Page 262 of Wicked Brutal

Penny stares at the marks. “I would like it formally noted that I am also participating in the good fucking day.”

I smile carefully. “Noted.”

Darla isn’t smiling. She steps closer and examines one arm, then the other, without pressing where she doesn’t need to. Her expression hardens as she works — the arms, the discoloration at my cheek, my lip — and I answer her questions as they come. Yes, he grabbed me. Yes, the slap split my lip. Yes, he shook me, both arms, hard. No, I didn’t fall, didn’t hit my stomach, no bleeding, no cramping, nothing feels different.

Cat mutters something under her breath through all of it. I don’t catch most of it. I do catch grave.

Darla glances at her. “Good day, Catherine.”

“I’m having one.”

Penny snorts.

Darla nods once, satisfied, and sets the wand down beside her. “All right. Lie back.”

Becca doesn’t let go of my hand. Darla has me lift my shirt enough to expose my stomach, then squeezes gel onto my skin.

The wand touches me and suddenly nothing else matters. Not my arms. Not my face. Not my lip. Not Dad. Nothing.

Darla watches the little screen, moving the wand slowly. Nobody speaks. Becca’s hand is warm in mine. Cat has moved closer. Penny is so still at the foot of the bed she barely looks like herself. My heart starts beating harder with every second that passes.

Please. Please be okay. Please.

Darla adjusts the wand. Moves it slightly. Then— “There.”

Everything inside me stops. I look at the screen. My baby. “Oh.” It’s barely a sound.

Becca squeezes my hand.

“There you are,” Darla murmurs.

The tiny shape on the screen moves. Actually moves. My eyes fill instantly. “Is that—“

“Baby’s moving.”

A tear slips down my cheek. Cat makes a tiny sound beside me, and when I look at her, she’s already crying.

She wipes beneath one eye and scowls at nothing. “Don’t.” Penny sniffles. Cat points at her without looking. “You too.”

“Shut up.”

Becca laughs softly beside me. I turn toward her, and the tears are already running down her face, and my heart twists — because I know what this sound means to her. What babies mean to her. What she and Danny lost to the same people we’re still trying to survive. For half a second, I worry.

But Becca squeezes my hand so hard it almost hurts. Then she smiles. Huge. Wet. Real. “It’s a good day.”

“What?”

“Your baby’s okay.” She wipes at her cheek. “You’re okay. We’re going prom dress shopping.” Her smile turns fierce. “So let’s fucking get it.”

A laugh bursts out of me. Cat laughs. Penny makes a watery noise that turns into one too.

Even Darla smiles. “Would all of you like to hear the heartbeat before this becomes a group dehydration event?”

“Yes,” all four of us say at once. Darla laughs, adjusts something on the machine, moves the wand — and the room fills with the fastest, most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.

Becca’s hand crushes mine. “Oh my God.”

Penny covers her mouth. Cat loses whatever battle she was still fighting with her tears. And I can’t do anything but stare at the screen. That’s my baby. Our baby. Ryan’s and mine. Safe inside me. A tiny heart beating away like Thursday never happened. Like Dad’s hands couldn’t reach this one thing.