Chapter 9 - THE PREGNANCY CONTINUESThe baby did not care about our marriage.
At fourteen weeks, she moved too subtly for me to feel.
At sixteen, Dr. Evans saw her sucking one thumb.
At nineteen, I felt the first unmistakable flutter.
I cried in my car.
Then called Derek.
I almost didn’t.
He answered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Sarah?”
“She moved.”
Silence.
Then his breath caught.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Can I—”
He stopped.
“Can you what?”
“Come to the next appointment?”
I wanted to say no.
I remembered the ultrasound room.
His accusation.
Jessica behind him.
Then I remembered that paternity was not actually established yet.
And that if the baby was his—as I knew she was—she might someday care whether I had allowed her father to participate after he started correcting his behavior.
“You can come.”
“Thank you.”
“But Jessica does not.”
He went quiet.
“Okay.”
That answer bothered me.
Not because he resisted.
May you like
Because he did not.
As though Jessica’s place beside him had already become something he knew required explanation.
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