"I know you're right, but I'm worried." He slowed the truck down as gusty winds sprayed blinding snow across the windshield. His wipers were working fast, but they couldn't keep up. The storm had arrived.
"Tell me what's going on," his father said.
"Hannah is trying to deliver Kelly's baby and there's a killer stalking Kelly, which means Hannah is now in the line of fire." He picked up his phone and punched in Hannah's number. He had to know what was going on, but he had no reception now. "Dammit," he swore. "Phone isn't working."
"We'll be there soon," his father said.
"I hope it's soon enough." A bad feeling was churning his gut. Hannah had to be all right. She had to be. He could finally tell her the truth. He could finally be completely honest with her.
"Hannah is a survivor," his father reminded him. "She'll fight to the end."
"That's what she told me about her sister."
"It's true for Kelly, too."
"I just wish…"
"That you'd told her the truth all those years ago?"
He glanced at his dad. "I wish I hadn't cheated on her. God, it took me until just this second to realize that the mistake was mine. I've been blaming it on you for twelve years."
His father stared back at him in surprise. "Well, it was my fault. You were shocked by what you saw and the promise I begged you to make."
"But I had a choice. I could have just gone home. But I didn't. And I hurt the only girl I've ever really loved. But even if she can never forgive me—even if we can never be together—I just want to know she's having the life she deserves, that she's happy."
"I'm sorry, Jake. I should have let you out of that promise years ago. I want you to be happy, too. And if Hannah needs the truth, then you should tell her."
"I will."
As he turned off the highway, the road became much more difficult to navigate. The wind picked up, and his windshield was quickly covered with snow. He only had a mile to go, maybe less. But then he heard an enormous roaring sound. He didn't understand where it was coming from until branches hit the top of the truck, and to his horror, he saw an enormous pine tree coming down just ahead of them. He slammed on the brakes, which caused the car to skid.
He wasn't sure if they were going to slide off the road or get crushed by the tree heading straight for them, but there was nothing he could do except hang on…
Chapter Twenty-Two
"I can't do it," Kelly screamed.
"Yes, you can," Hannah said firmly. "You're through the worst of it now. Violet has changed positions. She's headfirst now, and she's crowning. On the next contraction, you're going to give me a good push. Here we go."
As Kelly bore down with a scream, Hannah put her hand under Violet's head. "Her head is out. We're almost there, Kelly."
"I'm so tired."
"One more push, Kelly. Take a breath, and let's meet your baby."
Kelly pushed with every last ounce of strength she had, and Hannah brought baby Violet into the world.
Violet blinked and then let out a cry. It was the most wonderful sound Hannah had ever heard, and tears came into her eyes. She'd delivered babies before, but this one was special. This one was her niece.
She wrapped a towel around the baby and placed her on Kelly's chest. "Your little girl is beautiful," she said, her heart breaking at the beautiful sight in front of her.
Kelly was smiling and crying as she held her child. "She's so small. Is she going to be okay?"
"I think so, but we'll want to get her checked out as soon as we can since she's several weeks early."
"I can't believe everything I've put her through this past month—all the stress, the running around, the skipped meals, and then the crash."
"She's a tough cookie, like her mother." She paused, grabbing her phone. "I need to find out where the ambulance is." Unfortunately, she had no signal. But her last text from Jake reassured her. He was sending an ambulance and he was on his way.
However, that text had come in almost thirty minutes earlier, and neither Jake nor the ambulance had arrived. They had to be on their way, she thought desperately. While both Kelly and Violet seemed stable, Kelly had lost a fair amount of blood and Violet was premature.
As she helped clean Kelly up and get her ready to go to the hospital, she finally had a chance to talk to her. "Can you tell me now what happened, how you ended up here?"
"It's a long story."
"Give me the short version."
"Seven months ago, Tom Washburn, a police officer, moved into the apartment across the hall from me. I thought he was nice. We were friendly neighbors. We had drinks one night at the bar across from our building when Brett was on a play date. I didn't think much about it. I was dating Russ, but he was out of town for a few months, so I was at loose ends. I told Tom I had a boyfriend, and he seemed cool with it. We had a few other casual meals, mostly with Brett, or just grabbing a coffee at the bakery. I had no idea that Tom was getting all kinds of crazy ideas until Russ came back," she said, letting out a tired breath.
As much as Hannah wanted to hear the story, she was a little worried about the pallor of her sister's skin. "We don't have to talk about this now. You should rest."
"No, I want to tell you. I need to tell you. When Russ came back, Tom suddenly seemed to show up wherever we were. Then Russ got stopped for speeding twice, not by Tom but by his friends. I knew Tom was behind it. I told Tom that
