Yet by the following morning, he had vanished.
There was no phone call, no message… and no response when I went to his front door. There was only Holden’s mom standing in the entrance, her arms crossed, and her mouth set in a tight line.
“He isn’t here, Margot,” she stated coldly. “I’m sorry.”
I recall gazing at the vehicle sitting in the driveway.
“Is he… going to return?”
“He left to live with relatives on the west coast,” she answered, then shut the door without giving me a chance to ask for a location or a phone number.
Holden had also cut me off on every platform.
I was still staggering from the blow when it dawned on me that I would never get a word from him again.
However, right there in the dim light of the clinic room, I spotted them. Two tiny pulsing hearts — right next to each other as if they were clasping hands. And something deep within me snapped into focus, realizing that even if nobody else was there, I would be. I simply had to.
My folks were far from thrilled when they learned about my pregnancy. They felt even more humiliated when I revealed I was carrying twins. Yet when my mom looked at the ultrasound image, she shed tears and swore she would back me up completely.
