“Oh, okay, but hold on, Arabelle.” Maximilian Kostomarov pulled out his cell phone to reply to the message. He then absentmindedly chimed in, “By the way, is there something wrong with you today? Why are you calling me so many times?”

I made up a lie. “Nothing happened, Max. It's still about Vilhelmina's birthday. She especially cares about her tenth birthday this year. She has been talking about it all this month. She is so excited for her party.”

Maximilian took back his cell phone. He then naturally put his arm around my shoulders.

“Don't worry, my wife. I've been preparing for Vilhelmina's birthday half a year in advance. I promise I will give her an unforgettable memory.” He inhaled and frowned. “What is this smell on you?”

I answered, “Oh, sorry, Max. There's blood all over your pants!”

“It's fine, my wife.” Maximilian suddenly changed his face. “Are you okay? Are you injured?”

That was Vilhelmina's blood. I forced myself to hold back my grief.

“I had a car accident, but I wasn't hurt. This blood is someone else's.”

Maximilian sighed in relief. “Speaking of which, I also saw a car accident victim being brought to the hospital tonight. I think she is a girl who is the same age as Vilhelmina's age. This accident is so tragic, Arabelle Moonstone. It's probably impossible to save her after being hit like this.”

Maximilian took off my coat and found home clothes for me to change. Meanwhile, I just sighed beside him.

Maximilian still explained, “I do not know who is the child of the family. I think her parents probably don't want her to live anymore, right? It's the end of the year and the roads are complicated, Arabelle. We still need to remind Vilhelmina to pay more attention to traffic safety. If she's the one who got into the accident, I really don't dare to think about it.”

After saying that, he kissed my forehead and walked straight to the bathroom. The unfamiliar perfume on his body made me nauseous. I looked at Maximilian's back.

After he entered the room, I called the funeral home. I wanted on the day of Vilhelmina's birthday, to send her to her ultimate happiness.

***

The next morning, Maximilian prepared breakfast as usual before going to work at the hospital.

Meanwhile, I packed the food and threw it to the stray dogs and cats downstairs. After a few minutes, I glanced at the sticky note he left in the entrance hall.

Maximilian: [My wife, please remind me to be home on time tonight to pick up Vilhelmina's call. I love you forever.]

I knew people's hearts were really hard to gauge. Maximilian was playing the role of a good husband and father at home.

But actually, at the same time, he had a rendezvous with his lover, while his daughter was dying.

I pulled the corner of my mouth. My eyes started rummaging through Vilhelmina's belongings.

I then prepared all of them to send to the funeral home for cremation. But I didn't find her favourite peace quilt. She had used it for seven years.

If not for the boarding school to unify the purchase of bedding, she did not want to leave the quilt at home. But I remembered that she had just washed it and put it in the cabinet. In desperation, I had no choice but to call Maximilian.

Maximilian said, “Oh, you search that quilt, Arabelle? I lent it to Kimberly. Didn't her baby just come out? She has been coughing for a long time.”

Kimberly Beadsworth was Maximilian's childhood sweetheart. After they separated, she married abroad that year.

But then she divorced her ex-husband half a year ago. It made her return to Luxembourg with a big belly.

During pregnancy, Maximilian took care of her. It became more intense after the child was born. Maximilian often bought milk powder and clothes for Kimberly’s baby. I just couldn’t believe he also lent Vilhelmina's favourite peace quilt to her.

I cursed to my husband, “You are sick, Maximilian. Vilhelmina will cry if she goes home and doesn't see the peace quilt.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt ridiculous.

Would Vilhelmina even come home?

She was born prematurely. I was nine months pregnant when I went to work with an illness.

I ended up in a coma with a high fever. It caused Vilhelmina to get a bacterial infection. She then went into an incubator after she was born.

After all that happened, Maximilian and I climbed 3,000 steps to get that peace blanket at the Borobudur Temple. Not long after covering it, Vilhelmina's illness miraculously improved.

