Part 5
“If you call an ambulance, they will ask what she consumed.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“They will treat her.”
“They will test the soup.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn’s lips parted.
Daniel rose slowly.
“What is in it?”
“Nothing dangerous.”
Mara made a small, broken sound.
Daniel stepped toward his mother.
“What is in it?”
Evelyn looked past him at the bowl.
“An herbal mixture.”
The answer was quiet.
“What mixture?”
“Something to calm her.”
Mara’s hand moved protectively across her stomach.
Daniel heard his own breath.
“You put something in her food.”
“It is not poison.”
“What did you put in it?”
“Valerian. A small amount.”
“Valerian?”
“And another tincture.”
“What tincture?”
Evelyn rubbed her wrist again.
“I don’t remember the name.”
“You called someone for eleven minutes and you don’t remember the name?”
“I called because I became concerned.”
“After she got sick?”
“Yes.”
“Who did you call?”
“The woman who gave it to me.”
“Name.”
“She runs a wellness practice.”
“Name.”
“Daniel, stop speaking to me as though I am a criminal.”
“You drugged my pregnant wife.”
“I gave her something natural.”
“So is arsenic.”
Evelyn recoiled.
Mara began crying in earnest then, but quietly. Her shoulders shook. She pressed her face into the pillow to muffle the sound.
Daniel turned back to her.
“No, no. Don’t hide.”
He sat and gathered her carefully against him.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“The embryo. I should have told you.”
“Not now.”
“I lied.”
“Not now.”
“You have a right to be angry.”
“I said not now.”
His voice was too sharp. Mara stiffened.
Daniel lowered it immediately.
“I am angry,” he said. “And I love you. Both can be true. Right now, you and the baby come first.”
She searched his face.
He wondered how many times she had tried to calculate whether his love could survive the truth.
He did not know the answer.
He only knew he wanted her alive long enough for them to find it.
Daniel unlocked his phone and called emergency services.
Evelyn moved toward him.
He held up one finger.
She stopped.
The dispatcher answered.
Daniel gave the address, described Mara’s pregnancy, the abdominal pain, the suspected substance in the soup. His voice remained controlled until the dispatcher asked whether the person who administered it was still present.
Daniel looked at his mother.
“Yes,” he said. “She’s here.”
Evelyn’s face drained.
The dispatcher instructed him not to let Mara eat or drink anything else, not to induce vomiting, and to preserve the bowl and any containers connected to the substance.
“What container?” Daniel asked after ending the call.
“I threw it away.”
“Where?”
“The kitchen bin.”
“When?”
“Before dinner.”
“What did it look like?”
“A small brown bottle.”
“Label?”
“I told you, I don’t remember.”
Daniel picked up the old phone again.
“Unlock this.”
“It is already unlocked.”
“Give me the name of the woman you called.”
“I need to speak to a lawyer.”
The sentence changed the room.
Mara stared at her.
Daniel felt something colder than anger move through him.
His mother was no longer defending an innocent mistake. She was arranging herself around consequences.
“You need to tell the paramedics what you gave her.”
“I will tell the doctor.”
“You will tell me now.”
“I am not discussing private health matters while you are shouting.”
“I am not shouting.”
That was true.
His voice had become very quiet.
Evelyn seemed more frightened of it.
Mara reached for him.
“Daniel.”
He returned to the bed.
Her skin looked damp again. He placed the back of his fingers against her forehead.
“Are you dizzy?”
“A little.”
“Can you feel him?”
She waited.
They both watched the blanket.
Nothing moved.
Mara’s eyes widened.
“He was moving before.”
Daniel put his hand against her stomach.
“Come on,” he whispered.
He shifted to the other side.
Nothing.
Mara’s breathing quickened.
“Maybe he’s sleeping.”
Daniel knew enough to understand that reassurance was not evidence.
“The ambulance is coming.”
“How long?”
“They said eight minutes.”
“What if—”
“Don’t.”
Her eyes found his.
He softened.
“Don’t go there yet.”
“I can’t feel him.”
Daniel pressed his palm lower.
For several seconds, there was only warmth.
Then a faint roll moved beneath his hand.
Mara gasped.
“There.”
“Yes.”
She covered his hand with hers.
The baby moved again, stronger.
Daniel lowered his forehead to her shoulder.
He did not pray often. He had stopped after the miscarriage because prayer had begun to feel like negotiating with someone who refused to enter the room.
Now words came without form.
Please.
Only that.
Please.
Behind him, Evelyn sat down again.
The chair creaked.
Daniel lifted his head.
“Where did you get the tincture?”
His mother’s eyes glistened.
He had seen her cry three times: at his father’s funeral, when Daniel left for college, and when Mara announced this pregnancy. Even then, her tears had seemed arranged.
These were not.
“I was trying to protect him.”
She looked at Mara’s stomach.
Daniel stood so quickly the lamp shade trembled.
“From what?”
“From her.”
Mara made a sound of disbelief.
Evelyn raised both hands.
“Listen to me. The embryo was created from your genetic material.”
“Yes.”
“And hers.”
“Yes.”
“She transferred it without your knowledge. She admitted that.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“That is between Mara and me.”
“It concerns all of us.”
“No. It concerns two people.”
“It concerns your son.”
“He is not yours.”
Evelyn’s face twisted.
Not with anger.
Pain.
“He is my family.”
“Mara is your family.”
“She deceived you.”
“So you gave her an unknown substance?”
“To calm the contractions.”
“There were no contractions before the soup,” Mara said.
Evelyn looked at her.
“You had been complaining of pressure.”
“I said the baby was low.”
“You said your back hurt.”
“I have been pregnant all day.”
“You were agitated.”
“Because you held the letter in my face and called me a thief.”
Daniel turned to Mara.
“She did what?”
May you like
Mara wiped her cheeks.
“She asked how long I planned to hide the transfer.”
