EMMA

Today is a good day - the best day even. The weather is perfect, nice and warm and full of sunshine, but with a slight breeze to keep it from being too hot.

Beau is pulling the car around, while I wait on a bench just outside the hospital, Maggie's car seat tucked beside me.

Maggie. All I do is stare at her. She's so perfect, so sweet, so little. Her hair is light and fluffy, like mine was when I was born. Beau's hair dye couldn't do much there. Her tiny button nose sits between chubby, rosy cheeks. Her eyes, rimmed in dark lashes, are a light blue, Beau says like his mother's.

Secretly, I wonder if they'll darken into a green that matches his.

Maggie suckles, her pink lips popping open and closed as she makes a small fuss.

"Shh, baby. Mama's here." I rock the car seat, enjoying my time alone with little Maggie.

Gemma and Nadine have proven to be lovely aunts already, spoiling me with coffee and chocolates, and doting on Maggie so much that she hardly knows what it's like to not be held.

But moments like these, when it's just me and her bring me back to the beginning. I can't get enough of this feeling, of looking at her, counting every toe and finger again and again.

She's unreal.

"Hey hot mama, you lookin' for a ride?" Beau winks out of the open window, quickly jumping out to help me into Gemma's car.

She left it when she realized Beau hadn't really thought out how he'd drive us home in his mustang. Parker was happy to bring it home, despite Beau's vow to murder him if he so much as scratched the paint.

Beau tucks his phone into his back pocket, trying hard to mask the disturbed expression on his face.

"Only if it's from you," I murmur, pressing my lips to Beau's as he takes the car seat from me and expertly gets it into the seat.

More than impressed, I raise my brows at him.

"What?" His cheeks redden slightly. "I might've made Parker help me practice. No big deal."

Embarrassed, he rushes to the drivers side. A smile on my face, I shake my head, imagining Beau and Parker using a baby doll to run trials.

Ignoring the security already getting in their cars to tail us, I take a deep breath of fresh air and exhale, the happiness running through my veins.

Today is a good day.

We pull into my condo parking lot so that I can grab a few things that I should've been keeping at the lake house anyways. Just in case I, I don't know, went into labor early.

Things like special afterbirth underwear I never want Beau to find, some comfier pajamas and the most gorgeous mobile Val sent from a small boutique in California.

The perfect shade of light blue, it has sweet, little bumblebees dangling from fine ribbon. It's absolutely perfect for the nursery at the lake house.

Figures, since I left it here instead.

"Go on in, I'll get all this shit inside." Beau murmurs, gesturing over his shoulder at the numerous gifts Nadine and Gemma spoiled us with. A number of pink balloons and bouquets require a couple of trips on their own, the trunk is overflowing with teddy bears and maternity clothes and more than I even need.

"Watch your language," I gasp, taking Maggie from her car seat and covering her tiny ears dramatically. "Plus, it's very nice shit." I whisper the swear.

Beau rolls his eyes at me but there's no sarcasm in his expression. He is so happy, I know it. I can see it; his eyes have never been brighter.

Kissing Maggie's soft head and tucking it beneath my chin, I enter the condo, whispering softly to her about the place as if she can understand me.

I tell her about how I bought it myself, I explain each and every room, every decoration I had picked out and why.

Maybe that's why I don't notice the odd scent of an unfamiliar shampoo wafting in my living room, the random cabinet left open in the kitchen. Too wrapped up in the perfectness of my time with Maggie.

I walk upstairs, using both hands to hold my baby, and am oblivious to the deep gouge in my wooden banister.

My murmurs continue, soft coos into Maggie's head, until I'm in the nursery, my sweet nothings halting at the same time as I come to a standstill.

Everything is perfect, the mobile exactly where I left it hanging over the side of the crib, except for the person sitting in my rocking chair, watching me like I'm the intruder.

I should scream, but all I can see is the gleam off the butcher's knife, all I can think about is my sweet, innocent, beautiful baby in my arms, the tiny heartbeat fluttering against my chest.

"What a beautiful baby."

Zoey's eyes, red-rimmed and shadowed by dark circles, don't leave Maggie's head. Her voice is hollow, haunted. Hopeless.

That's what scares me the most.

My hands shield Maggie as I press her closer to my chest and Zoey's eyes flash up to me, her brows furrowed.

She takes a step forward and I take two backwards, pressing my back against the dresser. Noticing my movement, she grins.

It doesn't look like a happy smile. It looks... unhinged.

"Beautiful mommy," She looks to me, her voice making it obvious that she didn't mean it as a compliment. "Beautiful baby. Beautiful nursery." She saunters away from us, towards the window, using the knife to see through the blinds. "Beautiful daddy. And so, so many beautiful things..."

