“Stay seated against the wall, Lily.

Keep Leo’s head supported against your chest.

You’re doing everything right.

If either of you feels sick, or dizzy, or too hot, you tell me immediately, okay?

I’m almost there.

I’m almost there, baby.”

And the whole time, underneath the calm voice I was giving my daughter, something else was building in me — a cold, clear, structured fury, the kind I did not know I had.

Because there is a difference, an enormous difference, between an accident and a choice.