A month later...

Dawn's POV

The cool gust of wind that breezed past me and chilled my skin coaxed me from my sleep and I moaned in distress, reaching to clutch my stomach.

"David?" I mumbled, stretching my hand out and sliding it over my bed to blindly search for the warmth of my husband but his side of the bed was cold.

With a grunt of dissatisfaction, I pried my heavy lids open, meeting a quiet and empty room as I did.

"David?" I called again, waiting a minute for him to respond but he didn't.

My eyebrows knitted together with worry. The house was quiet, too quiet. Something was definitely not right because usually, Alex was up and about with his toys and David never missed out on a chance to wake me up with a morning kiss.

Tensed, I maneuvered around the bed and pushed myself into a sitting position. The covers fell from my chest and pooled around my waist to reveal my stomach which had increased over the last month.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and carefully got up.

When I made it out of the bedroom, a pleasing smell of pastries coming from the kitchen collided with my nose.

What in heaven's name was David up to?

Holding on to the railings, I paddled down the stairs to the kitchen. Much to my dismay, It was dark. I took a deep steadying breath and scraped my hand against the wall for the switch. The lights came on and the moment the room lit up, David and Alex leaped out from behind the counter, shouting, "Surprise!"

I yelped, placing both hands on my chest in shock.

Jesus Christ.

"You two!" I exclaimed, catching my breath. "You nearly scared me to death!"

"Happy Anniversary mummy!" Alex shrieked, blowing into his party popper that emitted a loud popping noise alongside confetti that flew toward the ceiling and littered the floor.

Now that it didn't feel like my heart was about to rip out of my chest, I took in the sight in front of me. The kitchen counter was decorated with a lot of different amazing pastries and the two men standing behind it were stained with flour.

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

"Happy Anniversary princess," David gleamed, circling the island to me and swiftly kissing my cheek. He was clad in only his boxers and a flour-coated apron and his hair was also tousled messily, falling over his face with particles of flour in them. "We spent two hours putting this together." He turned to stare triumphantly at the counter. "For what it's worth, it tastes nice. I'm surprised."

"And I put the cherry on the pie." Alex mused, coming over to hug my waist.

I shook my head with a small laugh. "You guys, you didn't have to."

"We did." David laced my fingers with his and brought them up to kiss my knuckles. "Because you're special. I love you."

I threaded a finger through his hair. "I love you too, David. How did you learn all this?"

"Your mother lent me her recipe book, that is after she smacked me with her rubber slippers for you know, leaving you."

I pursed my lips, trying not to laugh. "Did it hurt?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "Yes, very much so."

"Good." I chuckled, kissing him on the lips.

"Eeew, mummy no!" Alex wailed, running out of the kitchen and bolting down the hall.

We both laughed. "Thank you, David." I smiled, placing my hand on his chest. "I love everything."

"This is just the beginning." He shifted closer, his arms going around my waist, although this position was now harder due to my bulging bump. "I booked a dinner reservation for us tonight and you're gonna love the place."

My eyes lit up. I smiled. "Where?"

"It's a secret but you're going love it, and I got you a dress."

My grin spread from ear to ear.  "You did?"

He nodded. "Well, I got you a whole section because I couldn't decide which I liked more. Oscar will drive you over to the mall later."

My heart fluttered in my chest. "You moron. I can't wait to test all of them out." I cupped his cheeks and brought his lips to mine again. "Happy Anniversary."

***

I stood in front of the full-length mirror in the fitting room, grinning stupidly at the dress I had on. The other dresses I had tested out definitely didn't compare to the beauty of this. I loved it but I needed a mutual opinion.

"How do I look?" I asked, turning away from the mirror to my best friend who was so busy on her phone she didn't even bother to look up

"Becky?" I called once but she didn't look up.

I frowned, stepping down. "Becky?"

When she still didn't answer, I snapped my fingers in front of her face. "Becky!"

She snapped her head up, blinking. "Mm, I'm sorry, what?"

I glowered at her. "What's the point of bringing you along if you're just going to sit there eating my chips and sex chatting with your new superhero boyfriend."

Her cheeks flushed. She giggled. "His name is CJ and we're not sex chatting." She explained, disregarding my glare. "He just wants me to come over to his new house so we can have sex on the floor to christen it."