Her voice trails off as she watches Beau unload the car.

My heart hammers in my chest as I eye the space between her and the door. The nursery is small, she could cross the room in two large steps if she wanted.

I should run. But then my back will be to her and she has a weapon.

I should scream, but she might be able to hurt us before someone gets here.

She doesn't look okay and I realize suddenly that I never asked Beau what happened on their trip.

Something tells me it didn't go to plan. Her plan, at least.

I hold Maggie tighter against my body and look from Zoey's back to the door.

Maybe I can make it.

Just as I'm about to step forward, as carefully and quietly as I can, Zoey turns, pointing the knife at me and stopping me in my tracks, my breath caught in my throat.

"It's not fair."

She glares at me, eyes full of hate and resentment that I know I don't deserve, but says nothing else, like she's waiting for me to respond.

I gulp, inching closer to the doorframe. "What's not fair?"

Maybe if she keeps talking she won't hurt us. Hurt Maggie.

She better not lay so much as a finger on Maggie, or I'll...

"Why do you get so many beautiful things?" Zoey cocks her head to the side, face crumpling like a child's. "Why not me?"

"I don't know-"

"Don't say that!" Zoey snaps, making me jump. She begins to pace, the knife bouncing between her hands. "You think you deserve these things, that I don't deserve them."

"I don't," I argue, moving closer still to the door when she looks down at the blade in her hands. "You deserve good things."

Zoey narrows her eyes at me. "It should have been me."

"What- what should have?"

Zoey gestures around, the knife haphazardly slashing the air. "This! Nice things. A perfect home - no, two perfect homes. The perfect family. Beau."

The last one makes me choke. I'd been right all along: Zoey has always been bad news.

"You have Beck."

"Beck doesn't give me nice things." Zoey shakes her head, like she's truly sad. Like she believes what she's saying - that she's more deserving of my life than I am. "Beck doesn't give me anything."

"What about baby Jack?" My voice cracks. I'm closer to the door now, maybe one big step and we'd be free, away from her and whatever she plans to do.

Her eyes don't come alive like I thought they would at the mention of her child. Instead of answering me, she closes her eyes tightly, shaking her head so blonde hair falls into her face.

"Do you hear that, Emma?"

"Hear what?" I take advantage of her blindness and tiptoe towards the door.

"Silence." Her eyes flash open and again I freeze in place, this time knocking myself into the edge of Maggie's changing table. "Your baby is so quiet."

She steps forward and I try to move away, carefully, as to not set her off. She doesn't notice, her gaze locked on Maggie's tiny, fuzzy head.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

I refuse to answer.

I wish Nadine and Gemma hadn't bought so many gifts. I wish Beau wasn't still unloading them. I wish his security had followed us inside, that maybe Parker had been with us.

Zoey continues to creep forward and when she raises her arms, like she's going to grab Maggie from me, the kitchen knife still clutched in one hand, I flinch away, holding Maggie on the opposite side of my body so Zoey can't get to her.

Wrong move. Zoey's nostrils flare wildly, her eyes locking onto mine with ferocious intensity.

"This didn't have to happen, you know." Zoey steps towards me and now my back is pressed against the changing table, the wooden edge digging into my back as I try to create distance. "I tried to warn you, to scare you off. To prove to you that you didn't have what it takes."

I say nothing, my jaw clenched as all the notes, the flowers, the strange messages and notifications flash in my mind. How many times had I wondered if I'd be able to keep my baby safe?

Can I?

"I tried to get Beau to see..." she looks to the window again, before back to me. "How much better it would be with me."

I say nothing, terrified and uncertain how to safely maneuver my way out of this.

"Let me hold her." Zoey steps forward. "It's a her, isn't it? The pink hat," A faint smile crosses her lips and then she rushes at me, like she'll tear Maggie from my arms and run away.

Sensing my one opportunity, I side step, throwing her off balance, and using one hand to clutch Maggie to my body, I shove Zoey hard with the other one.

She stumbles hard into the changing table, sending diapers and wipes falling to the floor around her. She gasps audibly and I see it immediately, the red slash just under her ribs, the deep, angry color spreading into the fabric of her shirt.

Not wasting another second, not to even wonder if she's okay, I all but fly from the room and down the stairs, tears streaming down my cheeks as I throw myself into Beau's arms.

"Emma, what's wrong?" He grips me tightly. "Is Maggie okay?"

From inside, I hear the thunder of someone stomping down the steps.

"Zoey."

It's all I can reply before she appears in front of us, blocking the doorway to my condo, the blade now firmly pressed to the inside of her wrist as she locks eyes with Beau.

thoughts?!
guys I was so stressed writing this chapter - I hope you like it!
remember to vote if you did ❤️