Page 108 - In Five Years

Chapter Eighteen

David and I are supposed to meet with the wedding planner next Saturday
morning. It’s now mid-September, and I’ve been told, in no uncertain terms, that
if I do not choose flowers now I will be using dead leaves as centerpieces.

The week is crazy at work—we get hit with a ton of due diligence on two
time-sensitive cases Monday, and I barely make it home except to sleep all week.
I take out my phone as I walk to the elevators the following Friday night to tell

David we may need to push the meeting—I’m desperate for some sleep—when I
see I have four missed calls from an unknown number.
Scam calls have been rampant lately, but they’re usually marked. I check my

voicemail on my way downstairs, hanging up and re-trying when I get down to
the lobby. I’m just passing through the glass doors when I hear the message.
“Dannie, it’s Aaron. We went to the doctor today, for the baby, and— Can

you call me? I think you need to come down here.”
My heart plummets to my feet as I hit call back immediately with shaking

hands. Something is wrong. Something is wrong with the baby. Bella had her
doctor’s appointment today. They were going to hear the heartbeat for the first
time. I should have protected her. I should have stopped her from buying all
those clothes, making all those plans. It was too soon.

“Dannie?” Aaron’s voice is hoarse through the phone.
“Hey. Hi. Sorry. I was . . . where is she?”

“Here,” he says. “Dannie, it’s not good.”
“Is something wrong with the baby?”
Aaron pauses. When his voice comes through, it breaks at the onset. “There’s
no baby.”