A tiny, a nameless bluish-green bird sings sweetly among the whispering leaves above her.
Children's laughter sweeps across the garden lake as the boy chases the teasing older girl past her.
A woman, presumably their mother, follows after them with a slight shake of her head.
Her fingers curl slightly against her lap as her thoughts drift toward the tiny life growing within her womb.
It still hasn't sunk in... the realization that she's already a mother to this unborn baby.
Whereas her husband has already embraced fatherhood with loving certainty.
Yet she has faith that it will be better in the days to come, for it has been only four days since they learned of her pregnancy.
They visited a doctor the next day, who told them she was already two months along.
Fortunately, both she and the baby were healthy. Two months along...The baby would only be about the size of a raspberry, so tiny and fragile against this vast, strange world.
The small, black-and-white, grainy ultrasound picture had been the first physical sign of their child.
Just a tiny, gray, curved structure within a dark circle,
evoking the miraculous life of the baby.
His eyes were filled with love and adoration as he gazed at the life they'd made on the screen, and he couldn't stop looking at the ultrasound picture,
a smile ever lingering on his lips.
It swelled her heart with wonder at this new and impossibly sweet side of him.
Surely, with Rhett as her husband and the father of her baby, motherhood would be easier for her than it might be for most.
A quiet serenity settles over Neva as a breeze kisses her face,
carrying with it the sweetness of flowers and the promise of a blessed spring.
Her gaze drifts toward the ice-cream truck some distance away in the middle of the park, searching for her husband's familiar silhouette. But her instincts flare when a boy with a coy grin approaches,
followed by two others close behind him.
Her nose scrunches at the rancid
smell of cigarette smoke as the shaggy-haired guy carelessly tosses his cigarette onto the grass and winks at her.
She cringes inwardly. Casually dressed in ripped jeans and jackets, they must be only teenagers. And they are bad... bad news, especially for a woman sitting alone in a secluded corner of the park,
with twilight sinking into murkiness, broken only by the hazy glow of lantern lights.
She rises and moves in the direction her husband went, but the shaggy-haired guy catches her wrist and brings her to a halt.
She'd kept well away from guys like them during her short time in college.
Yet still, how shameless could they be?
"Let me go." Her voice comes out calm, a steady warning, even as her heart quickens.
A snicker escapes the second guy, his short hair dyed a dirty blonde,
as he reaches for her hair. She sharply pulls her hand free and steps back.
"Hey—hey," the first guy says, raising his hands in mock guilelessness.
"We're just here to have a lil' fun, babydoll. Whatcha think about a lil' date with me?"
She ignores them and starts away, her fingers curling into a fist as tangled cords of annoyance, anger,
and anxiety knot within her, until her eyes fall on her husband walking toward her.
The second guy skids to a stop before her, blocking her way,
while the third, slightly more decent-looking guy lingers there awkwardly.
"We'll be good—" A sharp cry cuts the second guy off as he staggers forward, clutching the back of his head, where
something has just collided with a loud thud.
Pink strawberry ice cream lies spilled across the grass from the overturned tub.
"What the hell—" The first guy cuts himself off as his gaze snaps ahead.
A few paces behind the boy curled in pain on the grass,
Rhett steps toward them, his usually calm eyes darkened with barely contained rage.
"Rhett—" Her voice breaks as tears blur her vision.
"Lucas." The third boy begins to the dirty-blonde-haired guy to his feet.
Lucas stares wide-eyed at the blood coating his palm beneath the lantern light.
"You—you bastard!" The first guy lunges forward, swinging a punch, but Rhett catches his fist with effortless ease.
"Erik!" The third boy cries out as Rhett's hand snaps across Erik's face, sending him
crashing to the ground with a heavy thud.
Neva's heart sinks with fear as Rhett crouches down and grips Erik by the collar, his expression dulling into a grave calmness. He raises his fist
and punches Erik in the face, and again.
Erik has no chance to fight back as Rhett loses his composure, his fist striking again and again until the guy lies
sprawled, limp and bloodied on the grass.
He rises and moves toward the third guy, who steps back, hesitation and fear crumpling his expression,
before finally turning and running away.
His gaze flicks toward Lucas, wide-eyed as he remains frozen on the ground, still clutching the back of his head. Lucas lets out a cry and raises a hand to shield his face just as Rhett takes a step toward him.
"That's enough," Neva whispers, dragged back through the haze of blood and violence to the memories of the past.
Rhett lifts his gaze to meet hers.
She steps away, her knees weakening as the metallic scent of blood blends with the lingering sweetness of ice-cream.
She senses him trailing after her, but she dares not look back at the
unconscious figure of the stranger sprawled on the ground.
What if he's killed him? What if he's dying? Should they have called an ambulance?
Yet her worry proves futile as panicked voices erupt behind them. Someone is already calling an ambulance.
What happens to her husband now?
Would they arrest him?
Charge him with assault?
"Angel," he says, catching her wrist and stopping her mid-step.
She looks at him as his worried gaze sweeps over her, searching for any sign of injury. "Are you hurt?" he asks gently.
"What have you done?" she asks instead.
"I didn't kill him," he says.
"You went too far."
"They got what they—"
"I want to go home." She cuts him off.
His gaze lingers on her for a moment before he slowly nods.
An ambulance siren wails in the distance.
She takes his hand and begins walking away, toward home.
Her chest tightens as she prays to God that those cruel, ignorant boys aren't too badly injured,
and that her husband's life won't be ruined because he only wanted to protect her.
A tear slips down her cheek. So much for wanting a peaceful life here…