Chapter 1 - The Words Eleanor Couldn’t Take Back
Claire Bennett was lowering herself carefully into a chair when Eleanor grabbed the backrest.
Then she yanked.
The chair shot backward.
Claire crashed onto the carpet.
Her hands flew around her eight-month pregnant belly.
Before she could catch her breath, Eleanor’s foot struck her stomach.
Claire screamed.
“What is WRONG with you?!”
Eleanor didn’t even flinch.
Instead, she grabbed a basket of party trash from the dessert table and dumped it over Claire.
Napkins, paper plates, frosting-smeared wrappers, and wilted flowers scattered across her blue maternity dress.
“You deserve every bit of this.”
The doorway opened.
Michael Bennett froze.
Then he ran.
“CLAIRE!”
He shoved Eleanor away and dropped beside his wife.
Claire clung to his shirt.
“She always does this whenever you leave us home alone!”
Michael slowly looked at his mother.
Something in his face changed.
He helped Claire onto the sofa.
Then Eleanor stepped toward her again.
Michael blocked her.
His palm cracked across Eleanor’s cheek.
“DON’T YOU EVER TOUCH HER AGAIN!”
Eleanor stumbled backward into the gift table.
Boxes crashed to the floor.
Her face twisted with fury.
And then she made the mistake that changed everything.
“You said the exact same thing about the first baby!”
Michael stopped moving.
Claire stared at her.
The room became silent.
Michael took one step toward his mother.
“What first baby?”
Eleanor’s face went white.
Claire felt her unborn child kick beneath her hands.
“Eleanor?”
No answer.
Michael’s voice dropped.
“What did you just say?”
“I misspoke.”
“No.”
Claire struggled upright.
“You said first baby.”
Eleanor grabbed her purse.
“This is ridiculous.”
Michael blocked the door.
“Were you talking about Claire?”
For the first time, Eleanor looked afraid.
Claire’s pulse hammered.
She had been pregnant once before.
Three years earlier.
Twelve weeks.
Then bleeding.
A hospital.
Medication.
Eleanor beside her bed.
And a doctor telling Claire there was nothing they could do.
Claire had been told she miscarried.
She had mourned that baby for years.
Michael stared at his mother.
“Mom…”
Claire whispered the question she suddenly feared more than any answer.
“What happened to my first baby?”
Eleanor said nothing.
May you like
But her silence told Claire one terrifying thing.
There was something to find.
