“He threw her sideways into a wooden register counter.”

“The amniotic fluid absorbed most of the impact,” Doctor Miller said, clipping his pen back into his breast pocket.

“Your baby is completely unharmed, Clara.”

The ultrasound monitor sent a steady, quick heartbeat into the quiet room.

“The emergency intake bill comes to seven hundred and twenty dollars,” I said, running my thumb along the edge of the plastic hospital bracelet.

“I wrote you a prescription for prenatal vitamins and a mild muscle rub, which comes to twenty-two dollars at the pharmacy,” Doctor Miller said, setting a plastic cup of water on my tray table.