She dove for a metal instrument and lashed it across his face in a vicious arc, sending his spectacles flying. The second the pressure released her wrists Grace lunged for the doctor, humiliation fueling her past the bounds of energy. Let her rot from the inside out if that's what she wants.” Her blood-smeared feet scissored in the air, striking the doctor's hands and knocking Mrs. Croomes's grip bit down on her wrists, and Grace's hands tingled as the nerves sang, but she didn't stop fighting. Marie yelped and slipped sideways, sending the instrument tray to the ground amid a clattering of metal. She lashed out instinctively, the sheet sailing with her movements as she kicked. “Grace, the less you squirm, the quicker I can be,” he said as he worked a hand between her knees.

You can die if you're not looked after properly.” I'm happy to put you back in the sheets.” “You'd best sit quiet while the doctor looks after your welfare. She pulled Grace's wrists above her head and pinned her arms back in a meaty grip. “Ah, talking now, are you?” Croomes asked. “Whatâ” Grace's panicked eyes shot toward the noise. Marie's eyes were swollen from crying, and she wiped them with her apron as she set instruments on the table next to the bed, their metal edges banging against each other. “After what she's been through on your orders.”Ĭroomes and Marie filed into the room behind him. “My only interest in you now is seeing that you don't die on my watch. Grace cried out, whatever hard-earned word she'd been trying to form lost entirely as she scraped the sheets into a pile to cover her nakedness. Heedson came through the door, rolling his shirtsleeves up to his elbows. Clay encouraged her, wiping cold sweat from her brow. Grace barely nodded, her dilated pupils fixed firmly on Mrs. I've seen a few women on the farms get sick after, and I can tell you it's not the way you want to go.” “Heedson has to make sure you're going to be all right after losing the baby. Listen to meâlisten!” she said, clamping Grace's fingers together as the girl's mouth contorted into a soundless cry. “B-bâ” She tried to speak, but the word she needed most wouldn't come.

She nodded, fingertips still buried deeply in her malleable belly. Her hands fell away from her sides and her fingers went instinctively to her belly, digging into the loose skin that hung there.

Clay saying her name, but she could only moan. W hen they pulled the sheets from her, the shock of the cool air was almost painful.

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis