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“There’s nothing we can do – she’s gone,” the midwife said, shaking her head, patting Suzan’s shoulder as Phinizy watched. “It doesn’t matter, darling,” Phinizy said to Suzan, who was still sweating from the birthing ordeal. “We have three others already. We can make more.” Suzan looked at her husband with exhausted eyes, betraying no emotion.
Grace peered through the bedroom door from the upstairs hallway. She had been sent outside to wash the towels, but she had re-entered the house and watched the entire mishandled delivery.
“That baby t’ain’t dead,” she said, pushing the door open. “Let me have her!”