Reset to the Day They Killed Me

He stumbled forward and reached for my belly.

"The baby! Where is the baby? What happened?"

The grief on his face was a sick joke.

The thing I had been holding in for weeks finally came up out of me.

"Mason, you are asking now? Now you remember?

"The day of the crash, I was pinned under the car, hemorrhaging, and you took the ambulance I called for and put your woman in it.

"It was you. You killed our baby."

His shoulders rocked.

The eyes went briefly blank. Some part of him started to remember the version of me he had stepped past on the gravel, soaked in blood.

"Lara… I…"

His mouth was shaking. He started toward me. He put his hand out toward my stomach.

In the next half-second, Maya put herself between us.

She wiped at her face. Her voice came out small.

"Mason, the car wasn't on her stomach. There is no way the baby was killed in the crash.

"Maybe Lara herself. Maybe she got rid of the baby on purpose. To make you blame me."

I shook so hard I thought I was going to fall down.

However, Mason held Maya tighter.

He did not even pause to think about whether her version made any sense.

"Lara, the hospital never called me!

"Even if Maya bothers you. You did not get rid of our baby for revenge. You couldn't have. He was your child!"

I wiped my face. I went for the truth.

"Mason, you are still defending her!

"Listen to me. The crash was not an accident.

"On the way to the hospital, Maya told me to walk away from you, or my baby would not be born!"

Maya, having been called out, cried harder.

"Mason! That isn't true! She is making it up!

"He was your child too. How could I ever…"

He believed her. The look he gave me was disappointment.

"Enough! Lara, how long are you going to slander her?

"Get up. Come home with me. Stop embarrassing yourself in public.

"And as for the divorce. Forget it."

He grabbed for me. I did not move. I just looked at him, and let the corner of my mouth pull into something thin.

"Believe me or don't. We'll see."

He was about to drag me to the car when sirens filled the corridor.