“When I turned twenty-nine weeks pregnant, I was tired of just staying home and I had been craving frozen yogurt. I got dressed because I knew Henry wouldn’t help me and grabbed my keys. As I was leaving, Henry asked me where I was going, and I told him. He argued it was late, but I told him I knew of a place that didn’t close till eleven and it was only ten-thirty. I didn’t want to argue with him, so I just left him while he was still talking. He followed me out, saying he didn’t want me to go somewhere alone so late. I didn’t know why it mattered, because he left me alone after he thought I had miscarried. We were silent the entire time, and I think it was worse than going by myself. On the busiest intersection before we got home, someone ran the red-light hitting Henry’s side going fifty miles per hour. He ended up sandwiching our car into another.”

Tears were coming freely at this point. “I watched Henry die. He punctured a lung, drowning in his own blood. It was the most horrendous thing I’ve ever seen. The man I love died in such a gruesome way and I felt like the worst person in the world because we had been fighting. I was being punished, but apparently that wasn’t the worst part. My water broke, I started bleeding, and my body went into labor. Since I was in between two cars, it took them an hour to get to the car and another thirty minutes to get me out. My placenta detached, and my little girl or little Evelyn had died by the time I made it to the hospital.”

“How did you survive?” Nathan’s voice brought me out of my trance.

“I don’t know. I should have died in theory, but I made it to the hospital with enough time to get a transfusion and a c-section.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Callum looked somber.

“No offense, but Henry sounds like an asshole, and you shouldn’t feel guilty. I don’t know why he made you feel that way, but you didn’t deserve any of this.” Aiden leaned over to bring me back to his lap. “He should have been there for you; he should have taken care of you, and he was the one who handled it wrong.”

“It felt like I was being punished. I still feel like I’m being punished.” I looked down at my hands, feeling inadequate.

“Fate or whatever you call it has a fucked-up way of dishing out life. You, unfortunately, got the shit deal, but you still have the rest of your life to find the good.” Nathan cupped my face, giving me a small kiss. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”