She laughed. She cried. She actually screamed with joy. She called Daniel immediately, but his phone went straight to voicemail. He was driving. She left him a message, voice shaking with excitement.
“Daniel, call me as soon as you get this. I have something wonderful to tell you. I love you.”
Then she sat on the balcony, hand over her stomach, and whispered, “Hello, little one. I’m your mommy.”
She spent hours imagining the future. Daniel’s face when he found out. A nursery. A baby in her arms. Even Gloria’s expression when she had to take back every cruel word she had ever spoken.
Linda thought, for the first time in a very long time, that life was about to become kind.
At 3:47 p.m., the phone rang.
It was a police officer.
At first the words did not make sense. Highway accident. Head-on collision. Fatality.
Linda kept asking him to repeat himself. There had to be a mistake. But he had Daniel’s wallet, Daniel’s identification, Daniel’s car information. There was no mistake.
Daniel Carter was dead.
Forty minutes from the city, his car had collided with a semi-truck. He died instantly.