“Take a slow breath in for me,” Doctor Miller said.

I gasped before my lungs were half full.

My right hand went flat to my breastbone, pressing hard into the cotton of the yellow hospital gown.

“The ribs are badly bruised,” Doctor Miller said, looking up at the monitor.

“No fractures on the scans.

The baby’s heart rate is holding steady at one hundred forty-two beats a minute.”

Sarah stood at the foot of the bed, her thumb jingling two brass car keys against the heavy ring in her coat pocket.

“What about how hard she was hit?” Sarah asked.