For the next few hours the ward stayed strangely quiet. Tim didn't come back, and Harper didn't show up either.

I leaned against the headboard, staring blankly at the ceiling, until the night deepened and drowsiness finally crept over me.

My vision blurred, and there was Harper, a sharp knife clutched in her hand, driving it straight at my belly.

I jerked upright and grabbed her wrist, the one holding the knife. As we wrestled we slammed into the cabinet by the bed, and glass medicine bottles shattered across the floor.

Harper's eyes were vicious.

"You actually think you can marry Tim?"

"Don't think that having a baby means you get to marry him! Aiden is my child with him. He will never marry you!"

I clamped down on her wrist and pushed with everything I had to shove her away.

Then I threw all my strength into one kick.

Her legs gave out and she went down on the floor.

Tim heard the noise and came back. He saw Harper, hair a mess, a cut on her face, and pulled her behind him.

She cried and accused me. "Tim, I only came to see my sister, and not only did she not appreciate it, she tried to kill me."

"I know she's heartbroken about the problem with her baby, but how could she do this?"

Her tears looked genuine, but when she looked at me the malice in her eyes could barely stay hidden.

Tim looked at me, his eyes cold. "I never imagined you could be this vicious."

Then, ignoring the fact that I was pregnant, he grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the ward.

"Tim."

"Shut up." He hauled me out the back door, down a stretch of muddy path, and stopped in front of a row of low walls.

The air was thick with the smell of livestock.

It was a pigpen.

He pushed open the fence gate. Inside, a few pigs startled and crowded together, grunting, splashing muddy water everywhere.

His voice shook, and he wouldn't meet my eyes.

"You're not thinking straight. I had no choice but to do this to make you calm down. Once you've calmed down, I'll take you back."

He shoved me in. I stumbled, catching myself with a palm against the fence, all wet mud.

He shut the gate, and the latch dropped with a click.

I stood there in the mud of the pigpen, watching his back.

The night wind blew in, carrying the stench with it.

I looked down at my swollen belly and laid my hand over it, gently, gently. No, I had to find a way out.

I braced against the fence and pulled myself up, the mud on my hands running down through my fingers.

"Tim, you're leaving me in here? This is a pigpen."

"Tim! I'm still carrying your child."

His steps paused, and he glanced back at me.

"Child?"

He gave a small laugh, walked up to me, stroked my face, and wiped away my tears.

"It's just an embryo. It doesn't count as a child."

I opened my mouth. My throat felt like someone had it in a fist.

"Tim, I'm begging you."

I reached for the railing and pushed. It didn't budge.

He took a step back.

"The rails are reinforced. Don't waste your strength. I'll come get you myself tomorrow."

He walked off without looking back.

The pigpen door swung shut behind him.

I watched his shape vanish into the dark, and my legs gave out. I dropped into the muck.

The pain in my belly started. Like someone slicing down through me, layer by layer, with a dull blade.

I'd been through it three times already.

Something warm surged out from under me, running down my thighs, mixing with the mud.

"Help..."

The blood kept coming. The smell of it spooked the pigs, and they crowded grunting into the corner.

My vision started to blur.

The pool of blood under me had spread wide, soaked into the black mud, no color left to tell what it had been.

"My baby..."

I struggled, and then there was nothing left in me, and the world went black.

When I woke again, I was in a hospital.

"Mr. Delgado, Ms. Fox's fourth miscarriage has been dealt with. Given the heavy bleeding, on top of the damage to the uterine wall from the earlier miscarriages, I'm afraid from now on..."

The doctor's voice came through the half-open door. Somewhere nearby a nurse was reminding another pregnant woman, "Don't forget your prenatal checks at the county family-services office. An unregistered birth costs you a whole year's wages in fines."

"She'll never be able to carry a child again."

My father's voice was flat. "Just as well. Saves us the shame of her turning out some deformed baby down the line."

My mother sighed. "If it's not in your fate, no use forcing it."

They wheeled me out. I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Tears slid from the corners of my eyes and ran into my ears, cold.

My hand rested on my belly. It was empty now.

Everything was gone.

Five pregnancies, five miscarriages. It was time I gave up.

Back in the room, the anesthesia hadn't worn off yet, the pain spreading through my whole body.

Tim took a phone call and left.

"Harper's not feeling well. I need to go check on her. Rest here. I'll be right back."

He didn't even look at me when he said it.

I caught his hand. "Tim, we'll still have the wedding, won't we..."

He pried my fingers loose and left me with only one line. "We will." Then he was gone.

I touched my flat stomach and thought: The only thing you'll be having is the funeral I'm planning for you.

A nurse came in once to change the IV bag. I refused.

"I want to be discharged."

The nurse blinked. "You just came out of a miscarriage procedure. You need several days of rest."

"I'm leaving right now!"

That night I gritted my teeth and threw off the blanket. The moment my feet touched the floor the pain buckled me. I steadied myself against the wall and inched over to the wardrobe, took out the suitcase I'd packed long ago, and dragged it step by step out of the room.