And wait we did.

The jury took over two hours to come to an agreement. When I mentioned how long it took to DA Murphy, she just smiled and told me she was impressed we'd gotten this all done in one day.

When the door behind the judge's bench opened and the jury filed in, my heart sped up. I was feeling bad for my heart; I had taken it on a roller coaster ride today. Andrew squeezed my knee, and we turned toward the jury, awaiting the words of the foreman.

He stood up, a wiry, intelligent-looking man of about forty. He pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and looked everywhere but at Liam. My breath caught in my chest as I remembered a line from my favorite novel, To Kill a Mockingbird: "A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted..."

I squeezed Andrew's hand hard, and he looked down at me. I kept my eyes on the foreman.

"Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?" Judge Bradley inquired.

"Yes, Your Honor."

The judge nodded as if to say, "Go on, we're listening." The foreman unfolded the paper, and I could tell his hands were shaking.

"We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty of the charge of first-degree murder."

There was a collective gasp in the courtroom, and I felt myself getting lightheaded, my heart falling to my stomach. This could not be happening...not guilty?

The foreman held up his hand, and the judge banged the gavel. "Silence, please. Continue, Mr. Foreman."

"However," he said pointedly, "we have found the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree."

My head snapped up, my heart hopping back into my chest. "He's guilty. It's over," I whispered as Andrew swept me up into his arms. I felt Uncle Jeff, Aunt Rose, and even Julia's parents join in our embrace, and in that moment, I felt at peace. I shook DA Murphy's hand, and she was grinning from ear to ear.

Judge Bradley banged his gavel once, just to get our attention, and we all sat down. Liam's head hung low, and his lawyer looked defeated.

"Thank you, jury, for your time and deliberation. The bailiff will see you out." The jury members got up one by one and filed out. I took a deep breath and waited to hear Judge Bradley's next words. "Liam Covington, you will return to jail and await extradition." Liam's head popped up. Mr. Robbins leaned over and whispered in his ear. Liam's head dropped again.

I leaned over to Andrew. "Extradition?"

Judge Bradley continued. "Liam Covington, you face four more charges in Tennessee, most of which are felonies. You will remain in the Bay County Jail until which time Tennessee is ready to try you for your crimes. After your trial there, sentencing will be given for all charges at once." He banged his gavel once, and it rang with a tone of finality. "Court adjourned."

Liam stood up as the bailiff handcuffed him once more, and he turned to look at me. Andrew was standing behind me, his arm around the front of my chest.

"Keep walking, asshole," Andrew snarled under his breath.

I looked at my feet, and when I glanced up again, he was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God," I said, collapsing onto the bench behind me.

Andrew shook DA Murphy's hand. "Thank you, Ms. Murphy. This means everything to us," he said, and she smiled.

"You all are very welcome. If you'll join me in about ten minutes in Conference Room A, I'll be able to fill you in on why the conviction was lowered from first degree to second degree."

We nodded. She closed her briefcase and joined Mr. Robbins and Judge Murphy at the bench.

Ten minutes later, all of us, including Julia's parents, were sitting around the table in Conference Room A. DA Murphy slid in the door and closed it, sitting at the head of the table.

"Okay, here's the information I got from the judge. The jury could not agree on a first-degree murder charge, because they couldn't say beyond a reasonable doubt that Liam premeditated the murder, as Julia was not his intended victim. After almost declaring a hung jury, they compromised on this instead. I have faith that with all the charges he is facing in Tennessee, plus the second-degree murder charge, he'll be put away for a long, long time. You should hear something from the Tennessee courts soon. Do you guys have any questions?"

We all looked at each other and shook our heads. I spoke first. "Thank you, DA Murphy, for everything."

Mr. Stone spoke up, and we all looked at him, as we hadn't heard him say much at all in the last two days. "It was hard seeing that monster, knowing what he did to my baby, but I—" His voice cracked, and Ms. Stone put her hand on his. She looked at me.

"Thank you, Charlotte, for getting up there and testifying. Without you, we would've had no case." She stood, walked over to my chair, and pulled me into a hug. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you at her funeral," she whispered into my ear.

I shook my head. "Don't apologize. You are grieving. I understand."

She broke away from me and excused herself, Mr. Stone following close behind.

DA Murphy smiled at us, shook our hands one last time, and left, followed by Uncle Jeff and Aunt Rose, who said they'd wait for us in the lobby.

