A few days later Chris and I are standing in the kitchen of that beautiful 5 bedroom house he found. The realtor is showing us all the new appliance upgrades the previous owners put in but I can't keep my head in the conversation. I'm too distracted picturing my family here, it really is perfect for us.

"I’ll give you both some time to look around and talk, I’ll be on the back patio if you have any questions, " she tells us and slips out the sliding glass doors. Leading me upstairs Chris points to the bedrooms while holding my hand.

"This could be Connor's room, Noah next door and over here," he says pointing to the room across from the master, "can be Vivienne's room." 

He leads me into it and we look out of the window into the back yard. Coming behind me Chris holds under my belly slightly lifting it and continues in my ear, "I can build a tree house in that big oak, and plant you any flowers you want along there...we can make this a home." He kisses my ear lobe and pulls a soft moan from me.

"That sounds perfect," I whisper back. My phone starts buzzing then in my pocket breaking our little moment. The number shows unknown but with the doctor's visits and the divorce proceedings I try not to miss calls. I answer curiously but no-one is there.

"That's strange."

"What's strange?"

"That's the 3rd blank call I've gotten this week, no one is there and I can't call back, the numbers withheld." I said as we started walking downstairs.

"Let me know if it keeps happening, have you told Chloe?" Chris asks me. I shook my head no as we stepped out onto the screened in patio.

"Well what do we think?" The realtor asks, beaming at us. Looking at each other we both smile before I tell her we want to put an offer in. We explained the situation and our timing constraints, adding I could pay in all cash to help speed things along. That sure did the trick because we had an accepted offer by that afternoon and a promise of a contract by tomorrow. 

The following day I finally met up with my friend Kate for lunch. She had been living a fabulous single life ever since we graduated. Both in an art major we were actually together a lot during those years, after school ended I came home and set up house with Eric and she set off to Europe to intern across museums and take additional art classes. She always has some gorgeous man of the month and an impeccable sense of style. 

After I dumped all that had happened in my life the past few weeks she sat across from me wide eyed and speechless.

"Damn," she whispered to herself. "Larkin, that's crazy, I mean... Hope....really?"

"I know."

"And you're moving?" She went on.

"Yeah I have to now.”

"At the same time you're having a baby...your life sounds like a lifetime movie." I chuckled at that. It did when you laid everything out like I had for her.

"So you and Chris," she continued. "You're happy? Is it going well?"

"So good, it's better than I would have thought, and I was surprised at how fast it settled on both of us but it just works." I told her happily.

"Speak of the devil..." I pulled out my vibrating phone, holding it to show her his name and picture.

"Hey baby, how's it going with Kate?" He asked.

"Great! We're finishing lunch now just catching up. I should be home in an hour or so."

"Take your time no rush love, I wanted to tell you my mom called and she talked to your dad. He's absolutely coming like he said, she is picking him up from the airport in a couple days." He shared it with me happily.

"That's great!" I said. "I love you, I'll see you later."

"Love you too," he replied.

"Well you two make me sick already," Kate laughed. "The main reason for my call was to ask if you were looking for any work, but now I think your plate is full enough."

"What kind of work?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"A friend of mine owns a couple of coffee shops back in Chicago and she's opening one here and if it does well then at least one more. Part of the shop's charm is that the street windows are always painted, either for holidays, seasons, sports events, that sort of thing. She asked if I knew any local artists that may be interested..."

"Yes!" I cut her off, "Yes, you know an artist who's interested!" I pretty much yelled at her. Kate laughed her eyes smiling at me.

"Perfect, it won't be for a few months. She still has to finalize the space and set up the equipment. You would have a new baby at home are you sure you want to take this on too?" She asked tentatively.

"I'm so sure, if I really can't keep up I'll give her notice but it's not like it's daily work."

"That's true," she replied. Just then my phone rang again, thinking it was Chris calling back. I picked it up with out looking.

"Hello?" I answered. Silence. I pulled the phone away from my ear to see if the call dropped and that's when I realized it was the same blocked number.

"Look I don't know who this is but it's not funny anymore." Kate looked over at me with furrowed brows as I said that.

"You're going to lose everything...." A small voice whispered, so faint I barely heard it. But it was there. Panicked, I hung up immediately.

"What was that?" Kate asked, looking concerned. I explained about the calls I'd been receiving but this was the first time anyone had spoken to me.

"I think I better get going," I said, looking nervously over my shoulders a little.

"Yeah let's get out of here, I'll call you with more information about the job." Exiting the cafe we walked out to the parking lot. 

After hugging Kate goodbye she headed to her car while I headed to mine. Once I got onto the main road I called Chris through the car's hands free bluetooth. I told him about the latest call and the threat I heard.

"Lets call the police, it's not just prank calls anymore someone threatened you," Chris said. Before I can answer him, movement in my rearview catches my attention. There's a car driving erratically, weaving in and out of the other vehicles to move up in the lane. As traffic thins out a bit the car is suddenly right behind me, almost touching my bumper!

"Chris there's a car about to hit me!" I yelled into the phone. "What do I do?!"

"What?! Where are you?" He yells back at me, I tried to tell him where I was but the car bumped into mine sending me jolting forward a few feet.

"Chris!" I yelled again, panic evident in my voice.

"Larkin, tell me where you are!" I can hear rustling like he's getting in his car too.

"I'm coming up on the new carwash on the corner...." 

BOOM!!!!

The car rammed me again from behind but harder this time. I swerved into the other lane for a second. 

BOOM!!

Before I could get it straight again they clipped my rear bumper sending me spinning toward the trees on the side of the road. I wrapped my arms around my belly and screamed. 

I could still hear Chris yelling for me though the call. I don't know how many times I spun around before my car wrapped itself around a tree. I slammed my head against the door on impact and the airbags ripped the skin from my arms as I tried to shield myself from its blow.

"Larkin! Larkin answer me!! FUCK!" Chris was screaming for me, I could still faintly hear my name but everything hurt too much. My eyes felt so heavy I couldn't keep them open. I let the dark consume me.