Chapter 1 - THE NOD
My husband watched his mother put both hands on my back.
Then he nodded.
I didn’t know that when I was falling.
At eight months pregnant, there was no graceful way to hit a staircase.
There was only terror.
My hip struck the first step.
My shoulder hit the next.
The box of baby clothes exploded around me, tiny white socks and yellow onesies floating through the air while my body twisted sideways.
I grabbed for the railing.
Missed.
Then I landed at the bottom with both arms wrapped around my stomach.
For half a second, I couldn’t breathe.
Then the pain came.
“Baby…”
My voice barely worked.
“Please.”
I looked up.
Margaret stood at the top of the stairs.
My mother-in-law didn’t scream.
She didn’t run for a phone.
She didn’t even look scared.
She walked down slowly, one polished black heel at a time.
Click.
Click.
Click.
I was shaking too hard to move.
“Call 911,” I whispered.
Margaret reached the bottom and crouched beside me.
Her face was strangely calm.
“Tell Ethan you slipped.”
I stared at her.
“You pushed me.”
Her expression hardened.
“You slipped.”
“I’m calling the police.”
She leaned closer.
“Nobody saw what happened, Claire.”
I screamed.
“HELP!”
The front door flew open.
Ethan rushed inside.
“Claire!”
He dropped beside me.
For one desperate second, I thought I was safe.
“My stomach,” I gasped.
“What happened?”
Margaret answered before I could.
“She threw herself down.”
I thought I’d misheard her.
“What?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears almost instantly.
“She was angry with me.”
“She pushed me!” I shouted.
Ethan looked from me to his mother.
Margaret covered her mouth.
“She said she’d make you choose between us.”
“That’s a lie!”
Ethan’s face changed.
Not fear.
Not shock.
Something colder.
Something I couldn’t understand.
Then the baby moved.
A weak little kick.
I started crying.
“Hospital. Please.”
Ethan finally lifted me.
As he carried me toward the door, I looked over his shoulder.
Margaret stood in the hallway.
Watching.
And smiling.
I wouldn’t understand that smile until the next morning.
Because after the doctors confirmed my baby was still alive, a nurse brought me my phone.
“There’s a video your neighbor sent you.”
I pressed play.
The footage showed Margaret pushing me.
Clearly.
But it also showed something else.
Just before her hands touched my back, Ethan appeared in the reflection of the upstairs window.
He looked at his mother.
May you like
And nodded.
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