Chapter 3

3: 3

I don't know how much time passed before the door opened again.

Ebony leaned half her body in, hugging a huge bouquet, the smile still on her face before she could catch it, calling out warmly:

"Congrats on the baby boy—"

The words cut off. The moment she saw who was lying on the hospital bed, her face went white.

The bouquet slipped from her hands and hit the floor, flowers scattering everywhere.

Her mouth hung open, as if a hand had closed around her throat, and it took her a long time to force out:

"Sis... I, I..."

I stared at her, my eyes moving from that panicked face to the flowers on the floor, then back again.

The wire in my chest slowly pulled taut, and I heard my own voice come out calmer than I expected:

"What room is she in?"

Ebony's lips trembled and she took a step back, her spine hitting the door.

"I... I don't know..."

I looked at the sister I'd raised with my own hands, my heart carrying a numb, prickling ache.

I knew exactly what she looked like when she lied.

"Ebony, you can't fool me."

Seeing there was no hiding it anymore, Ebony finally spoke in a shaking voice:

"906."

I glanced sideways at the "609" on the door and understood at once.

So it turned out that besides love, she couldn't tell numbers apart either.

I got out of bed barefoot, and despite Ebony trying to stop me, I still went up to the ninth floor.

The door to 906 sat ajar, and inside it had been set up like a party:

balloons, streamers, flowers, a cake... and a table piled with gift boxes.

Cecily held a glass, her smile sincere; Adrian stood by the window in a crisp suit.

I saw so many friends Justin and I shared too, gathered in twos and threes, raising glasses, laughing.

Someone spotted me first, and the smile froze on their face.

Within a few seconds the joy in the room was gone.

A few seconds later Cecily was the first to recover, smiling as she came toward me:

"Davi, you're here? Wonderful, come see the baby, he looks so much like Jus—"

The others chimed in, all crowding forward and talking over each other:

"Davi, you're so lucky, becoming a mom with none of the pain. So many people would kill for that."

"Right, right, look how devoted Jus is to you—he even arranged a child for you."

Smiling face after smiling face circled me, saying warm things, like knives handed over wrapped in honey.

Standing in the middle of all that laughter and chatter, I suddenly felt like a joke.

Everyone was here.

They'd all known for a long time.

Only me—kept in the dark, clutching that sick, weak heart of mine, still thinking I was the happiest person in the world.

Justin was bent over, teasing the baby, an expression on his face I had never seen before—

soft, satisfied, as if he'd finally been made whole.

Martha Gilbert saw me and put on a meek smile, calling out sweetly, "Sister."

But beneath it lay a cold glint, like a snake flicking its tongue in the dark, silently measuring every step I took closer.

Seeing me, Justin quickly called out:

"Davi, come look. I had Martha have this child for you. Hold him."

The smile on Martha's face froze for an instant, and in the end she reluctantly held the baby out toward me.

I didn't want to take him, but Justin leaned close to my ear:

"Davi, look, the baby's smiling at you. You're a mother now too—come feel it."

I steeled myself and reached out. The instant my fingertips touched the swaddle, the baby's mouth crumpled and he burst into a heartrending wail.

Martha lunged forward at once, snatching the child back into her arms, her voice slicing shrill through the whole room:

"Sister, if you have a problem, take it out on me—why would you pinch my baby!"

I froze, looked down at my own hand, and before I could even process it—

Justin had already strode up to check.

On the baby's soft, pale leg, a clear nail mark was quickly flushing red, obviously just made.

He whipped his head around to look at me, the fury in his eyes like red-hot iron, scorching, with nowhere for me to hide.

He didn't give me half a word to defend myself. He raised his hand—

a crisp "crack," and my left cheek exploded in searing pain.

The force of it snapped me backward, and I toppled to the floor.

The world spinning, a knifelike agony surged up from deep in my abdomen. I curled on the floor, the pain breaking even my breath into pieces.

"Blood... Davina's bleeding..."

"Her heart's bad... she's not having an attack, is she..."

Martha's crying, the baby's wailing, all of it blurred into a buzz in my ears, as if through a layer of water.

Only Justin's voice was clear—

He was shouting:

"Move! The gurney! Now!"

By the time they lifted me onto the gurney, my mind had already gone hazy.

The lights overhead slid past one by one. Justin's face bent down over me, his lips moving to say something, but I couldn't make out a single word.

When I woke again.

Justin sat at the edge of the bed, his eyes rimmed red:

"Davi, you're pregnant. Seven weeks. We're having a baby. I'm so happy."

He paused, his throat bobbing once, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible:

"Earlier... that was wrong of me, that was my fault. Thank god the baby's okay. Don't be scared."

He reached out to touch the back of my hand where it rested outside the blanket, and I pulled away on reflex.

Justin went stiff for two seconds, then withdrew his hand, his tone carrying a careful, coaxing note.

"Don't worry. Even if Martha had the firstborn son, the one in your belly is the one that matters most."

"Tonight, I'll stay with you. I won't go anywhere."

I stared at the ceiling, tears sliding down without a sound, cold to the bone.

That was when the door was pushed open.

Cecily leaned half her body in, her words rushing, trembling:

"Jus, the baby's jaundice shot up over four hundred, he's cried his throat raw, Martha's over there alone shaking with fright—hurry and go look!"

Justin's body went taut all at once, and he strode for the door.

"Davi, I'll go take one look and be right back."

I closed my eyes and turned my face to the other side.

My importance to him lasted no more than a quarter of an hour.

The footsteps grew fainter and fainter, cut off at last by the click of the door closing.

The room was empty again.

That night, I lay with my eyes open until dawn.

And Justin never came back.