Maximilian said impatiently, “Why are you so angry at me, Arabelle Moonstone? It's just a quilt, isn't it? Our daughter is going to grow up, that quilt is crippled and old. It will be replaced one day.”

In my heart, I really felt bad. He was wrong, Vilhelmina won't grow up anymore. I hung up the phone without a word. I was in a bad mood. Then I copped my bag and took a cab to the hospital. I rushed straight into the doctor's office.

“Give me back my daughter's peace quilt right now!”

Kimberly looked up in surprise. I knew she saw the anger in my eyes.

“Mrs Arabelle, I thought Mr Maximilian had discussed this with you first. I didn't mean to take Vilhelmina's things on purpose. It's because my child's illness has not been cured before.”

I shouted, “Cut the crap! I don’t want to hear any words from you, Kimberly.”

I was so angry that I drew sideways glances from the other doctors and nurses in the office. Kimberly was also forced to redden her eyes.

“How about this, Mrs Arabelle? When Vilhelmina is not happy when she gets home, I'll immediately wash the quilt and send it back?”

“No way! A thief is in no position to bargain.”

I took a few steps forward and grabbed Kimberly's wrist. She struggled to get up but accidentally bumped into a chair. It made her whole body fall to the ground.

“Arabelle Moonstone!” Maximilian arrived in time and pushed me away. “It’s just a broken quilt, Arabelle. Is it necessary to hit someone like this?”

“Mr Maximilian, I'm not a thief,” Kimberly mumbled her lips. She looked like a pear blossom in the rain.

I was pushed and staggered. The back of my head hit the door handle and passed out. The moment before I lost consciousness, I saw Maximilian running towards me in shock. I closed my eyes and thought to myself, ‘If I die like this, will I be able to see Vilhelmina?’

***

But I didn't die. I just had a slight concussion. When I woke up, my nurse friend, Samantha Wright was by my bedside. Meanwhile, Maximilian was nowhere to be seen in this room.

“You're pregnant, Arabelle.”

I was stunned for a while. “What? I'm pregnant?”

How did I get pregnant at this time?

Vilhelmina had always wanted a brother or sister. Then Maximilian and I had been trying for years but had never gotten it. We thought it was due to age and work pressure from both of us. I didn't expect that just after Vilhelmina's accident, I would be pregnant. 

Perhaps, it was Vilhelmina who sensed that I had no hope of life and took the form of a fetus to cheer me up. Thinking of this, the pain inside me slightly lessened.

I said, “I don't want my husband, Maximilian, to know about this matter for now, Samantha. Can you keep it a secret for me?”

Samantha nodded. “I just heard you guys arguing in the doctor's office, so I thought something was wrong between you and Dr. Maximilian.”

“It's fine, Samantha. Don’t worry. I can handle it.” I skimmed my lips. “By the way, where is he?”

Samantha shook her head. “He was just called away by his female assistant, Ara. Maybe he has something to deal with at work?”

I knew the true answer to it. He didn't actually have anything to deal with at this time. I saw a live sex scene in the stairwell of the ward.

Kimberly hooked Maximilian's neck. She then demanded a kiss. Maximilian was afraid of being discovered and refused at first, but soon he got into the mood, he left dots of red marks on Kimberly's neck. Until I called over. Only then did he end his passion.

Maximilian left behind the lustful Kimberly. He rushed to the bathroom to clean up and then to the hospital room to continue playing the role of a good husband.

“I was the one who was impulsive about what just happened.”

Maximilian apologized with an apologetic face. “Luckily you weren't hurt, Arabelle, otherwise I would have hated to smack myself to death.”

I bristled. I chose to say nothing.

“I was just busy now, Arabelle. There are a lot of surgeries at the end of the year. You take a few days off, stay home and have a good rest. We will have fun together on Vilhelmina's birthday.”

I hang my head and obediently respond to my husband. “Okay, I agree.”

Maximilian didn't know that I had resigned and was preparing to move out of the city. He was even less aware that Vilhelmina was about to turn into a handful of ashes two days later.

