I was eleven weeks pregnant. We were a family. Lucian and I had fights, but we were a family, and we were working things out and figuring out how to be normal.
“You have an interview tomorrow, don’t you? At that financial firm?”
“Yeah. I’m going to drive you to work, then I’ll pick you up,” he said.
“Okay.”
In the morning, we got up like it was any other day. Lucian made my favorite breakfast—avocado on toast with olive oil and tomato. I smiled when I took it from him. “You’re too good to me.”
“It’s only because you’re carrying my baby,” he said with a smirk.
“By the way, I meant to ask you. Does our little one have an angel hanging around?”
He squinted and shook his head slowly. “No, it’s just you and me until she’s born.”
“She? You know?”
“No, no, just have a feeling. Wishful thinking, I guess.”
“You want a girl then?”
“I’d be happy either way, but yeah, I was just thinking how beautiful and kind-hearted she’d be… like her mom.”
We drove across the bridge as Lucian sang along to Leon Bridges. “You have a good voice,” I told him.
“So do you.”
“You’ve never heard me sing.”
“Evey, I’ve heard you sing a million times.”
I blushed. That’s right—he’d heard everything. “That’s not fair.”
“Sing with me.”
I tried to sing along but couldn’t hold a candle to Lucian’s singing. He said he’d been doing it longer, which was a silly understatement. He dropped me at Tracey’s warehouse, and then headed off for his job interview.
As he was pulling away, he stopped the car, rolled down the window, and said, “Check your messenger bag. I made you lunch so you don’t have to leave. Please don’t leave here without me. Text me if anything comes up.”
“Don’t worry about me. Good luck.” I kissed him once more through the open window.
I spent the morning doing sketches for Tracey, and by lunch, I was starving and feeling woozy. I hadn’t texted Lucian because I didn’t want to distract him, but I was feeling mildly crampy. By two o’clock, the cramps were getting worse. I called Dr. Smythe.
“You should come in, Evelyn, so we can do an ultrasound and check you out. If it gets worse, go to the ER.”
As soon as I pressed End on the phone, I texted Lucian.
Me:I’m feeling crampy. Gonna ask Tracey to drive me to the doctor’s.
Lucian:No, I’ll be there in two minutes.
Tracey was in the back room as I stood at the front window waiting. I felt a gush of fluid between my legs and a sharp, shooting pain. I dropped to my knees on the hard concrete. Blood seeped through my jeans. I heard a thud as Lucian landed hard just outside of the door. He had flown there.
“What was that?” Tracey said as she came walking out from the back room.
Lucian completely ignored her. He was laser-focused on me. He stalked over to me and lifted me with ease. His wings were spread and flapping.
“No,” he whimpered. “No.”
