KATE
‘Molly, I can’t stand it any longer,’ I say to my colleague. ‘Sarah is here early to take over from me, so is there any way I can leave just twenty minutes early? I’m mad to get home. You see, I’ve just found out – actually, no, I’m not telling anyone. I need to tell David first. Molly, can I slip on home just a little bit early? Please?’
Molly’s smile beams over her face and her eyes light up as she reads between the lines.
‘I will say nothing,’ she replies. ‘Mum’s the word, quite literally I have guessed, my love. But it’s treacherous out there, Kate, so take your time. The roads are crazy in the snow.’
‘You guessed right! I’ll be careful, I promise,’ I say, giving her a hug. She’s the eldest on our team and her words of wisdom are legendary around our ward. ‘Thanks, Moll! I’ll see you tomorrow!’
I put on my navy coat, a present my dad bought me when I graduated and one that is still as good as new, andmake my way down the corridor and into the elevator. When I step outside the hospital and walk towards the car park, the chill hits me. After my eight-hour shift I’m exhausted but too full of adrenaline to let the tiredness kill my mood.
I can’t wait to get home. My car isn’t great in the snow, though, and I’ll have to take it very easy. I just hope I can stay awake long enough to get there safely.
DAVID
The windscreen wipers swish back wet snowflakes and I blow into my hands as I begin the eight-mile journey to the hospital.
It’s absolutely freezing, minus three according to the car’s thermometer, but I’m smiling inside imagining Kate’s face when she sees me outside her place of work. I know exactly where I’m going to stand, just beside a little wooden bench that has a holly tree still in bloom with berries. This is the year of new beginnings for us. It’s the time to start again and the time to move things forward.
I double-check my inside pocket for the engagement ring box, and swear when I realize I’ve left it on the kitchen table.
‘Ah, shit, come on!’
How could I be so stupid? I should turn back, but an announcement on the radio gives me another idea.
‘Traffic is slow and heavy city-bound today, withmotorists advised to display extra caution when travelling,’ says the radio news. ‘With more snow predicted for the afternoon, the Met Office are strongly advising against any unnecessary travel.’
I look at the clock on the dashboard. It’s ten minutes until Kate’s shift finishes and I wish I’d messaged her in advance and told her to leave the car at the hospital. It’s best I pick her up. I don’t want her driving in this weather. I’ll text her to stay put. So much for my romantic proposal in the snow!
I lift the phone, glancing back and forth between it and the windscreen as I text her. The radio station is playing some classics and I crank it up between texting when I hear one of our favourites, ‘Sweet Baby James’ by the legendary James Taylor, come on. What a song.
KATE
My phone bleeps as I’m pulling out of the car park but I don’t dare try to check it in this weather.
I’m driving like a snail as it is and the tiredness I felt earlier is creeping up on me fast. I wish I could wave a magic wand and be home safe and sound, lying up on the sofa with David as we stare into space in each other’s arms and plan our future with our new arrival. Of course my head is buzzing with names already, and we need to start house-hunting all over again. There’s no way we’ll be bringing our baby home to ourtiny apartment. We have so much to get organized and I’m guessing that if the baby was conceived in Belfast back in November, we’ll be looking at an August birth.
Wow. August – the same month as the bomb when we first properly met. A shiver runs through me, then I turn up the radio when I realize that they are playing one of our all-time favourites, ‘Sweet Baby James’. So many signs!
Maybe the baby will be a boy and we could call him James? David’s face is going to be priceless. I might record him and send it home so the whole family can see his reaction. This is going to be the best day ever.
DAVID
I sing along to the song on the radio and check my phone to see if Kate has replied, but she hasn’t yet. I put my car lights on full beam, and then flick them back as the traffic swirls past.
I lift the phone again.
I glance up quickly towards the road but my blood turns into hot lava in the blink of an eye when I realize I’ve swerved slightly onto the wrong side of the road.
‘Jesus! No!’
I swerve in the opposite direction as quickly as I can but the low droning sound of a lorry’s horn blasts out of nowhere and his lights flash a warning to me.
‘No!’
It’s too late. The lorry clips the wing mirror on my car, sending it into a whirl, and as the car turns round and round like a spinning top, the whole world goes into slow motion.
I hear a loud blast, like an explosion, and then everything goes silent as a thick smog fills the air, billowing outside as I blink and blink and blink it away, my head slamming against the window, against the steering wheel, against the window again …
