I was a complete blubbering mess. Hunter pulled out the hand that was still behind his back, and held out a Tiffany's little blue box that held a princess cut diamond ring, with little diamonds wrapped around the band. He looked up at me with glassy eyes. "CC, you're my world, you're my light in the darkness, my safe haven. I love your more than anything. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

I was sobbing so hard, all I could do was nod. He took the gorgeous ring out of the box and placed it on my finger. He put both of his hands on my stomach and said, "You hear that little man," He looked at me, winked and then continued, "Your mama is gonna marry me." He leaned forward and placed a kiss on my stomach. At that exact same moment, the baby kicked for the first time, right where Hunter's lips were.

His eyes shot up to me all wide and asked, "Was that the baby kicking?"

I just laughed through the tears and winked at him. "Yeah, I guess our little peanut likes that we're gonna get married."

Hunter stood up and wrapped his arms around me and all our family came rushing towards us congratulating us. Everyone was so happy for us including Mason, which made this day a little extra special. We had a lot to celebrate that weekend.

The following week was extremely busy. I had my final fitting for my maid of honor dress, we were throwing a bachelorette at Chloe's house Friday night and the wedding was Saturday afternoon.

Chloe and Jackson's beach wedding was stunning. All the girls wore coral color dresses; Jackson and the guys wore khakis pants with white shirts and coral ties. Chloe looked breathtaking in her dress; she decided to go with a destination dress, with an empire waist, all white with clear and pink crystals spread over the train. Her hair was curled and pulled up off her neck. Her parents didn't show up for the wedding, so my dad walked her down the aisle. Hailey was holding Alex in his little white tuxedo. He looked so handsome.

Chloe and Jackson were going on a cruise for their honeymoon, and I was watching Alex while they were gone. Jackson volunteered me, saying it was good practice; I didn't have a problem with it since Hunter was going to be starting his new job that week. He was working with the local police department in the investigation unit. He was excited that he was able to land this job.

Mom, Mrs. McCormick, Hailey, and Chloe threw me a surprise baby shower two weeks after Chloe got back from her honeymoon. Hunter and I got everything we needed for the baby, plus more. Hunter still refused to let me see the baby's room until it was not finished. I began having some swelling issues around my thirty-third week, was put on bed rest and had to go to the doctors twice a week for monitoring.

30

Today I was thirty-seven weeks. I had a doctor's appointment and another ultrasound set up. This would be the last one before we would finally get to meet our little chunky monkey. Hunter had to work today, so he was going to meet me at the doctor's office on his lunch break.

I got out of bed and started getting ready for the appointment when my cell phone started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kenzie, how's my little man doing?" Hailey was always asking how little man was doing, never how I am feeling and she refused to entertain the idea that I might be having a girl.

"You know, I think you love the baby more than you love me." I laughed, "The baby's doing well, me not so much. My feet are really swollen and I'm waddling more and more like a duck."

"Put the phone up to your belly. I want to talk to him."

Laughing, I did as she asked. After a good minute, I put the phone back up to my ear and told her, "I have a doctor's appointment around lunch time today so I will have more pictures to show you. Do you want me to stop over when I'm done?"

"Yeah, that would be good. Mason is supposed to come over and take me to dinner tonight."

"Oh, really?" Hailey and Mason's relationship was rocky right now. Something was going on, but they both refused to talk about it. Any time I mentioned anything about it, they told me it was really nothing for me to worry myself. I tried talking to Hunter about it, but he just told me everything would be ok between them. He explained they weren't really fighting themselves. They were fighting about something else that was going on.

"Nothing special just dinner."

"Ok. I really wish you would talk to me, and tell me what is going on Hails. I hate seeing you guys like this."

Hailey let out a big sigh. "You don't need the added stress; remember what the doctor said? You need to stay nice and relaxed. Everyone is taking care of everything. Stop worrying that pretty little head of yours."

I was getting a little irritated because everyone was treating me as if I was made of glass. "It's stressing me out that you will not talk to me about it Hails. You talk to me about everything; why not this?"

She huffed, "Because I just can't. Now stop worrying and go get ready."

"Fine, but this isn't over. I'll call you when I'm on my way."

"OK, love you and little man."

I laughed and said, "It's Princess and I love you too."

I was standing in my closet trying to find something to wear when I heard a crack of thunder that made me jump. I was rubbing my belly as the baby moved around. "Oh boy, chunky monkey, it's raining. We better hurry up and get out of here so we aren't late."

After I changed, I walked to the front door, slipped on my flip-flops and grabbed the umbrella. It was pouring outside; even with the umbrella, I was still getting wet. I noticed there was a car parked at the end of the driveway, which was unusual for our neighborhood. I started the car and backed out. I thought it looked like Brittany in the car, but it couldn't have been. She and Dominic broke up right after school was over. I brushed it off, and left our development, heading towards the highway.

Merging onto the highway, the rain was coming down harder. It was making it very hard to see, even with the wipers on full speed. I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed the car that had parked at the end of my driveway was now following behind me. I only needed to go about two exits up on Route 295. I figured I would be ok as long as I took it nice and slow and did not panic.

About a half mile before my exit, I saw the car directly in front of me start to hydroplane. The driver must have panicked, because the car started swerving into the lane next to it. Just as the driver jerked the steering wheel, he collided with another car. I tried to slam on my breaks to avoid the accident, but the person that was following me slammed into me. I slid off the highway, down an embankment.