Chapter 9 - THE HEARTBEAT
June stayed beside me at the clinic.
I had called the number my doctor gave me.
The nurse told me to come in.
Nobody promised that everything was fine.
Nobody blamed me.
They asked questions, checked my medication, and took me into a dim room where the paper on the exam table crackled beneath my legs.
I stared at the ceiling.
“I should have rested.”
June squeezed my hand.
“You did not cause this by having feelings.”
The clinician moved the ultrasound probe.
I watched her face instead of the screen.
Then she turned the monitor.
A small flicker moved inside a dark shape.
“There’s cardiac activity.”
I couldn’t speak.
June started crying first.
The clinician explained what they could see, what they couldn’t yet know, and when I should return.
I heard enough to understand that we were going home.
Together.
Both of us.
Outside, June bought me soup.
I sat in her car holding the new image.
For the first time, the baby felt less like an announcement waiting for Adrien and more like a person waiting for me.
Naomi called after we got back.
She didn’t ask for medical details.
“Are you able to talk?”
“Yes.”
“We obtained an order preventing the sale from going forward while the dispute is reviewed.”
I leaned against the counter.
“And the deposit?”
“We’ve demanded an accounting. We also contacted Cole Group’s independent counsel about the guarantee.”
“Will that make him worse?”
“It may make him angry. It also means he isn’t the only person controlling the records.”
I looked at the ultrasound.
“Tell him I’m not coming home.”
“I will.”
An hour later, Adrien arrived at June’s building.
She refused to buzz him in.
He called me from the sidewalk.
“I heard you were at a clinic.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who told you?”
“I called Martha because you weren’t answering.”
I said nothing.
“She said June mentioned you weren’t feeling well.”
Martha knew I had been sick.
She didn’t know why.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m receiving care.”
“Let me come up.”
“No.”
For once, he sounded frightened.
“Willa, please.”
I could see him from the window.
No driver beside him.
No folder.
Just my husband standing in the rain, staring at a door that would not open.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
May you like
Even through the glass, I saw his face change.
Naomi had reached the board.
