Page 98 of Just One Kiss

His father stared back at him in surprise. "Well, it was my fault. You were shocked by what you saw and the promise I begged you to make."

"But I had a choice. I could have just gone home. But I didn't. And I hurt the only girl I've ever really loved. But even if she can never forgive me—even if we can never be together—I just want to know she's having the life she deserves, that she's happy."

"I'm sorry, Jake. I should have let you out of that promise years ago. I want you to be happy, too. And if Hannah needs the truth, then you should tell her."

"I will."

As he turned off the highway, the road became much more difficult to navigate. The wind picked up, and his windshield was quickly covered with snow. He only had a mile to go, maybe less. But then he heard an enormous roaring sound. He didn't understand where it was coming from until branches hit the top of the truck, and to his horror, he saw an enormous pine tree coming down just ahead of them. He slammed on the brakes, which caused the car to skid.

He wasn't sure if they were going to slide off the road or get crushed by the tree heading straight for them, but there was nothing he could do except hang on…

Chapter Twenty-Two

"I can't do it,"Kelly screamed.

"Yes, you can," Hannah said firmly. "You're through the worst of it now. Violet has changed positions. She's headfirst now, and she's crowning. On the next contraction, you're going to give me a good push. Here we go."

As Kelly bore down with a scream, Hannah put her hand under Violet's head. "Her head is out. We're almost there, Kelly."

"I'm so tired."

"One more push, Kelly. Take a breath, and let's meet your baby."

Kelly pushed with every last ounce of strength she had, and Hannah brought baby Violet into the world.

Violet blinked and then let out a cry. It was the most wonderful sound Hannah had ever heard, and tears came into her eyes. She'd delivered babies before, but this one was special. This one was her niece.

She wrapped a towel around the baby and placed her on Kelly's chest. "Your little girl is beautiful," she said, her heart breaking at the beautiful sight in front of her.

Kelly was smiling and crying as she held her child. "She's so small. Is she going to be okay?"

"I think so, but we'll want to get her checked out as soon as we can since she's several weeks early."

"I can't believe everything I've put her through this past month—all the stress, the running around, the skipped meals, and then the crash."

"She's a tough cookie, like her mother." She paused, grabbing her phone. "I need to find out where the ambulance is." Unfortunately, she had no signal. But her last text from Jake reassured her. He was sending an ambulance and he was on his way.

However, that text had come in almost thirty minutes earlier, and neither Jake nor the ambulance had arrived. They had to be on their way, she thought desperately. While both Kelly and Violet seemed stable, Kelly had lost a fair amount of blood and Violet was premature.

As she helped clean Kelly up and get her ready to go to the hospital, she finally had a chance to talk to her. "Can you tell me now what happened, how you ended up here?"

"It's a long story."

"Give me the short version."

"Seven months ago, Tom Washburn, a police officer, moved into the apartment across the hall from me. I thought he was nice. We were friendly neighbors. We had drinks one night at the bar across from our building when Brett was on a play date. I didn't think much about it. I was dating Russ, but he was out of town for a few months, so I was at loose ends. I told Tom I had a boyfriend, and he seemed cool with it. We had a few other casual meals, mostly with Brett, or just grabbing a coffee at the bakery. I had no idea that Tom was getting all kinds of crazy ideas until Russ came back," she said, letting out a tired breath.

As much as Hannah wanted to hear the story, she was a little worried about the pallor of her sister's skin. "We don't have to talk about this now. You should rest."

"No, I want to tell you. I need to tell you. When Russ came back, Tom suddenly seemed to show up wherever we were. Then Russ got stopped for speeding twice, not by Tom but by his friends. I knew Tom was behind it. I told Tom that I wasn't interested in him, that I was actually pregnant with Russ's baby. I started spending most of my nights at Russ's house, so I wouldn't have to see Tom. He seemed to back off for a while. And then last month, I ran into Tom at the market. I was really showing by then, and he started acting weird. He made comments like he wondered what our baby would look like. I went to the police, and the man I spoke to said Tom was one of their finest officers, and I must be imagining things. Then Tom really started to threaten me. He said I'd regret trying to make trouble for him."

"Oh, Kelly, I'm so sorry."

"The tipping point was when Tom went to Brett's school in uniform and picked him up, and the school let Brett go with him, because he was a cop, and he said I'd been in an accident. He wanted me to know that he could get to Brett at any time. When he brought him back to me, he said he wanted us to be a family. That night, Russ and I left town. We went to a campground, but Tom tracked us down."

Kelly's voice filled with anger and pain. "He killed Russ, and I ran. I didn't know where to go, so I came here. I couldn’t take the chance you or Mom would tell me no, so I used a fake ID. I lured you to the cabin and left my necklace so you might realize Brett was my son."

"Why didn't you just say so in the note?"

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