Twist of Fate

by Jaime Whitley

  “That sound is your baby’s heart beat.”

  My eyes are wet as tears stream down the side of my face. All the worry eases out of me as I hear my baby come to life right before my eyes. In this moment, I am no longer a scared, single woman, but a mother feeling the need to protect a precious gift given to her. The nurse hands me a tissue and I wipe the tears that are falling.

  “Wonderful, isn’t it?” she asks, looking at me with joy.

  “Yes, it’s amazing,” I manage to choke out. Suddenly, the flutter on the screen stops along with the sound of my baby’s heartbeat. “What happened? Why did the noise stop, and why isn’t his heart fluttering?” I ask, raising my back up and leaning on my arms to get a closer look. Worry and panic take over me like I’ve never felt before as I wait for his answer.

  “It’s okay, Lilly, I just paused it so I can measure the beats per minute.” With a click of a button, the noise and image reappear. “I’m just going to look around some more and then we will leave you to get dressed.”

  Lying back down, I release the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. My mother always says a parent never stops worrying about her child, no matter how young or old they are. Right in this moment, I now know exactly what my mom means when she says that. “So, what makes you think it’s a boy?” he asks me, breaking me of my thoughts.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You asked why isn’t his heart fluttering,” he reminds me.

  “I guess I did, huh? I’m not sure, it just came out.” I shrug my shoulders.

  “Well, they say the mother is usually right on these things. Mother’s intuitions and all,” Dr. Clifton removes the wand. “Go ahead and scoot back, we’re all done. These are for you,” he hands me pictures of my little sack. “Your next ultrasound will be between eighteen and twenty weeks and we will get to see if that intuition of yours is right. Will the father be joining you?”

  “No, he’s not in the picture,” I’m avoiding eye contact, embarrassed to look at him. I don’t want my doctor to think I’m some easy lay who happened to get pregnant.

  “Don't say anymore. It's not important, what's important is that you will be there and the baby of the hour will be prepared to give us a show.”

  Looking back up at Dr. Clifton, I thank him and he nods as he leaves the room. Excitement taking over me, I get dressed quickly and make my next appointment before rushing out to my car. I call Megan and my mom and ask them to meet me at my house so I can show them my pictures of my baby. I went into that office feeling scared and alone, and I’m leaving feeling anything but alone. I have an amazing little human being growing inside me and it’s my job to love and protect it.

  My phone rings and I’m brought back to reality.

  “Mr. Mazzola’s office.”

  “Hello, Miss Lilly Hughes, please.” I freeze as I hear the man’s voice and immediately recognize it. My stomach flips the moment I hear his voice and my breath quickens as my anxiety kicks in.

  “This is Lilly.” My only coherent thought is how the hell Silas got my number.

  “Hey Lilly, it’s Silas.”

  “I know, I could tell by your voice.” Shutting my eyes, I take a deep breath. I’m a little surprised that he’s calling me, but I have an idea as to why he is. He told me when I ran out on our lunch date that he didn’t want to pretend like we don’t know each other. Before I make more assumptions, I ask him, “How did you know where I work?”

  “I would be a lousy detective if I couldn’t track down where you work. Don’t you think?”

  “Right, so what can I do for you? I’m assuming you didn’t call to talk to Joe.”

  “You would be right on that one. Listen, I want to return the money that you left on the table at the diner. I invited you to lunch and will not take your money for it. I could have mailed it to you, but I want to be friends, Lilly. I don’t want to have to act like I don’t know you. If I see you walking down the street, I want to walk with you. I know how we met wasn’t ideal, but can we at least try to be friends?”

  Friends, there’s that pesky f word. I’m immediately saddened when he puts me in the friend zone. I know I’ve basically asked for it when I said we should act like we don’t know each other, but friends? Those words are like a kick to my gut. He basically sat there and told me no one ever measured up to me. Naturally, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this. Why would you want to be friends with someone you yearn for but can’t even touch? Every time I’m around him it’s pure torture. Disappointment is starting to sink in when I realize maybe it’s only torture for me. A sharp pain shoots in my stomach and I cover it with my hand. All this stress is doing such a number on my stomach that I stocked up on Tums. I reach in my drawer, pop one in my mouth and sit back in my chair.

