My Wife Was Seven Months Pregnant When She Stopped Leaving Bed—Then I Lifted the Blue Blanket and Realized My Mother Already Knew What Was Underneath

Stopped answering friends.

Started eating in the bedroom.

She spent hours lying on her side beneath a thick blue wool blanket even though the apartment was warm.

Whenever I tried to help her adjust her legs or stand so she could walk to the bathroom, her whole body tightened.

Not discomfort.

Fear.

“Clara?”

“I’m okay.”