“We’re here,” Tim had mumbled when he swerved into the emergency room entrance. He had pulled up close to the curb, jumped out of the car, and returned seconds later with a wheelchair. As they rushed away from the car, she looked back over her shoulder and noticed that he hadn’t closed the car door. But before she could speak, he was wheeling her down the ramp. She held on tightly to the armrests as the glass partitions flew open.

The emergency room had been crowded, and people turned to stare. She quickly lost interest in her audience when a contraction started at the top of her belly, shot straight through her knees, and landed in the curve of her ankles. She wrapped her arms around herself and clenched. She leaned over, staring at the white and pink tiles on the floor. It was too painful to pick up her head. He pushed her toward the nurse’s station, and she stared at the shoes they passed. The couches in the waiting area were vinyl, and the plastic smell had sickened her. She brought the collar of her nightgown close to her mouth and breathed in the smells of home, soil, and tuna fish. She rubbed her nose into her collar once again. Tim stopped in front of the nurse’s station. “We’re having a baby,” he’d announced.

Now, the doctor was yelling at her. “You’re having a baby, Therese!” As though it was a surprise. As though he wanted to make sure she understood the magnitude of what she was undertaking. She stared at him through the V of her legs and decided she wanted to slap him. She lifted her arm up to try, but stopped when the pain gripped her again. This time her mind swirled around in her skull, trying to find comfort in a voice, a touch, a face. She thought about Tim now in the waiting room, probably pacing and regretting the fact that he had no shirt underneath his jacket. Then she pictured him sitting on the green vinyl couch sipping lukewarm coffee. Which would he be doing? Then she thought about Leah. She wanted Leah.