The woman was younger than Leah. Her eyes were pretty, but only from far away. She sniffed loudly but just as she was about to speak, she seemed to notice Leah’s large belly. She fixated on it, shaking her head back and forth, and then finally pointed at Leah awkwardly, like she had practiced in front of a mirror.

“He’s mine and you can’t take him away.” The skin around her fingers was chewed, and her hand hung awkwardly in the air. “He loves me. He will never leave his kids or me. I am the one he always comes back to.” The little girl pulled at her sleeve, and her arm came down.

Leah fell backward into Therese. She took little sips of air, seeming to have forgotten how to breathe. Therese could feel her tremors as though they were her own.

“Get out,” Therese said.

The woman put her hands on the girl’s shoulders and shook her head. “He will always belong to me.” She walked out of the house, and the boy closed the door behind them.

Leah ran into the bathroom, and when she emerged, her hair was stuck to the sides of her head, and she was dripping from the water she had splashed onto her face. Some of it splattered onto her shirt, leaving dark uneven spots across her chest.

“Here.” Therese pulled a tissue from the box on the table.

“You should go,” Leah said, turning so that all Therese could see was her back.

“I am not going to leave you.”

“I want you to go.”

That’s when she felt it. Pulling her under and making her stagger backward, like someone had punched her. “You shouldn’t be alone with him.”

Leah turned to face her. “You need to go. Now.”

“I am not going to leave you,” Therese said again, worried that it sounded like she was pleading.

“I don’t want you here.”

Leah began to push her, first softly but then harder. Wails of pain came up from inside, garbling the sound of her voice.

“Get out.”

She continued to push until they reached the door, and then Therese had no control over what happened next. Leah shoved her outside and slammed the door closed behind her. No matter how much she wanted to stay, it was as if she was swept away, and the next thing she knew, she was out of the house, in her car, leaving Leah far behind.