“You said the blood test was positive.”
“I said it detected hCG. That is an important distinction.”
I clung to those words.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the hormone is present. It does not yet tell us why.”
Daniel was released from the consultation room but instructed to remain outside the pediatric unit. He stopped beside the exit.
“Rachel, I need you to look at me.”
I did.
“I would die before I hurt her.”
Eric muttered something under his breath.
Daniel ignored him.
“Tell Sophie I’m not leaving the hospital.”
A nurse escorted him through the double doors.
As they closed, Sophie began crying quietly.
Dr. Ortiz examined the new laboratory report. Her brow tightened.
“Did they make another mistake?” I asked.
“No. They tested a second portion of blood.”
She turned the paper toward me, although the numbers meant nothing.
“The result is not borderline. Sophie’s hCG is significantly elevated.”
Eric stared through the doors Daniel had disappeared behind.
“So there is a baby.”
Dr. Ortiz folded the report.
“We won’t know until we look.”
A transport aide arrived with a wheelchair.
Sophie reached for my hand.
As I helped her into the chair, Eric asked the question none of us wanted answered.
“And if the ultrasound shows nothing?”
Dr. Ortiz looked directly at him.
“Then we have a different emergency.”
Chapter Three
The Empty Ultrasound
The ultrasound room had pictures of smiling cartoon animals taped to the ceiling.
Sophie stared at them while the technician moved the probe across her lower abdomen.
I held her hand. Eric stood near the door with his arms crossed. Daniel remained somewhere downstairs, waiting for news from a family that had just treated him like a criminal.
The screen showed shifting fields of gray.
I kept searching for the shape of a baby even though every part of me rejected the possibility.
The technician measured something, erased it, then measured again.
“Do you see anything?” Eric asked.
“I’m not permitted to interpret the images.”
“That means you don’t.”
“It means a radiologist will review them.”
Sophie turned toward me.
“If there’s a baby, will I have to keep it?”
My throat closed.
“We don’t know that there is one.”
“But the test said—”
“The test found a hormone,” I reminded her. “That’s all we know.”
The technician abruptly stopped moving the probe. She saved several images, then left the room without explaining why.
Eric began pacing.
“This is what happens when everyone worries about Daniel’s feelings instead of finding out what happened to Sophie.”
“Your accusation did not create the test result.”
“No, but living with him might have.”