  “Are you still there?” Shit. I completely spaced out.

  “Okay, friends it is,” I say, thinking of Ezra and how he deserves to know his father. I know I need to make an effort. If Silas never walked back into my life, it would be one thing. But he’s here and I should give him a chance to be a father. I owe it to my son.

  “Great, then take down my number and maybe we can meet for lunch or dinner this week,” I can hear the relief in his voice, and I wish I could feel the way he sounds.

  Taking down his number, I give him mine, although I’m pretty sure he looked that up along with my work number. Normally one would find this a little bit creepy; however, being that he is a detective, I guess it’s just second nature to him. One thing is for sure though, if we’re going to be friends, I need him to stop snooping around my life. I don’t need him finding out about our son until I know for sure he will be in it for the long haul with him. We say our goodbyes and I get back to work, hoping I didn’t just make the biggest mistake of my life.

  Chapter 10

  Silas

  Phones are ringing and criminals are being brought in the station nonstop; just another day at work. I’ve only been here for about an hour so far, and I already know it’s going to be one of those days. I have a couple of court cases coming up that I have to testify in, so Lucas and I are taking time to refresh our minds of those files. I hate sitting in court all day; I would rather be chasing some asshole down the street for an arrest.

  “Are you and Kim going to the cancer benefit this weekend?” I hand Lucas the file I just finished reviewing.

  “Yeah, we’ll be there. Kim is excited to get out of the house and get ‘dolled up’ as she says. Plus, with Owen going through the terrible twos, and Ava’s sudden desire to be a rebel, she needs a break.”

  “Well, I won’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but I can tell you this, you guys will have a great time. I’ve gone the past two years and they really go all out.” As I am about to pick up another case file, another detective comes to my desk. “You guys have a possible homicide. Here’s the address.” I look at the address on the paper given to me and Lucas and I head to our car.

  “Did you get the whole Lilly situation sorted out?”

  “Yeah, I think so. We agreed to be friends,” I answer, keeping my eyes on the road.

  “So you guys hang out then? Has she met Kristin?”

  I glance over at Lucas and give him an ‘are you kidding me’ look. “No we haven’t hung out, and even if we did, I wouldn’t put them in the same room together. I think that would be a little uncomfortable for both of them, don’t you think?”

  “So you haven’t told Kristin about sleeping with Lilly, gotcha.”

  “Always gotta be a fucking dick.” We both laugh at that statement as we pull up to the crime scene.

  Getting out of the car, we head straight for the units that arrived on the scene first.

  “What do we have here?” I ask as I’m signing into the crime scene log.

  “Two gunshot wounds; one to the head, one in the back. Victim is male, seems to be around his late thirties. The neighbor heard the two shots go off and called it in,” the officer on site tells me. />
  The area is already taped off to secure the scene. We talk to the units that arrived on scene and canvassed the area. We look over the statements that were taken from the people in the area before heading in. Lucas and I split ways, checking it out. Every victim leaves behind a story on how they died; you just have to be able to find it. I tell an officer nearby to call the coroner if they haven’t been contacted yet and start to look for his story.

  “So, what do you think?” I lean down, checking out the bullet shot to the back. Standing up and stepping away from the body I say, “Definitely not an accident. Whomever did this was out to kill. I don’t know for sure, but the way the bullet to the head looks, it seems like he was already on the ground when shot, making the bullet to the back the first shot fired.”

  “I agree, let’s take it over and push everyone to an outside perimeter.” Lucas and I remove our gloves and exit the house. We get everything done and tell the witness from the scene to follow us back to the station.

  “Thank God for nosey neighbors,” Lucas says, referring to the older woman.

  “Yeah, she told me she usually snoops around the same time every day, but decided to people watch a little earlier today.” I shake my head laughing.

  “The best part of it all is the fact that her name is Gladys.”

  My eyebrows draw in and I look over at Lucas, “Okay …”

  “Dude! Gladys, the nosey neighbor from BEWITCHED. Haven’t you ever watched that show?”