My face contorted with contempt. "Okay, I didn't need to know that."

She laughed. "He's literally the sweetest. He even got Gigi a new bike and he drives her to school every morning."

As much as I was happy for Becky that she was finally finding the love and care she deserved, I had a date to get ready for. I narrowed my eyes. "Yeah well he is sweet and all but I am your best friend and finding my dinner dress comes first."

Her shoulders shook with laughter. She dropped my pack of chips and licked her fingers. "Jeez, you're so snappy."

"That's because I'm pregnant and it's exhausting." Really exhausting. At this point, I couldn't do anything without David's help.

"Well, in a month's time you'll be free." She smiled. "That reminds me, Paula came by my mother's shop yesterday to drop fliers for her new clinic. Are you two good now?" 

My mood soured a little. I turned back to the mirror and released a soft sigh. Finding out that I was returning to David didn't sit well with her. She didn't say much but her eyes said it all. She'd been utterly disappointed and called me weak. But I wasn't weak, my choices didn't make me weak either. She had to understand that we were two different people. While she found the courage to walk out of her marriage and start her new life, I had the guts to fight for what was left of mine and make it work if I could.

I choose to believe David did everything he did because he loved me. I wasn't happy about it and it was certainly going to take a lot of time to get back to where we once were but right now, we were living, happy, and we had our baby on the way. It was just so surreal knowing that we had created something so beautiful living inside of me and for the past month, we'd been completely over the moon about it.

I didn't want to ruin that. I didn't want to be a single mother. Growing up, I watched my mother cry through the pain of feeling unloved and betrayed by my father. She tried very hard to hide it but it showed and It automatically made me hate my father. I didn't want that for my child. I just wanted a home where genuine love and happiness existed.

"She'll come around," I said simply, turning back to her. "Now forget about fucking CJ and help me out with this."

She chuckled, getting up from the couch. "At your service my Lady."

***

On David's orders, I didn't drive anymore, instead, Oscar did the driving. He took me wherever I needed to be and he was a good conversationalist.

Turned out his wife was also expecting Twins.

When we arrived home, it was about noon. He helped me out of the car and retrieved my shopping bags from the trunk of the car. He walked in first. On my way into the house, Paul, the security guard rushed to me.

"Ma'am."

I stopped. "Yes?"

"A package came for you today." He stretched out his arm to hand me a black rectangular box that had my name spelled out on it.

Curious, I looked up at him. "Who sent this?

"No sender ID." He responded. "It's as if it appeared out of thin air."

My brows furrowed and I stared at the package for a moment before accepting it. "Thank you," I took the box with me and went inside.

Oscar dropped the bags on the living room table. "Do you need anything else, Mrs. Argent?"

I shook my head. "No, I'll take it from here." I placed my hand on his shoulders. "Thank you, Oscar."

He smiled warmly at me. "I'll be going off work now, please take care."

"I will."

When he walked away and I was alone, I climbed up the stairs to the bedroom. I placed the black box on the bed and sat by it. I found it strange that whoever sent this decided to use black but it didn't stop me from taking off the lid, and when I did, a frown marred my face.

A dead rose.

What the?

There was a black note by the side.

I carefully picked it up, feeling my stomach curl as I read.

"Come into the night. Find your peace and listen to the cricket sing."

My eyes crinkled up in concern.

I dropped back the note into the box and stared at it, dazed. I didn't understand, who would send something like this? Why?

An eerie wind blew past me. I shuddered and turned to the window only to see that they were locked.

My stomach lurched.

I closed the box immediately.

If this was a prank, it definitely wasn't funny.

I searched for my phone and speed-dialed David. He picked on the first ring.

"Hey princess, I just dropped Alex at Stella's. We're going to have the night to ourselves."

"That's great." I swallowed, the lump in my throat suddenly too big. "I just got a package and a dead rose was inside."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "A dead rose?"

"Yes."

"Who the hell would send you that?"

"I don't know, I have no idea," I bit my lip. "Please come home quickly, I don't feel comfortable being alone."

"I'm sorry baby, I'm on my way but there's traffic. Just take it out okay."

