Chapter 11
Kelly was feeling good—really good. And it was not just the pregnancy aspect, although that was a part of it.
She had stopped feeling so incredibly nauseous all the time, which was huge. For a while, she had thought that it was never going to go away. While she was still tired a lot, she had enough energy to get herself out to class, and for the occasional run. Dr. Landis had told her that exercise was not going to hurt her, so she was trying to take his advice and keep herself moving. After all, she did not want to see how much weight that she could gain.
Further, things with Grant seemed to be good. He had started texting her fairly regularly. At first, Kelly had not really known what to make of it, but now she was feeling more comfortable.
Grant was now texting her multiple times a day, mostly just for chatter. It felt good, and natural. Kelly had come to accept that there was something between them. It was more than just a one night of passionate sex. They could really communicate. She was finding herself growing closer to him—and finally being able to accept her feelings for him. She felt giddy with happiness just thinking about it.
He had told her that Monica knew, and that she was less than happy. It was not that Kelly blamed her. No woman would be happy if another went after her husband, but it was even worse when the woman was a surrogate that was intended to give them their long-awaited child. Kelly still felt bad about breaking up their family, but that dissipated when she thought about Monica cheating on Grant with his own coworker. That right there was just awful.
Kelly glanced at her phone. She had class in twenty minutes. She needed to get on her way. Quickly, she thumbed a text back to Grant, adding in a smiley emoji just for fun. She thought maybe it showed her age, but she had recently begun reminding herself that Grant was not really that much older than her. It was not that bad, right?
Kelly put her backpack over both shoulders. She was trying to be careful that she balanced the weight of her books so that she did not put too much pressure on her body. She did not want to hurt her back, or run the risk of falling. Nothing to potentially hurt the baby…Grant’s baby. She smiled at the thought.
It was an off time for classes. Not many students had three o’clock times, so Kelly was mostly alone on her walk. She headed onto one of the quiet, tree-lined paths towards the classroom building. She saw some people ahead with their backs to her. A boy was in the distance, coming towards her. She thought she saw him fussing with an iPod, or his phone. Probably listening to music.
It was a nice day. The weather had been good lately. Kelly wasn’t looking forward to winter, but…
Something slammed into the back of her head. Kelly staggered forward, almost losing her balance. Jerking herself to her feet, Kelly turned to see just what had hit her.
“Monica!” she gasped the word in surprised.
The beautiful older woman stood facing her on the pathway. Her eyes had a dark, angry look in them masked by something else. That was the look that frightened her. Kelly had never see someone look that type of angry before. It was almost…manic.
“Monica…I…” Kelly’s voice trailed off. “I…I know why you’re here. And let me start out by saying I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Monica’s tone sounded mocking. “You’re sorry?” She took a few steps towards Kelly. Feeling threatened, Kelly quickly glanced over her shoulder. The guy who had been coming towards her must have walked into a building, or taken another path. At the moment, there was no one in sight to call for help.
“I really am!” Kelly exclaimed. “Look, Monica, I’m so sorry. I never meant to—”
“Of course you didn’t,” Monica snapped. Her arms were folded over her chest, her eyes glaring into Kelly’s. “You’re just a sweet, naïve, little girl. You would never, ever steal another woman’s husband.”
“No! No I wouldn’t.”
“Of course not,” Monica growled. She moved, coming to stand face to face with Kelly. “But the truth is—you did. You did just that. You stole a man who is so far out of your league that you can barely see him!”
“He fell for me too!” Kelly cried. “Really, Monica, I’m sorry that you lost Grant. But he has feelings for me too!”
The other woman’s hand raised and slapped across Kelly’s cheek. Kelly did not have time to cry out. She merely stepped back in shock as her own hand raised to cover her now reddening cheek.
“I bet that this was your plan all along!” Monica hissed, her voice rising. “You came to us with this sweet, little story about how you wanted to give us a baby and pay for school, and what you actually planned was to land yourself a rich husband!”
Kelly glanced over Monica’s shoulder. Two other students were coming down the pathway. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hey!” she called towards them.
“Of course!” Monica reached forward, shoving Kelly backwards. “Of course! Call for someone to protect you!”
Monica shoved Kelly again. The weight of the books in her bag pulled her backwards, sending her sprawling onto the pathway. Monica was then looming over her, the raging manic look burning in her eyes.
“You need someone to help you!” Monica screamed.
Her foot raised, and one high heel cut into Kelly’s ribs. Kelly gasped as the breath left her body. Monica kicked her again, this time directly to her abdomen.
Pain shot all through her body. Kelly cried out. She wrapped her arms around her, trying to protect herself. She ducked her head, feeling another kick hit her head.
Kelly became conscious of the sounds of other voices shouting, starting to drown out Monica’s screams of rage. Then suddenly Monica was gone, but Kelly could still hear her shrieking through her haze of pain.
“Hey! HEY!” A boy was kneeling beside her. He was focused down on Kelly, staring into her face. “Can you hear me?”
“I…” Kelly whispered out. “I…I’m…pregnant.”
She was in so much pain right now. She knew that something was wrong. Something was happening to her. Monica had done something—something bad. Kelly buried her face into her arm, feeling like she was ready to doze off.
Above her, she was vaguely aware of the boy talking on his phone. Paramedics…police. Kelly could only assume one of them. Maybe both.
She felt like she was starting to lose consciousness. The baby. She hoped that they could do something. She hoped she had not failed it. Before the blackness took over, Kelly was aware of her palm pressing firmly over her belly…one last attempt to protect the unborn child.