  “No, can’t say that I have,” I say, shaking my head at him.

  “Don’t shake your head at me. It’s a classic and the kids love it.”

  “I will take your word on it.”

  “Are you ever going to man up and call Lilly to hang out? Or are you friends who don’t see each other or talk to each other?” It’s just like Lucas to change the subject so abruptly.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Why not? You went through all that trouble to go back and talk to her, and you even stalked the poor girl to get her number--” I cut Lucas off before he can continue.

  “I did not stalk her. I’m a detective, I simply put my skills to work and found her number,” I quickly defend myself.

  “Dude, you stalked her. Who cares? My point is, you went through all that trouble and you haven’t even reached out to her after you practically begged her to be your friend. Grow a pair and shoot her a text.”

  “I don’t need to grow a pair; I have a really nice set already, thank you very much. But, if it makes you happy, I will text her.”

  “Now.”

  “Now what?”

  “You will text her now.” As we pull up to the station, I pull out my phone and shoot Lilly a quick text.

  Me: Hey sorry I haven’t reached out sooner. Want 2 grab a bite 2 eat this week?

  “There, are you happy?” I hit the send button and pray she doesn’t text back while I’m with Lucas. I don’t need him watching over my shoulder while I try and make plans with her. I’ve been wanting to text her, but haven’t had much alone time. I’m still trying to figure out if being friends is going to work.

  “No, we have a busy ten to twenty hours ahead of us. So quit jerking off and put your phone away, we have work to do,” he jokes.

  Once we’re in the station, we set Gladys up with a sketch artist and head back to our desks to get started. We look up all the information we can find on our victim and enter in any additional information we need to add to the case file. We still need to inform the victim’s family and will have to leave soon to do it. We’ll wait till Gladys is done with the artist, so we can have a look at the image drawn up. Once it is done, we’ll get it out as soon as possible, head out to notify the family, and start our long night of investigating.

  Chapter 11

  Lilly

  You ever have one of those weeks when nothing goes the way you want it to? Well, that is exactly the type I’m having. We got swamped with clients out of nowhere, and on top of falling behind on my work, Ezra is sick. I don’t know how it’s possible, but he manages to get strep throat every time it goes around. Whenever I have to leave him, it breaks me a little inside. However, I’m the only means of support for us, so I have to work. Luckily, I have Megan to stay home with him.

  Since work has increased substantially, Joe decided to hire an assistant to help me out. To say Declan is a godsend is an understatement. He worked previously at a different agency, so he already had a feel of what this field is like. There was hardly any training needed on my end, and he jumped right into the work load without any arguments. He has also turned out to become a good friend. Megan has adopted him into our little group and now he goes wherever we do.

  “Hey, girl.” I turn my head to see Declan enter the lounge.

  “Good morning, Declan, how was your evening?” I grab two plates and hand him one.

  “Eh, uneventful.” He shrugs his shoulders and pours us some coffee.

  “I thought last night was date night with Chris?”

  “Oh it was, but someone got their panties all in a twist because an ex texted me. I mean really, I don’t have any control over who texts me. It’s not like I ever text him back, so it shouldn’t matter. So, I told him to go home.”

  “You kicked him out? I thought he was the one. ”

  “There are plenty more where he came from. If he wants to be with me, then he can grovel on his knees with an apology, and while he’s down there--” He’s grinning at me, but I cut him off, holding my hands up for him to stop before he goes any further.

  “Okay, I get it. Someone really needs to teach you all about a little something called too much information.” I toss a bagel at him before placing a bagel on my plate.

  We are heading to our desks when Declan asks me, “Have you heard from Silas at all?”

  “Yeah, he sent me a text the other day, but I never responded with Ezra being sick and all. I’ve been so busy with work, writing, and things at home. I feel like I haven’t had a moment to myself in a while. After this rush is over, maybe I’ll talk to Joe about taking a long weekend and take Ezra somewhere fun.”

  “You can always use my beach house. I usually rent it out in the summers, but I figured this year I would actually use it. At the rate Chris is going, I don’t see myself vacationing with him this summer.”

