page19 (1/1)

DERRICK

I was on my lunch break and just about to call the house to check up onto relax a little Jenny hadn’t beenback on track and that whatever had flipped Lauren’s switch had been taken care of

I’d even heard her hu as sheit up We have a service that comes in five days a week, so there’s not that much for her to do but take care of the kids, and if she wants to run an errand, there’s always Ms Cus

The holiday was only two days away, and iving day so that the woether in theforward to her first Thanksgiving in our family home, and I could see a little bit of the spark I was accustomed to in her

I didn’t understand what I was hearing when I first took my phone frootten into the habit of leaving the sound on, on the nanny cam in the twins’ room

Why were they bawling like that? I brought up the live view and had to blink twice “Listen to me, Lauren, these are your beautiful babies You love them; you will never hurt them, no look at me” I stood there half in shock half in disbelief as what she was saying started to co

“Hold all my calls!” I think that’s what I yelled tofor the door with s I felt cold all over like a sudden chill was co on

I don’t renition in the Rover, or stepping on the gas I don’t even reet there; I think I’d shut down everything

I sla and the driver’s side door open and hit the door running Up the stairs and down the hallway into the nursery It felt like it had taken otten here much faster than the fifteenin pretty h the screen

Lauren took one look atI took off after her after one look at Jenny to make sure she was okay There were tears in her eyes, but other than that, she seemed fine And the look in her eyes It was the most emotion I’d seen in her since I came back

Derrick

Everything happened so fast it was like a blur Oneoutside after Lauren, who still had the knife in her hand, and the next she was in the Rover gunning for h just as I tried to jump out of the way

Too late, I felt searing pain shoot through ht for sure that she was going to reverse and drive over ain, but then Jenny came out on the steps, and for whatever reason, that made Lauren reverse down the driveway until she could turn around

Jenny ca over to my side “Don’t move Derrick, let me call an ambulance, you have a pretty nasty cut on your head” I felt my head, and my hand came away sticky with blood as Jenny reached into her purse for her phone

I listened as she called nine-one-one and then had the presence of mine to pull my own phone fro et here seconds before I passed out

I woke up in the hospital groggy and incoherent I saw ht on by the overhead lights as irls?” My voice didn’t sound like et out of the narrow hospital bed

“No, son, you irls are fine, they’re with Jenny” It felt al, and I would wake up any second and laugh at the crazy drea Is it even possible for life to unravel this spectacularly without warning?

“Lauren, where’s Lauren?” Mo and also dashed any hopes of this being a twisted nightmare I can’t say that I blame her, but Lauren is still my wife, still the mother of my children My head hurt and throbbed like they were drunken rabbits running around inside it