Ricky moved the gun lower, until it pointed into the swell of my abdomen. He pushed the barrel in hard, making you kick. I felt my breathing coming harder and faster, terror and fury rolling together like the swirl of ocean waves. He slid the hammer back, cocking it. I didn’t doubt for a second that he would pull the trigger. Shooting me, shooting my daughter, would mean nothing to him.

“Who will it look like?” Ricky asked me.

It. Like you were an alien. Like you weren’t a person at all.

“Who will the kid look like?” he asked again. “Like I don’t already know.”

“Me,” I spat at him, while I squirmed on the sofa. “She will look exactly like me. Not you. Definitely not you.”

“Are you saying the kid’s not mine?” he asked, poking at my stomach with the gun again. “Is that what you’re telling me? Then why don’t you just admit that you’re a whore? You had it coming, Bec. I gave you what you deserved.”

“Get out, Ricky. Get out of here, and go back to the desert. As soon as Darrell sees you, he’ll put you in prison where you belong.”

“Yeah? You think I’d be convicted of anything because I slapped you around a little? A wife cheats on her husband, he’s entitled to payback. Put any man on the jury, and he’ll see things my way.”

“Get. Out!”

Ricky removed the gun from my belly. He undid the hammer and slipped the revolver inside his belt. Then, reaching out with the swiftness of a snake, he pinched my face until I had to cry from the pain.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay, Bec. This is my house. You’re my wife, and you’re carrying my baby. You may as well get used to the idea. You’re going to get the charges dropped. That’s the first thing. I don’t care what you tell Darrell, but you let him know that if he sees me, all he’s going to do is smile and say ‘Welcome home, Ricky.’ And then you and me are going back to church. You’re going to apologize to God for your sins and make a new vow to obey me. Got it? I’m going to move back in here, and I’m going to sleep in our bed again, and you’re going to spread those pretty legs of yours for me every single night.”

He let go of my face. “Understand? Tell me you understand.”

I worked the stiffness out of my jaw and snarled at him. “I’ll never take you back. It’s never going to happen.”