I kept tossing on my bed, unable to sleep all night.

Even though Jessica and I had already finalized the plan, I could not stop myself from analyzing it over and over again to make sure there was no room for failure.

This plan had to work.

It was my only hope.

As planned, Jessica picked me up after he left for work.

And as I predicted, the driver didn't try to stop us.

To add to our act, I called my husband to tell him about my arrangement with Jessica concerning the doctors appointment.

"That was close." Jessica sighed as we drove out of the house.

"Does this mean he still doesn't suspect that you went through the files first?"

I shook my head, "I don't think he suspects anything but that doesn't even matter."

I had taken the most important things in a small bag.

Jessica said I could get clothes my size from Jake's sister.

"Thank you." I turned to her.

"Thank you for everything, Jess. I really don't know what I would have done without you."

I would have been stuck between letting him take my child away from me and endangering my family.

"I can't wait to see what your child looks like. I bet she'll be just as beautiful as you are." Jessica smiled.

There was a detour from the road to the hospital that led to Jessica's house.

It was a shortcut that was rarely used due to the terrible nature of the road.

Right now, that was our only choice so we took it.

"Did you tell him?" I asked Jessica as we drove into her house.

"No. I love and trust Jake but I do not think it's safe for anyone besides us to know about what you found out and our plans. I'll explain everything to him when you're safe. He'll understand."

When we arrived at Jessica's house, Jake was prepared and waiting for us.

He did not look too comfortable with the arrangement but he never questioned it.

We didn't wait even a second longer.

As long as we arrived, Jake got in his car and Jessica transferred my things to his car.

"Thank you." I grabbed her hand just before she would open the door for me.

Hot tears burned my eyes at the thought of what was to come.

I was going to be around people I had never met in my life but if Jessica trusted them, then I knew I could trust them too.

I would have to keep communication with her and my family minimal until I knew for sure that I was rid of Noah.

I never thought I was going to have my baby without being surrounded by my family.

"They will take good care of you. We might not be able to communicate directly but I'll definitely communicate through Jake." She was struggling to stop the tears in her eyes from spilling, just like me.

"You should tell your family everything after you've had your baby." She rubbed my arm.

"I will." I nodded, eventually letting the tears spill.

"I understand that you both need a moment but we have to hurry. It takes quite some hours to get to Reinwade. I don't think it would be a good idea to journey late at night with an almost due pregnant lady." Jake walked up to us and wrapped an arm around Jessica.

"I'll be seeing you soon." She hugged me and then bent so she was at eye level with my pregnancy,

"You too."

They helped me into Jake's car and we were soon on our way out of Scottin.

Any moment from now, Noah would check in with the hospital and realize that I had fled.

Jessica remained outside the house and waved at us until the car was no longer visible.

Somewhere out of Scottin, I fell asleep.

I must have been so tired and drained from staying up all night.

I slept until we arrived at Jake's family's house.

He helped me out first before taking my bag.

Theirs was a big compound with a small garden of flowers at the entrance.

Two cars are parked on the right side of the compound while on the left, there was an outdoor kitchen.

A family definitely lived here.

"She's here." Jake ushered me further into the compound where a woman was waiting at the door.

"Hey, mom." He hugged her with a smile.

"This must be Jessica's friend." She acknowledged me with a smile which I returned.

"Please, come in." She helped me into the house.

The serenity of the compound was nothing compared to the soothing beauty of the house.

"Welcome to our home. I'm Jake's mother, Agatha."

"Thank you for letting me stay, Agatha. I'm Loretta."

"Take her bag to the guest room. The twins already cleaned it up."

She showed me around the house while Jake did as she had told him.

When we got to the kitchen, a man I assumed to be Agatha's husband and a younger lady who looked like him were arguing over something in the oven.

"There's a guest in the house. The least you could do is not argue like you always do." Agatha rolled her eyes as she walked up to the man and kissed him.

"Meet my husband Theo and my daughter Janet." She gestured to her family.

"This is Jessica's friend, Loretta." She introduced me.

"Thank you for letting me stay here." I extended my arm for a handshake.

