She hangs on love like it’s a cliff’s edge. I look down at my hands, tied to a bed frame and think of Clay. Someone I could have loved did this to me. I bet behind the cameras, Ricky shakes Lucy until her teeth rattle. I glare out my barred window. The sun is a hazy cataract in the sky. “Forget it, Betsy. You’re stuck here forever. You won’t find love, and neither will I.”

Betsy’s mouth drops like I just slapped her face. She pulls away, her arms crossing her swollen breasts. She stares angrily at the TV for a while. “My babies love me,” she mumbles. “That’s something.”

I’ve been mean. Even though Betsy’s so irritating, I can’t be mean to her. It’s like kicking a puppy. I clench my fists and try being nice. “How many babies have you had?”

“This is my third,” she says, patting her stomach.

My mouth drops. She looks no older than me, just a kid. Three babies?

“How old are you?” I ask.

“Fifteen,” she mumbles. She pulls a hospital pillow up to her chest and rests her chin on it. “I hope they let me stay with Esmeralda longer than Susanna. They pulled me at nine months with her. Said I was getting too attached.”

“Esmeralda?”

“It’s what I’m going to name her,” she says, rubbing her belly. “Isn’t it pretty?”

“Yeah,” I sit up as much as my wrist restraints will allow. “But, why can’t you keep your kids with you? Are they sick?”

She shakes her head, her curls bouncing around her head like springs. “No, they just want the mothers to focus on staying healthy for the next child. We can’t be running around after toddlers all day and be ready for the next baby.”

Her words are something they’ve fed her. Her eyes tell me she doesn’t believe it.

“Who raises them?”

She looks down and picks at a string on the pillowcase. “The nannies. When I’m too old to breed anymore, I’ll be a nanny and then I’ll raise other girls’ babies for them. It’ll be my time to see them grow up.” She throws on a fake smile.

I frown. “But they won’t be yours.”

Her smile falls. “In a way they will.”

I shake my head. “In what way? They take your kids away and they make you take other people’s kids later? That’s not right.”

Betsy jumps up from the bed, fresh tears wetting her eyes. “You don’t know anything! You’re cruel and cranky and your boyfriend left you, so you can’t talk about what I do!” She huffs to the door and pushes the call button. Then she turns to me. Her eyes are darker and harder than I’ve ever seen them. “No wonder they’re going to plan B with you.”