Page 14 of Unwell
‘Mama. Mama and Pops took them all. They said I couldn’t keep them. I was too young and too stupid. Elijah would have helped me.’
They must have adopted them out, not wanting to have another mouth to feed.
‘What did Elijah say?’
Ginny’s fingers drew tiny circles over her stomach, tracing the contours of her child. ‘He was mad. But hesaid it would be okay, that I wasn’t in trouble. That we’d make another. That they couldn’t take them all.’
Maybe I could find them. Track down an adoption agency near her farm and see if they had any abandoned babies at the hospitals or fire stations.
‘Did they have anything with them when your mother took them? Anything that could be identified?’
‘A ribbon. They all went with one of my ribbons. And Mama knitted them all the sweetest little cardigans. White with yellow daisies.’ Ginny reached over and took my hand, placing it over a spot high on her stomach. ‘Do you feel her?’
Between her hand and her stomach, she sandwiched my hand with warmth. I felt nothing.
‘Nurse Nancy?’ Ginny asked. ‘You won’t take her from me, will you?’
A bump against my hand stilled me. It felt like the gentle nudge of fate. Like Ginny had been brought to me for a reason. If I couldn’t get her out, maybe I could help raise her baby. Keep her close enough to visit.
Promising her that I wouldn’t take her baby would be a lie. Because no matter how I pitied the young woman, the envy that washed me as that tiny life inside her pressed against my hand was heavy enough to drown any morals I had.
I’d prayed for a child of my own.
What if my prayers were being answered in the form of this skinny, sweet, downtrodden woman?
It would be wrong to discard that miracle.
‘Nurse Nancy?’
‘I’ll protect her,’ I whispered, sliding my hand lower on her stomach to feel another divine nudge from within.
‘And me?’ Ginny opened her eyes to meet mine.
‘Of course, sweet girl.’
EIGHT
GINNY
Dr. Marney gripped my wrist as I winced, the skin purpling under his harsh touch. ‘Listen to me, you stupid whore. You do as I say, when I say.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I stammered, trying to pull away and failing. ‘I didn’t mean to.’
My spilled water pooled on the ground between us. Mud clung to the tiny white pills I’d dropped.
‘You take your medication when the nurses tell you, or you’ll be tied to your fucking bed and force-fed them.’ Dr. Marney’s nostrils flared as he spoke, rage in every word.
The head doctor terrified me. The staff, on the whole, were sick in the head, but he was like a coiledviper. All restrained violence just waiting to strike. I tried to avoid him at all costs.
Nancy would never have told on me for not taking my meds, but the scrawny older nurse ran straight to him like a tattletale.
‘They might be bad for the baby,’ I whispered.
Dr. Marney stooped and picked up the pills, mud and all. ‘Open your mouth.’
The pills and his fingers were brown with dirt. I refused with a shake of my head.
His hand met my cheek with a ferocious slap, instantly bringing tears to my eyes.
