Chapter 18 - The Baby Shower Claire Chose
Claire canceled the elaborate baby shower Helena had planned.
Helena’s event included eighty guests, luxury gifts, and a photographer.
It also required Claire to sit beside Victor and perform a happy marriage.
Instead, Claire held a small gathering in her backyard.
Alex hung paper lanterns.
Detective Ward attended briefly.
The nurse who first spoke privately with Claire brought a handmade blanket.
Neighbors supplied food.
No one asked Claire to explain the case.
No one touched her belly without permission.
No one told her pregnancy should make her forgive.
Claire wore a soft blue dress and walked slowly across the grass.
She still startled at sudden sounds.
She still checked the gate repeatedly.
But she laughed.
When Alex carried out the cake, it leaned badly to one side.
“You made this?” Claire asked.
“I followed instructions.”
“You were supposed to let it cool.”
“That sounds optional.”
She laughed harder.
The sound surprised both of them.
Later, they sat under the lanterns.
Alex handed her a small box.
Inside was a new phone.
Not expensive.
Secure.
Connected to emergency services.
Claire stared at it.
“I don’t want my life to become alerts and evidence.”
“It won’t.”
“What if I stop using the code?”
“That will mean you no longer need it.”
She turned the phone over.
On the back was a simple engraved word.
CLOSE.
Claire looked at him.
“I thought that word meant danger.”
“It meant close enough for me to come.”
She held the phone against her chest.
The gathering ended before sunset.
After everyone left, Claire stood in the quiet kitchen.
The dent remained in the floor.
She had decided not to repair it yet.
Not as a shrine to trauma.
As proof that the strike had happened.
Victor’s family had spent years making her doubt memory.
The mark did not explain everything.
May you like
But it said one clear thing.
She had not imagined the sound.
