Chapter 52

The past two weeks have been exhausting, and uncomfortable, and I couldn’t walk five steps without needing to sit down for a second. I feel like any other man would be annoyed with my frequent stops of panting like I just ran a mile, but Rowan didn’t seem to mind at all. He would just loop his arm in mine, so I had somewhere to lean.

I really couldn’t wait for this to be over. To stop feeling so terrible. The more I thought about my death, the more I thought about how selfish it would be to leave my child motherless. Eternity was a long time, and I knew that if I turned, my death would likely be violent. But every kick, every roll in my belly felt worth it. I owed it to my daughter.

I didn’t know for sure if my child would be a girl, but I had a feeling. I had this vision in my head of what she would be like. Maybe rambunctious and tough. Or sweet and soft spoken. But I knew that no matter what, I wouldn’t abandon her as my mother abandoned me.