Andrew and I sat together in silence, the weight of what just happened resting on our shoulders. "You okay, babe?" he asked, standing behind me and rubbing my shoulders.

I leaned against him. "Yeah," I said. "I am." I turned around to kiss him. "Let's go home."

He smiled and took my hand, leaving the trial and Liam behind.

When we returned to Nashville, life went back to normal—as normal as life could be without Julia. Knowing Liam was in prison on a second-degree murder conviction allowed me to sleep better at night, go to work and stay a whole day, and even go out in the evening alone.

Time flew by and before I knew it, it was Christmastime again, and I was going on nine months pregnant. We had heard nothing from the Nashville court clerk except that Liam's trial had been pushed back to the new year. I didn't mind; I didn't want our Christmas to be tainted by seeing his face again.

One frigid December morning, I woke to the phone ringing, and when I glanced at the number, it looked familiar, although I didn't have it saved in my contacts.

My eyes widened when I realized it was the Davidson County Court Clerk.

"Hello?" I asked, terrified of what the news would be.

"Good morning, is this Charlotte Emerson?" a friendly female voice answered.

"Yes, ma'am, this is she," I responded, sitting up and leaning against the headboard.

"I have some news for you regarding your case against Liam Covington."

"What is it?" Millie jumped in my lap, and I ran my hand over her ears.

"Mr. Covington has accepted a plea bargain. There will be no trial," she said.

My jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"

"There will be no trial. He was offered a plea bargain, and he took it," she said, and I heard papers shuffling in the background.

"Uh—um, okay. Can you let me know what the terms of the plea bargain were?" I asked.

"I don't have them. The best thing to do would be to call your lawyer, and he or she can go over them with you."

"Okay, I'll do that. Thank you so much for the information."

"No problem, have a wonderful day," she said, not realizing the weight she had just taken off my shoulders.

I scrolled through my contacts until I found the lawyer's name we had hired for the case in Tennessee: Jack Hudson. I tapped his name and waited impatiently for him to answer.

"This is Jack Hudson."

"Good morning Mr. Hudson, this is Charlotte Emerson," I said, and he chuckled.

"Well, I figured I'd be hearing from you this morning."

"A plea bargain!" I exclaimed.

"Yes. And a damn good one."

"What were the terms?"

"If Liam agreed to plead guilty to all the charges—the stalking, attempted rape, aggravated assault, and fetal homicide, he would get an additional twenty-five years in prison. He'll be over 80 when he gets out, if he lives that long."

I exhaled. "Wow. That's still a lot of prison time. I'm surprised he took it."

"We were a little surprised too, but he knew he was guilty. Charlotte, he had no fight left in him when we met with him. He knows he's never going to see the light of day again. He'd probably have gotten even more if it had gone to trial."

"Where will he serve his sentence?"

"He'll serve thirty years for Ms. Stone's second-degree murder in Florida State Prison—in maximum security. Then, he'll transfer to Tennessee and serve the rest of his sentence—twenty-five more years—at Riverbend. You don't have to worry about him anymore, Charlotte. You can relax now."

"Thank you so much. I appreciate everything you've done for me. So does my husband."

"You're very welcome. Have a nice day, okay?"

"I definitely will now," I responded, smiling as I hung up the phone.

Oh my God... it was over.

Andrew took the news about Liam exceptionally well, and that night, he took me out to dinner at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant reserved for special occasions only.

After gorging ourselves on both cheese and chocolate fondue, we were walking back to the car hand in hand when I felt a pang in my stomach. I stopped dead in my tracks, and Andrew kept walking until he realized I was no longer moving.

"Char? You okay?" he asked, stepping back and looking at me.

I looked down at the sidewalk, where liquid dripped down my legs.

"My water just broke."

Andrew's eyes widened. "Oh my God, oh my God," he chanted, looking around in panic. "We don't have the hospital bag, it isn't time, what are we gonna do?"

Despite the situation, I laughed. "Andrew. Calm down. Get me to the car and drive!"

We made it to the hospital in five minutes.

Eight long and painful hours later, I pushed one last time.

The shrill cry that filled the room was the sweetest sound I'd ever heard. I looked up at Andrew as they placed our baby girl in my arms. He was crying, big tears falling down both cheeks. He kissed my forehead and then hers.

"My girls," he murmured. "God, she's beautiful."

I laughed through my tears. "Yes, yes she is."

"Excellent job, Emerson," he said, running his hand through my hair, not taking his eyes off her.

I looked up at him and then back down at our daughter, my heart bursting at the seams.