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“You okay?” Winnie asked.
“I’m fine.” The words came out sharper than I intended, and I was instantly regretful. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. My back is just killing me from this mattress.”
She got to her feet and crossed the little room to sit beside me. The mattress in question squeaked beneath her weight. “Just hang in there. It won’t be like this forever. Hayden promised he’d get us proper beds as soon as Caleb is gone.”
I flinched at the mention of the two men keeping us hostage. “I wouldn’t count on it.”
Winnie twisted so she was half sitting behind me. “Where does it hurt? Here?”
I nodded when she prodded my lower back with strong fingers. But the kneading felt great.
Until it didn’t.
I groaned loudly. The pain lasted a minute or so then subsided.
She paused, watching me. “Are those pains coming and going?”
I nodded miserably. “Sorry. You don’t have to keep massaging my back. I’m not a complainer normally, I swear. I don’t know what I’ve pulled, but it’s bad.”
Winnie exchanged a look with Georgia before picking up my fingers. “Babe. Is there any chance you could be in labor?”
I shook my head. “I’m not due for another three weeks, and this pain is pretty firmly in my back. Not my stomach. I’ve just twisted something.”
Georgia bit her lip. “I’ve watched enough medical procedure shows to know that back pain is a sign of labor too.”
Winnie nodded in agreement.
I glanced between the two women. “Seriously?”
Georgia knelt in front of me, rubbing her fingers over mine. “Didn’t they teach you that at those parent-to-be classes?”
Just further proof I was a naïve, stupid little girl who was way out of her depth. I didn’t know anything about that. “There’s classes? My family always just gives birth at home. So does everyone else I know. The women all attend…”
I groaned as another pain splintered through my lower back. “Oh, my. That really hurts. Is there any Tylenol here?”
Vivienne got up and crossed the room to the door. “I’ll ask Hayden.”
I shook my head viciously. “No!”
All four women stared at me.
I lowered my voice. “Please, no. If you’re right and this baby is coming now, they can’t know.”
For the past few days, Nova had given off an air of “I don’t care.” She’d refused to join in with conversations she didn’t deem interesting enough and spent hours with her nose stuck in one of the few books we’d been given. But now, her book was tossed to the side, completely forgotten. Apparently, me giving birth was more interesting than whatever she’d been reading.
She scrunched her face into an expression that clearly made out she thought I was crazy. “Honey, if you have a baby in here, there ain’t gonna be any hiding it. You have seen a baby, right? Small, squawking things? I might not have seen any human babies being born, but I’ve seen enough animals. Blood. Shit. God knows what other fluids. Plus, you’re already squealing like a stuck pig. Once that baby is coming out your hoo ha, you really think you’re going to be able to keep quiet?”
I had to be.
Caleb had already threatened my child once. I rubbed my hands over my bump protectively. Once he or she was born, Caleb would take them from me. If we were separated, I would never know if they were properly taken care of. If they were even alive or dead.
He wasn’t taking my child.
I didn’t care if this baby was half his.
He or she was all mine. “Just give me something to bite down on. I can be quiet.”
Winnie looked around. “I don’t see anything.”