She was right.

That girl did not survive.

Something better grew up in her place, but it took a while, and it started in that courtroom, with a hand against my cheek that I had spent my whole life certain would never come.

Chapter 14 — The Kick

She lowered her shaking hand and rested it, gently, over my belly.

At that exact second the baby kicked hard against her palm, and she closed her eyes, and a single tear went down her face.