  “I just might take you up on that offer.”

  We both get to work and as soon as I turn the answering system off, the phones go crazy. Declan and I help the main receptionist when we can, but still need to keep our main focus on Joe. We don’t have time to go out for lunch today, so we ordered in for the three of us. Once the food arrives, we all head to the lounge to eat. Before I get there, I send Silas a quick text.

  Me: Hey. Sorry I never responded. I’ve been swamped at work.

  Silas responds right away. I take a seat at the table between Joe and Declan as I open the message.

  Silas: It’s ok. I know what you mean. Work never slows down for me. I was wondering if maybe we can get together. I would like to see you again.

  Before I can respond, I notice that both Joe and Declan are looking over me at my messages, like a bunch of nosey teenagers. “Do you guys mind?” I shake my head at them as they act like a bunch of teenage boys.

  “Oh no, honey, don’t let us interrupt you. Text him back.” neither Declan nor Joe take their eyes off my phone.

  “You two are really something,” I say as I roll my eyes.

  “We can’t help it. This whole thing with Silas is like a real life soap opera. I’m just waiting for the big dramatic twist to play out. You know, like when Kendall found out that Zach was still alive on All My Children. That was an OMG moment,” Declan says as Joe just laughs at him. Knowing that I won’t win this round with them, I text Silas.

  Me: Sounds good.

  Silas: I’ll see when I’m free and text ya.

  I put my phone away and look over at Joe and Declan, who have gone back to eating their lunch. “So Joe, is Laura r
eady for the ball on Friday?” Joe stops mid bite and his eyes go wide.

  “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you. My grandma isn’t doing too well, so we are going to go visit her this weekend. Shit, this isn’t good. I could have sworn I asked you to fill in for me at the ball.” I can see the panic start to appear on Joe’s face and know that he’s had a lot on his plate. I knew about his grandmother’s failing health, but he never mentioned anything about the ball. Not that it matters, he is family and I will do whatever I can to help.

  “Oh, that’s right, I forgot. I’m sorry,” I see Joe visibly relax and Declan raise an eyebrow in confusion. “In fact, Declan was so kind as to offer to be my date for the event.” I smile mischievously at him.

  “You two are a life saver. We support this charity every year, and I feel a lot better having someone represent me if I can’t be there,” Joe says, getting up out of his chair, ready to head back to his office.

  “You can thank us with a nice extended weekend off,” Declan yells in Joe’s direction as he is leaving the room.

  “I’m sorry, Declan, he totally forgot to tell me, and well, I just didn’t want to go by myself.”

  “So you’re really not sorry, is what you’re saying,” he jokes. “It’s cool, really. This is good actually; a little retail therapy never hurt anyone. Plus, I’ve never been to a charity ball and I already know we’ll be the best looking couple there. Do you think they have awards for the best dressed couples, or something like that?” He’s overly excited and I’m glad I’m dragging him along with me.

  I laugh and shake my head. “No, I don’t think they do. Now come on, let’s get back to work.”

  Chapter 12

  Silas

  Tonight is the night of the ball and I’m really hoping there is great turn out this year. I’ve supported it ever since I lost my mother to cancer and have been happy to see it grow bigger each year. I have taken Kristin as my date the past two years, and she has grown fond of the event as well.

  Walking up to Kristin’s house, I adjust my bow tie and knock on the door. As soon as she opens the door, I’m taken aback by her beauty. She looks stunning in her long, dark blue dress. She’s wearing the diamond necklace that I got her for last year’s ball, with the matching earrings. “Ready to go?” I ask, stepping in the door and pulling her into a hug. As she fills my arms, I inhale the familiar scent of roses, the scent of her favorite perfume. She leans back and her hands run their way up my back, stopping at the back of my head as she presses her lips against mine, tugging my hair. My pulse starts to quicken and I place the back of my hand on the nape of her neck, brushing my thumb up and down it. I feel her shiver under my touch and my cock instantly hardens. I start to walk us back toward the bedroom as our tongues are dancing around each other, when she puts her hands on my chest to stop me. Our breathing is labored and she wipes under her lips, removing the smudged lipstick.