"I promise you, we don't always argue like this." Janet ignored the handshake and hugged me instead.

"Yes, Loretta. Arguments like this only ever happen when Janet finds it difficult to put her pride aside and accept that she could never be as good as her father at cooking." The old man shook my hand and laughed at the scowl on his daughter's face.

"Ignore them." Agatha whispered and I tried to stifle a laugh.

I have never felt so comfortable in a place like I did right now.

It might be too soon to feel this way but they felt like family.

"Janet here will finish the house tour I already started. I need to make sure the girls did a good job preparing your room."

"Sure." I nodded at her and she left.

"I have three kids. Two girls, twins. And one son." Janet took my hand and began showing me the rest of the house.

"I can't wait to have my little angel." I placed my hand on my bump and my baby kicked in response.

She always did that.

"I was extremely excited to have my girls. They brought a different kind of happiness into my life. The very first time I held them in my arms, I cried."

She showed me the room of each member of the family.

Jake's, the grandparents, hers, the twins', her son and two guest rooms one of which I would be staying in.

On the walls of the hallway, there were pictures of each member of the family.

While Janet looked like Theo, Jake looked like Agatha.

The twins and their brother on the other hand, looked just like their father.

He was in a few pictures with Janet and their children.

"Who's older, your son or the twins?" I asked, confused at how closely they looked in age.

You could mistake them for triplets.

"My girls are four months older than my son." She smiled.

"What?" I stopped and laughed.

"My husband and I really didn't do anything to prevent a second pregnancy that soon. I know it sounds cute having your first baby grow up with your second baby but please do not even consider it."

If only she knew I wasn't even considering having another child, at least not with the father of my first child.

"And here's our home clinic." We stopped in front of a door at the farthest end of the hallway.

Jessica had mentioned that Jake's sister was a nurse.

There was nothing more than a first aid box and two couches in the room which was quite small.

I was about to reconsider my faith in her being able to assist me during my child's birth when I saw a staircase.

"Come." She took the lead and went down the stairs while I followed behind her, carefully.

At the end of the stairs, there was a very big room with three beds and identical medical equipments beside each bed.

There are also comfortable seats in the room and a very big locker at the end of the room, possibly to store medical supplies.

"Here's our ward. It's not your typical hospital ward but I assure you that we can help deliver your baby safely."

"Thank you so much." I held her hand, trying really hard not to cry.

"My husband is a nurse too and my father is a surgeon. A terrible accident happened on the boarders of Reinwade over twenty years ago. Jake and I were still kids and our family had just relocated to the City."

"Two women and four kids had been badly injured. Fortunately for them, a couple had seen them and had called the ambulance. A long time passed without the ambulance getting to the scene so they called my father for help. He had operated on their kid before. We didn't have enough medical equipments and treatments to administer proper treatment to them but he let them in anyway."

"The ambulance came really late but thanks to the first aid treatment my father had administered to them, they lived. After the incident, he did all of this." She pointed to the beds.

That sounded really scary.

"My father has retired but I'm sure he's not rusty. I had the opportunity to work with him on a surgery he performed on a pregnant woman before his retirement. Loretta , we will do our best to help you."

I was in safe hands, I knew that now.

"My husband was one of the four injured kids." A blush appeared on her cheek and she looked away.

That was how they met.

"That's an old story anyway." She began leading me out of the ward.

"You've had a long journey. I'll leave you to rest now."

When we stopped in front of my room, Agatha handed the key to the room to me.

Theo was nowhere in sight.

"I'll knock on your door when dinner's ready. If you need anything, just let us know."

They left afterward.

The room was fairly spacious and had everything I needed.

Maybe after giving birth, I'll let them know I was a surgeon too.

I got off the bed when I felt something wet in between my legs.

I took off the duvet but there was nothing under the bed that could have caused that.

A thought crossed my mind but I waved it off.

My birth date wasn't until next week Wednesday, I couldn't possibly.....

"Ouch!" I screamed when I felt a sharp pain slice through my abdomen and lower back at the same time.

It can't be happening.

I....I can't possibly be about to have my baby.