v

antiseptic pulled m

h fluorescent glare. The ceiling was white

pit

ave of dizziness slammed m

iv

d and swollen, the lines of her face etched with exh

y throat dry as san

it was a close call. But the heartbeat is still there. Yo

know I was holding, tears pr

low, the memory of the

calling him Daddy. The shove. Th

ael walk

. It wasn't a questi

one. "He tried to come in an hour

," I

e IV tube snak

r was gone. The sadness w

d, hard rage, settling in m

see my lawy

ow

ht n

ter, I was

a battlefield I was done fi

draft the pape

Michael's off

, my phone ran

let it ring until i

nt a

cafe on 4th Street.

t in the back corner,

red, his usually pristine appearance fr

rushed over, f

"Thank God. I've been so worried. Are

d away as if he

own,"

rvous, his eyes dart

. I didn't know she was coming. I was tryi

d. My voice w

a envelope acr

n th

saw the title: Petition f

red, a vein puls

pers down, scattering them slightly. "You're bei

e," I said. "And yo

ice turning nasty, the mask finally slipping. "You think

ed into

ut a secon

e was t

across t

l open

t. Specifically, the forensic accounting of the funds h

l the blood drained fro

u get this?"

ght I was just decoration. If you don't sign the divorce papers today, and give m

me. Really

e submissive, quiet wife he knew was d

ed up t

vorce papers wit

he st

his face inches from mine,

ed. "You'll be alone. No one

ach. He didn't know.

spat, "I hope it knows its mother is a co

and stormed out, the cafe door

ched

my stomach, prot

pered to the baby. "

p the sign

ing outside, bri

out of

was pregnant.

rst time in ye

led a

?" the dr

rport,"

it was a risk. But I wasn't going back to

Michael wasn't p