Chapter 1

On my sister-in-law's wedding day, thirty-six weeks pregnant, my mother-in-law stationed me at the door to collect the gift money.

Halfway through, my water broke. There was blood in it.

I told my husband to grab the hospital bag and take me to the hospital, but my mother-in-law clutched the gift-money box and blocked us.

"The books are short by two thousand eight hundred dollars. She's been the one taking money all day, and nobody leaves until it's accounted for."

Susannah James came running over with her wedding gown gathered in her hands and tugged at me, wheedling.

"Come on, it won't take long to reconcile. I'm about to do the tea ceremony. We can't let my in-laws find out the gift money's gone missing."

Then she turned to my husband. "Abe, count the money again. And tell the ambulance not to stop at the front doors. It'd be such bad luck to get it on the wedding video."

Abraham James set the hospital bag down at once and sat back at the table.

I begged him through the contractions. "I'm only thirty-six weeks. If I don't get to a hospital, the baby and I are both in danger."

He didn't even look up. "Nobody has a baby that fast. Stop making a scene."

Suddenly I didn't want to beg anymore. I sent my brother a message straight from my watch.

"My water broke at Susannah's wedding. They say the gift money's short by twenty-eight hundred and won't let me go to the hospital."

"Bring an ambulance and the police."

He answered in a second. "Eight minutes."

"Anyone tries to stop you, I'll have them reconcile the books nice and slow in front of the cops."

...

The message had barely gone out when my mother-in-law called over two of the family aunts.

"We're all women here. A quick search won't hurt anyone."

"I'm not accusing her. I just have to give the relatives an answer."

The two of them boxed me in, one on each side, and reached for my bag.

I clamped down on the strap.

"My water already broke. There's a camera on the gift money. Let me get to the hospital first."

My mother-in-law pried my fingers loose by force.

"If you really didn't take it, what are you afraid of?"

Everything in the bag got dumped out across the table.

Keys, my prenatal checkup slips, and a red envelope with two thousand dollars inside.

Her eyes lit up, and she tore it open right there.

"No wonder the books don't add up. The money's right here!"

I explained through the contractions.

"There's a postpartum care center's name printed on that envelope. That's the deposit for the postpartum nurse."

She wasn't listening at all. She stuffed the money into the gift-money box.

"Who's to say she didn't take the gift money and shove it into some random envelope?"

"We'll hold on to this two thousand. Still eight hundred short."

Whispers started up all around me.

Someone said I'd always seemed so honest; someone else asked if I hadn't planned this out ahead of time, waiting for my water to break so I could walk off with the money.

My belly clenched hard, and I grabbed Abraham's arm.

"Help me sit down."

He'd just reached out a hand when Susannah shrieked.

"My shoes!"

The amniotic fluid was running along the red carpet and had soaked into her wedding shoes.

Abraham shook me off at once and crouched down in front of his sister.

"Don't move. I'll wipe them off for you."

He pulled open the hospital bag, tugged out the gauze cloths meant for the baby, and carefully wiped the tops of her shoes.

Susannah's eyes rimmed red with panic.

"These were custom-made for me. I haven't even finished the photos."

"It's fine. Once it's wiped clean, no one will be able to tell."

Abraham didn't lift his head.

"Move over a little. Don't get anything else on Susannah's gown."

I braced myself on the corner of the table and slowly lowered myself down.

So it wasn't that he didn't know how to take care of someone.

He just didn't want to take care of me.

There was an obstetrician among the guests.

She pushed through the crowd, saw the blood on the hem of my skirt, and her face changed in an instant.

"That's bloody amniotic fluid. It could be a placental abruption. Call an ambulance right now."

The hotel manager had just taken out his phone when my mother-in-law pinned his hand down.

"She's still a month from her due date. How could it be that fast?"

The doctor's voice went urgent.

"Her water broke at thirty-six weeks, and there's bleeding with it. Every minute you stall, the mother and the baby could lose oxygen and lose blood!"

The moment Susannah heard the word ambulance, she had the wedding crew seal off the front doors.

"How unlucky would it be, a stretcher and blood on the video?"

"I'm about to do the tea ceremony. Can't it wait until that part's over?"

My mother-in-law started dabbing at her tears too.

"It's not like we said she can't have the baby."

"We're only short twenty-eight hundred. Are we supposed to let a wedding that cost hundreds of thousands fall apart over one person?"

Abraham pushed the gift-money ledger in front of me.

"Sign it. Admit you counted wrong."

"Square the books, and I'll take you out of here right away."

"I didn't take the money."

His face darkened.

"I'm trying to protect your reputation here. Don't be so ungrateful."

He tucked my ID, delivery card, and prenatal records into a document folder and pinned it under the ledger.

"You leave when you own up to it."

Outside the hotel, the ambulance siren finally sounded.

I'd barely felt the relief when three wedding cars swung sideways across the front doors, and the side door was blocked off with a flower arch.

Through the glass, I watched my brother pounding on the door.

Abraham picked up his call.

"The money's not accounted for. Doesn't matter who shows up, nobody's taking her out of here."

The obstetrician bent down to check on me again.

This time her voice changed completely.

"There's more and more blood."

"And the fetal heartbeat is starting to drop."