The police department suddenly called me. They said that there was a news discovery about Vilhelmina's car accident.

When I arrived, the driver had already been arrested. I looked at the vicissitudes of the middle-aged man across the table. My eyes were so red that they were about to drip blood.

I was in a rage and shouted, “You killed my daughter! I'm going to kill you!”

If the police officer hadn't held me down in time, I really would have jumped on him and bit his throat.

“I'm sorry, madam. I'm really sorry.”

The driver was biting his lips tightly. His face was pale. His eyes also looked like he had been crying.

“Is it useful to be sorry right now? Why aren't you paying attention when you're driving? Why are you rushing up to a green light on the sidewalk? Please tell me all the reasons.”

“I am not…”

The police officer suddenly spoke, “Mrs. Arabelle Moonstone, that's why we're looking for you today.”

They gave me something. It was a tablet. The tablet then was handed to me. 

“We found out that the driver who ran over your daughter was also a victim. There was a red Mustang at the scene.”

In my heart I said, ‘What? There is a red Mustang?’ My heart thumped. ‘Wasn't Maximilian also driving a red Mustang?’

The surveillance video showed that the accident happened just as school was dismissing at 5:30. The boarding school students were out looking for food.

Vilhelmina's figure quickly appeared in the camera. She looked small and fresh. She was chatting with a friend in front of the school.

Vilhelmina was about to go back to the cafeteria to eat. She suddenly turned around and jogged across the street.

While running and waving, she seemed to see someone familiar. At the same time, a red Mustang appeared on the driveway.

It was Maximilian's license plate number. But the person sitting in the passenger seat was Kimberly Beadsworth.

I clenched my fists. My heart felt like it was in my throat. The red Mustang stepped into the gas and still didn't catch the green light.

At this time, Vilhelmina began to walk the crosswalk and the accident of the truck should be parallel without intersection. But the red Mustang suddenly accelerated through the red light. The truck in order to avoid quickly turning the front and out of control. Then the truck hit Vilhelmina on the zebra cross.

It turned out that the murderer who killed her daughter was Maximilian Kostomarov.

I realized that Vilhelmina should have seen his father's car. So she wanted to go over. It made her not think that his father would miss the work time and rushed back to the hospital clock.

In the video, Vilhelmina's body was hit and flew up. She rolled under the wheels of the truck and was crushed several times. The red Mustang was riding so fast that it had no idea what was happening behind it.

Across the table, the driver of the truck covered his face. He cried out in pain. I stared at the black screen of the tablet with a dull expression. Until the police officer tapped me on the shoulder.

He reassured me of my condolences. I touched my face, not a single tear. My heart was empty as if a piece had been ripped out of it.

“We will send more people to find the owner of this red Mustang, Mrs Arabelle.”

I replied, “Don't bother, I know who he is.”

“Who is it?”

“My husband, Maximilian Kostomarov. He is also the biological father of the victim, Vilhelmina Kostomarov.”

The policeman was stunned for a long time. “As a relative of Vilhelmina Kostomarov, we have to ask your opinion as a rule.”

I answered, “How the law is set, just do what you guys do. Don't need to consider my relationship with the perpetrator. You also don't need to tell him the identity of the victims.”

***

That night, while my husband, Maximilian, had not yet returned home, I began to pack my bags. The doorbell suddenly rang. It was the postman, who came to deliver the package. I opened it to find that it was a children's book. Two months ago, Vilhelmina secretly told me the truth.

Vilhelmina said, “Mom, the essay I wrote was selected and the teacher said it would be published in the next issue of Sunrise.”

Her little face was full of pride at that moment. Meanwhile, I was so happy and grateful.

“Really?” I wrapped my arms around my daughter's neck and kissed her fiercely. “Our Vilhelmina Kostomarov is awesome. You are the pride of Dad and me, my love. But can you not tell Daddy yet? I want to send the book to him when it's published. We can give him a surprise.”

At this moment, I flipped through the magazine. I then found the essay written by Vilhelmina Kostomarov titled 'My Doctor Dad'.