Chapter 4

Weeks later, the first contraction hit me like a lightning strike.

It was too early.

I was alone at the old homestead, trying to fix a leaky pipe in the barn.

I fumbled for the satellite phone Jesse had given me. "For emergencies," he' d said. "Never trust that Ethan will be there when you need him."

He was right. Ethan was nowhere to be found. His phone went straight to voicemail.

Jesse answered on the first ring.

An hour later, I was at the small local clinic. The labor was hard and fast. Jesse was there, holding my hand, his presence a steady anchor in the storm of pain.

A kind-faced nurse bustled in to check on me.

"Your husband is a busy man," she commented, making small talk. "He was just here earlier today. In the women's health wing, with another lady. She had a... procedure."

My heart stopped for a second. The women's health wing.

Then, the final push. And a cry. My daughter' s cry.

Daisy was here. She was safe.

Later that evening, Ethan and Brittany finally showed up. They looked flustered, their clothes slightly rumpled.

Brittany was wearing a silver locket around her neck.

My mother's locket. The one she gave me on my wedding day. The one that had been on my dresser this morning.

Something inside me snapped.

I reached out and ripped the locket from her neck. The chain broke.

"What is this?" I demanded, my voice shaking with rage. "What are you doing with my mother's locket?"

Brittany flinched back, a hand to her throat.

Ethan stepped forward, his face a mask of condescending pity.

"Sarah, for God's sake, calm down. You're a crazy, hormonal mess. It's just a trinket. Brittany admired it, so I let her borrow it."

He glanced at his watch.

"Look, I can't deal with this right now. I have to leave for a political summit out of state. An emergency."

He didn't even look at his newborn daughter. He just turned and walked out, Brittany trailing in his wake.