Chapter 2 - The Loss No One Could Explain Away
The doctor returned nearly an hour later.
Sofía knew the answer before he spoke.
Doctors learned to hold terrible news in a particular kind of silence.
He sat beside her bed.
“I’m very sorry,” he said gently. “The pregnancy was not viable.”
The room became still.
Sofía stared at the thin white blanket covering her legs.
She had been pregnant.
Only a few weeks.
Barely enough time to believe it was real.
But she had already imagined telling Andrés.
She had imagined his face.
She had imagined the Saint Jude charm in the SUV swinging gently as they drove home from appointments.
She had imagined a child’s car seat behind the passenger seat.
Now all of it was gone.
The doctor continued carefully.
“We cannot say with absolute certainty that the assault caused the loss, but the trauma you experienced was serious. We are documenting everything.”
Sofía covered her mouth.
No sound came out.
The grief was too large for sound.
Outside the room, she heard raised voices.
Carmen.
“She was barely pregnant,” she said sharply. “How do we even know she is telling the truth?”
Then Ramiro’s voice.
“She is trying to ruin us.”
Sofía felt something inside her turn cold.
Not grief.
Grief was warm and unbearable.
This was clarity.
They did not care what happened to her.
They cared only about what might happen to them.
A police officer entered soon afterward.
She introduced herself as Officer Lucía Herrera.
“Mrs. Morales,” she said, “I know this is difficult. But I need to ask whether you want to make a statement.”
Sofía looked toward the doorway.
Andrés stood behind the glass panel, his face wet with tears.
He looked devastated.
But not devastated enough to stop his father.
Not devastated enough to take her keys from Iván.
Not devastated enough to speak when she was kicked to the floor.
“Yes,” Sofía said.
May you like
Officer Herrera opened her notebook.
“I want to make a statement.”
