Page 52 of Ruthless Sin
“He’ll need a stubborn name,” I say.
Oksana’s smile deepens.
My eyes sting. I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth and breathe through it. I am not going to cry in this room. I am not going to be the one who breaks in this room. I breathe through it.
Oksana leans her head toward mine.
“He kicked in the night. He has taste in music already, only the loud kind.” Her eyes soften for one beat. “He’s going to be impossible. I can’t wait.”
She lays her hand flat on the belly. Looks at me.
“You want to feel?”
Her hand on the belly. Sofia on my other side, eyes down, shaking.
I open my mouth.
“Boy?”
Oksana’s mouth opens.
“Boy.” Her voice has gone small. “It’s a boy.”
Oksana’s breath catches. “Mila. Oh, Mila.”
She’s crying. Full-volume, no apology. The tears slide down her cheeks and she doesn’t wipe them.
“Mila. Mila.”
Sofia takes my left hand in her right. Light. Asking.
I let her have it.
The therapist writes one line on her tablet across the room and doesn’t look up.
The blonde woman has gone quiet.
The Vietnamese woman has her eyes on her hands.
Oksana keeps crying.
The therapist says gently, “Oksana, breathe.”
“I am breathing.”
“Slow.”
Oksana’s hand stills on her belly.
“Slow is for women who didn’t just hear Mila speak for the first time.”
The therapist’s mouth moves. Not quite a smile.
“All right, Oksana.”
“All right, Doctor.”
The session ends early. We walk out into the hallway with Oksana’s hand on the small of my back, her voice already going, filling the corridor.