"I'll do so right now." With my phone still on my ear, I managed to get up from the bed and picked up the box to discard it, but the moment I took my first step, I swayed, immediately grabbing the table beside me to steady myself.

What the—

"Dawn, are you still there?"

I shook my head, blinking hard, trying to rid the blurriness away. "Yeah, I'm here," I managed, not wanting to scare him with what just happened because he was driving and I didn't want him to panic. "I'm just—" A pain like never before shot through my stomach, causing me to wince and clutch the table harder.

"Dawn?" David called out, his voice strained. "Baby, are you okay?"

Another wave of pain struck again and the box dropped from my hand, scattering on the floor. My breathing became heavy as I waited for the pain to recede but it didn't. It was strong, eating me and at that moment, something trickled down my legs but I didn't look, I was scared to look.

Oh, God. "It's not time yet," I whimpered, feeling tears at the back of my throat.

"What's not time?" I could vaguely hear David's voice, the pain distorted my thinking and hearing.

"Dawn for crying out loud talk to me!" He yelled in frustration. 

I shook my head. "I don't know, I think it's..." I looked down at my cream dress and saw the water trickling down my legs. "My water broke, the baby is coming."

"B-but h-how?" He stuttered. "It's not time yet,"

"Don't you think I know that!" I snapped but wailed at the third assault.

"Can you walk? I want you to get down and go to Raul, tell him to drive you. I'll come home and pack your bags okay, just get to the hospital."

I shook my head and held the table tighter, afraid to let go. "I can't, it hurts."

"You can princess, I know you can." His breathing was harsh, his voice shaky. Hearing him sound like this immediately brought tears streaming down my eyes. "Please do this for us okay, I'm driving as fast as I can."

I pulled the phone away from my ear and inhaled deeply before letting the table go. My legs writhed in pain, almost bucking. I grabbed the table back and winced.

"You still there, baby?"

I brought the phone back to my ear, crying. "I'm trying to walk but it's so hard."

"Shhhh, stop crying okay, I'm here with you, just take deep breaths okay, and—and one step at a time."

I tried to swallow my tears as best I can. "Okay." I inhaled deeply and shifted the phone away, and I waited another moment before I pulled away and took my first step, dismissing the pain that pulsed through me.

"You're doing just great princess," David urged as I took slow steps towards the door that seemed so freaking far.

The next minute was a blur of pain and apprehension. When I got to the door and stepped out, the hallway leading to the stairs was dark.

I swear to God, I didn't remember turning them off.

The eerie wind was back again. I felt the cold in my bones, and after that feeling came another pang of pain that had me bending over and grabbing my waist. "Fuck!" I cursed out, shutting my eyes tight. This was not how I envisioned labor.

"Dawn?"

More liquid continued to leak down my legs and I turned on my flashlight to look at it, expecting to see it soaked with my water but it was...red.

Oh my...

A trail of red liquid slipped down my thighs, dropping to the floor. My eyes widened. "David..."

"Talk to me, Dawn. What's wrong? What's happening?"

No, no, no.

It couldn't end this way.

Tears leaked down my cheeks.

Why was this happening to me?

"Dawn, what's wrong?" David's voice trembled. "Talk to me baby please."

My eyes shut. I rode the pain, finding my voice. "I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding David," I looked down at my legs. Oh, God. "There's so much blood coming out."

He took a sharp intake of breath but said nothing. Like my own mind, I was sure his was running haywire.

I needed to get to the hospital now more than ever so even with the pain radiating, I clutched my stomach and managed to keep walking.

"Dawn, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." David apologized over and over as I continued to walk slowly towards the stairs, not minding if I left a trail of blood behind.

I managed to successfully get through the top steps but when another severe cramp struck again, I plunged forward, losing my footing and tumbling down, so hard that I landed on the foot of the stairs with a loud thud that left me gasping for air.

My phone rolled down the stairs with David screaming out of it for me.

My whole body ached mercilessly with pain and as the dark red blood began to gather rapidly around me, I felt lightheaded.

I tried to move and grab the phone but I couldn't. I could hear Raul banging on the front door and I could hear David screaming into the phone but I couldn't do anything but lay there, paralyzed in my own pool of blood.