Part 2

The squeal of the screen door and a soft click echoed through the walls of the trailer. Jonah’s head snapped up. Salem appeared in the doorway, bag in hand, heels tapping lightly on the vinyl tile. Her expectant eyes shone wide and bright in the fading evening light.

“Jonah! You’re home! We should really have the driveway paved. It’s impossible to walk in heels,” her voice rang cheerful and oblivious to the storm brewing in him. “Did you have a good day?”

He lifted the rubber belly, his hands shaking. “What is this?” His voice was low and hoarse.

* * *

Salem’s eyes flicked to the table, and as the electric confusion rose in her, the mood darkened. Rage flared across her face. “Why would you open it? This is my package! That’s invasion of my privacy and completely illegal!”

Jonah rubbed his face, dirt caking in his palms and dropping on his red shirt collar already stained where sweat dried and turned to salt. “I… I don’t even know what to say anymore. I can’t… I can’t pretend.”

Her voice sharpened, slicing through the quiet. “Say ‘congratulations!’ Say it, or don’t call yourself part of this family!”

Jonah’s hands gripped the table. His knuckles whitened. “Because it’s not real, Salem. You’re… you’re lying. You are lying to me, the world, and to yourself! This is crazy.”

Her face went hard as steel and white as ice. “‘Not real’, ‘Crazy’? I’ve carried this child. I’ve felt it move. Don’t you dare.”

Jonah’s body sagged under the weight of exhaustion and the drain of loving someone he no longer recognized. He didn’t respond, couldn’t respond. Nothing left to respond to.

Salem’s fury shifted to something quieter, more dangerous. Her eyes narrowed. Without a word, she grabbed the package, turned, and strode into the living room, her high heels dragging against the old carpet. Door closed and the house around him settled into silence, and only the scent of her perfume and the heavy ache of loyalty warped by fear lingered.

Jonah sat at the table for a long time. He rubbed his face again and whispered to himself, “I love her… why do I love her?”

The faint hum of the fridge, the tick of the electric wall clock, the distant wind outside – it was all he had left.

* * *

The fluorescent lights buzzed and flickered, rising a restless energy in the quiet clinic. Salem sat behind the front desk, her hands clenched into fists, knuckles white. The phone on the receiver had been ringing repeatedly, she flinched with each shrill ring, and her chest tightened as if receiving a physical blow over the phone line. Salem pressed one hand to her new belly, rocking slightly in her chair. She reached for the phone, lifted it to her ear, then slammed it back down. Her lips moved silently, words spilling out in an incoherent mutter, sharp syllables of anger and desperation.

Across the hall, Carla and Denise moved quietly between the exam rooms, but both repeatedly glanced toward the front desk where the phone went on ringing.

“It’s been like this all morning,” Carla whispered in a tense voice. “Every time the phone rings, she just… loses it.”

Denise nodded, leaning against the wall. “I don’t think she can hold herself steady today. Look at her. She’s… oscillating. She can lose it any moment.”

* * *

The phone’s shrill ring filled the room with insistence once again. With a clenched jaw, Salem snatched up the receiver.

“Hello?” Her voice was clipped, careful.

“Ms. Brody? This is Leland from Greenfield Realty. I’m calling about the payment for the Jackson’s Blueberry Farms. You signed the purchase agreement two weeks ago, and the seller is insisting on finalizing the transfer. The escrow company will need the funds cleared by Friday.”

Salem’s hand pressed to her forehead. “Yes… yes, of course, I… I’m arranging it. There are some… international banking issues. It’s… it’s complicated moving money over the border.”

The agent’s tone sharpened. “Ms. Brody, this is standard procedure. The seller has been patient, but the escrow can’t hold indefinitely. If payment isn’t received, the contract is void. That means legal consequences for you.”