Chapter 3

The Road That Turned East

Rachel had driven from Pittsburgh after receiving one message from Hannah—Tonight—and when she saw her sister clutching her stomach beneath the porch light, she reached for the bag and said they needed to go directly to the hospital.

Hannah told her that she did not want Derek’s hospital or his city, and Rachel, watching the strain move across her sister’s face with every contraction, warned that they might not reach Pittsburgh before the baby came.

“I do not need to reach Pennsylvania,” Hannah said, pressing both hands over her stomach as the car pulled away from the curb, “I only need to know I am leaving the house he used to control me.”

Derek called ten minutes later, and Hannah let the phone ring against her thigh while the dark streets of Columbus began to disappear behind them, then watched a message arrive asking where she was and saying the wedding ring was not funny.

Four Minutes Between the Bells

His calls continued as Rachel drove east, one after another, and when Rachel asked how close the contractions had become, Hannah told her they were four minutes apart, her voice tightening around each word while the heater blew dry warmth across the dashboard.

Rachel told her that she did not need to prove anything by reaching Pennsylvania, but Hannah shook her head and said she was not proving anything to Derek, because he had spent years persuading her that leaving would make her homeless, uninsured, and helpless.

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His voice had lived inside her thoughts for so long that it seemed almost separate from him, yet the car was warm, her papers were packed, and her daughter kept moving beneath her palms, and for the first time Hannah understood that survival did not require Derek’s permission.

Two hours later, outside Zanesville, her water broke across the passenger seat, soaking through the fabric as the contractions narrowed to less than three minutes apart, and Rachel turned toward the nearest medical center near the Pennsylvania line while Derek’s calls reached seventeen.