Chapter One

The Positive Test

“My ten-year-old daughter’s pregnancy test came back positive. When her biological father arrived at the hospital, he pointed at my husband and said, ‘Arrest him.’”

 

Two hours earlier, Sophie had been sitting between Daniel and me in the emergency room, swinging her sneakered feet beneath the chair.

She looked too small for the adult blood pressure cuff wrapped around her arm.

For six weeks, she had complained of headaches. At first, they came after school. Then they began waking her before dawn. That Monday morning, she vomited during math class and walked into a row of lockers on her way to the nurse’s office.

Her pediatrician told us to take her to the hospital.

“She’s also been developing early,” I told Dr. Lena Ortiz. “She needed her first training bra before most of her friends. I thought she just took after me.”

Dr. Ortiz asked Sophie several questions, then ordered bloodwork and a urine sample.

No one mentioned a pregnancy test.

Twenty minutes later, Dr. Ortiz returned without the easy smile she had worn before.

“Mrs. Morgan, may I speak with you privately?”

“You can talk in front of Daniel.”

Her gaze moved toward my husband.

“I need to examine Sophie alone first.”

Daniel immediately stood.

“Of course.”

He kissed the top of Sophie’s head, but she grabbed his hand.

“Don’t leave.”

“I’ll be right outside, bug.”

After the door closed, Dr. Ortiz pulled a chair beside Sophie’s bed.

“Sophie, I’m going to ask you some uncomfortable questions. You aren’t in trouble.”

Sophie looked at me.

“What kind of questions?”

“Has anyone ever touched you beneath your clothes?”

Her feet stopped swinging.

“No.”

“Has anyone asked you to keep a secret about touching?”

“No.”

My heart began pounding.

“Why are you asking her that?”

Dr. Ortiz turned the computer screen away from Sophie.

“Her urine pregnancy test was positive.”

For several seconds, the room made no sound except for the air conditioner.

Then I laughed.

Not because it was funny. Because the words were impossible.

“She’s ten.”

“I understand.”

“She still sleeps with a stuffed rabbit.”

“A test can occasionally be wrong. We’re repeating it with bloodwork.”

Sophie’s face had gone white.

“Am I having a baby?”

I pulled her against me.

“No. There’s been a mistake.”

Hospital policy required them to contact both a social worker and Sophie’s other legal guardian. Daniel was not allowed back into the room.

Eric arrived thirty minutes later.

He came through the doors so quickly that a security officer followed him down the hall. Daniel stood when he saw him.

“What happened?” Eric demanded.

Daniel raised both hands. “Let the doctor explain.”

Eric looked through the window and saw Sophie crying against my shoulder. Then he noticed the social worker sitting beside her bed.

His expression changed.

“No.”

“Eric—”

“You live in the same house as her.”

Daniel stepped backward as if he had been struck.

“I have never hurt Sophie.”

Eric pointed directly at him.

“Arrest him.”

A nurse pulled the curtain, but Sophie had already heard.

She slid out of my arms and ran toward the door.

“Dad, stop!”

Eric tried to enter. The security officer blocked him while the social worker guided Sophie back.

Daniel stood motionless in the hallway.

Sophie pressed both palms against the glass.

“He didn’t do anything!”

Dr. Ortiz returned carrying a printed laboratory report. She shut the door behind her.

I searched her face for reassurance.

“The urine test was wrong, wasn’t it?”

She didn’t answer immediately.

“We repeated the test using Sophie’s blood.”

My stomach tightened.

“And?”

“The result is positive.”

Sophie began shaking her head.

“But I’ve never even kissed anyone.”

“I believe you,” Dr. Ortiz said.

Outside the room, Eric was still shouting at Daniel. Every person in the hallway had turned to watch the man they already believed had harmed my child.

Dr. Ortiz lowered her voice.

“The laboratory ran the sample twice. Sophie has a significant amount of pregnancy hormone in her blood.”

I gripped the side of the bed.

“What happens now?”

“We need an ultrasound immediately.”

“To find the baby?”

Dr. Ortiz looked at Sophie, then back at me.

“To determine whether there is a baby at all.”