. And also because I may be the landlady but they are tenants who pay their rent on time.My first thought was to stay at a hotel until I found a place, but then I realized – why should I pay to stay somewhere when I have a friend with a uselessly big condo all to himself?Eric is out of town due to a conference but on calling him, he informed the security guard to let me borrow the spare key he had. The idiot asked me to try to clean up the place while I am staying over, but I have a feeling that he was saying that just to lighten the mood.He might be a monkey and a complete womanizer – worse than my ex-husband-to-be – but he is an amazing friend and he knows to respect people, unlike my ex-husban