Do Not Disturb

by Freida McFadden

“Yes. It did. Of course, I had to help it along.”

She hesitates as her eyes stare into mine. “Rosalie, I want you to know that I never had children. And I always thought of you like a daughter. I wanted you to be happy.”

“Nick would have left you,” she says. “That girl, Christina… she was a vixen. She set her sights on him—she wanted him. And no offense, my dear, but you were not doing much to hold on to him. You were delivering him to her on a silver platter! S...

“So you see,” she says, “I had to do what I did.”

I pull my hand away from hers. “What did you do?”

“I saved your ma...

“Greta…” I feel a cramping sensation in my lower abdomen....

Greta’s blue eyes are wide. “She deserved it. Look at what she did. Fooling around with a married man. I’m disappointed in Nick too, but I understand what he was going...

My stomach turns. “Greta, y...

“She barely felt a thing.” Greta strokes her long white hair. “I got the key from where Nick keeps them downstairs, and I let myself into her room during the night. I did it while she was sleeping. She only woke up for a mi...

“I was trying to get rid of the other one for you too,” she says. “Quinn. When she was downstairs, I looked through her bag, found out her real name. Then I said all the scary stuff about how she was in horrible danger. Left a few threatening messages for her in the Bible in the drawer. Got her on the run. Of course, it turned out she was in horrible danger.”

“Greta…”

“Rosalie.” She reaches for my hand again, but I yank it away. “Are you feeling poorly? You look so pa...

“No, I…” But that cramp hits me again. Still, I’ve got an entire month to go. I’m not in labor. I’m just having a panic attack that a woman is dead because of me. “...

She blinks at me. “I did it for you, Rosalie.” Her eyes darken. “If I hadn’t, you would have none of this! He would have left you. No restaurant, no baby. Christina wanted him. You did not meet that woman...

“She…...

“You do not know how she spoke about you. Nick’s invalid wife. Frigid—won’t even touch him. He deserves bette...

“Your water broke!” She claps her hands together. “How exciting! I’ll go get Nick.”

But I’ve got to call the police. I’ve got to tell them that Greta killed Christina Marsh. I can’t let her get away with murder, even if she did it for me.

It was wrong that she murdered that woman. She should never have done it. But I can’t say I’m sorry. And at that moment, I decide. If we have a girl, we will name her Greta.