Chapter 1 - THE KICK
My mother-in-law kicked me while I was thirty-two weeks pregnant.
Three seconds later, I was on her kitchen floor with blood spreading beneath me.
And the first person who called the police on Margaret wasn't a neighbor.
It was her own son.
My husband.
"Emily!"
Daniel's scream cut through the room as I hit my knees.
Pain ripped across the right side of my stomach.
I grabbed the edge of the table, but my fingers slipped.
Then I went down completely.
My cheek struck the tile.
For a second, I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't hear anything except the pounding of my own heart.
Then one thought took over everything.
My baby.
"Please move," I whispered.
My hands flew to my stomach.
"Come on, baby. Please."
Daniel dropped beside me.
"Emily, look at me."
I couldn't.
Something warm was running down my leg.
I looked.
Blood.
"No."
The word barely came out.
"No, no, no."
Daniel saw it too.
His entire face changed.
"Call an ambulance!" he shouted.
His father, Robert, stood frozen near the dining table.
Margaret was still standing three feet away from me.
Her face had gone pale.
But she wasn't helping.
She wasn't apologizing.
She wasn't even moving.
Instead, she whispered, "She pushed me too far."
Daniel slowly turned toward his mother.
"What?"
Margaret lifted her chin.
"You heard how she spoke to me."
I stared at her from the floor.
"You kicked me."
"You provoked me."
Daniel stood.
His hands were shaking.
"Mom."
Margaret stepped toward him.
"Daniel, don't look at me like that. She has been poisoning you against this family for months."
"Mom."
"She's taking you away. She's taking my grandson away."
"STOP!"
The shout shook the room.
I had never heard Daniel scream at his mother before.
Margaret froze.
Daniel pulled his phone from his pocket.
For one second, I thought he was calling only for an ambulance.
Then he looked directly at her.
"Nine-one-one. My wife is thirty-two weeks pregnant. She's bleeding."
He paused.
His eyes never left Margaret.
"And she was assaulted."
Margaret's mouth dropped open.
"What are you saying?"
Daniel's voice turned cold.
"My mother kicked her."
Robert finally moved.
"Daniel, maybe we should—"
"No."
Daniel pointed at him.
"Nobody cleans this up."
Margaret stared at her son.
"You would call the police on your own mother?"
Daniel looked down at me.
I was crying now.
Not because of the pain.
Because my baby still hadn't moved.
Daniel crouched beside me again.
"Emily, they're coming."
I grabbed his wrist.
"Daniel."
"I'm here."
"The baby."
His face tightened.
"I know."
Sirens began screaming somewhere outside.
Margaret backed away.
And then she said something that made Daniel go completely still.
"You don't understand what she'll lose if that baby is born."
Daniel slowly looked over his shoulder.
"What did you just say?"
May you like
Margaret realized too late that she had said it out loud.
And before anyone could ask another question, blue lights flashed across the kitchen windows.
