"Your Maxwell is finally going to be a father!"
"And it's twins!"
Granny Perkins, the widowed old lady from the neighborhood, clasped my hands, so moved she was on the verge of tears.
I squeezed her hands tight. "Granny, the pregnant one isn't me."
The shock hit her so hard the tears she'd been about to shed retreated right back into her eyes.
"That boy of theirs has been a handful since he was little. Just be patient with him. Be the bigger person."
I smiled and nodded. "I know. The children come first, after all."
Granny said, "I knew I wasn't wrong about you. When Maxwell divorces you, I'll put in a good word, make sure you get a fair share of the money."
I told her, "Everything Maxwell has right now is mine."
"I gave it to him, and I can take it all back."
"But since he's making me a mother without any of the labor pains, I'll let it slide."
Granny stared at me for a beat. Then she gripped her cane and hobbled home at a speed I didn't think her legs were capable of.
The night I brought Mrs. Head home, I was fast asleep.
A pillow smacked me awake.
I opened my eyes to find my mother-in-law standing over me.
"Vera's carrying twins, and you're sleeping like a log? Get up and take care of her."
When I didn't move, she grabbed my arm and hauled me out of bed.
"Go sleep in Vera's room. Makes it easier to look after her."
"What about the nurse?"
"I sent the nurse away. No hired help takes care of family the way you can."
I was only a second too slow, and her tone sharpened. "What, you don't want to?"
"You're the one who can't pop out a baby. Whose fault is that?"
I swallowed the words rising in my throat.
"How do you know it's boy-girl twins?"
"Quit your yapping. Maxwell paid someone to check."
"Does the doctor know what Vera's actually carrying?"
"Enough with the nonsense. Get moving. Whatever she's carrying, it's a Head through and through."
I watched Mrs. Head standing there, so absolutely certain of herself, and the corner of my mouth curved upward. Well then. Let's hope you won't be disappointed.
Vera's due date hadn't arrived yet, but I could tell she was going into early labor.
Over Mrs. Head's objections, I got Vera into the car and headed for the hospital.
"She's not even due! You're dragging her to a hospital crawling with germs. What are you playing at?"
"Vera, sweetie, listen to Mama. Wait until your due date, okay?"
I dropped the obedient act. "No. She needs to be at the hospital now."
Mrs. Head was even more stubborn than I was. She grabbed my arm.
"Absolutely not. Hospitals are breeding grounds for bacteria. If my grandchild catches something, that's on you."
I shook her hand off and got Vera into the car by force.
Vera glanced at me with gratitude in her eyes.
I said, "Don't thank me."
"Women shouldn't make things harder for other women."
Halfway to the hospital, Maxwell blocked the road.
The look he gave me could have peeled skin from bone.
"Sharon, what the hell are you up to?"
"Trying to hurt my son?"
He parked his car sideways across the road, and within seconds a crowd gathered. Hundreds of people closed in around us.
This was the moment Vera could have stepped out and said one word in my defense, and the whole thing would have been over. But she stayed curled up in the backseat, wide-eyed and pitiful, gazing at Maxwell like he was some raging beast she couldn't possibly intervene against.
"If anything happens to my son, I'll bury you with him!"
I shot a cool glance at Vera cowering in the car, then turned a flat look on Maxwell and his snarling face.
"I'm doing this for Vera and the baby!"
"Ha. She's not even due yet. Don't think I don't know what you're really after."
I said, "Whether she's due or not isn't for you to decide!"
I pointed at Vera huddled in the backseat. "Ask her yourself!"
Maybe our screaming match had finally gotten to her. The delicate, helpless expression on Vera's face crumpled in an instant, twisting into something tight and agonized, like a wrung-out dishrag.
"Vera? What's wrong?"
