Tears welled as the thought fully landed.
I’m going to have to start taking care of things on my own again.
Beth made her way to the kitchen, hoping food might settle the ache twisting in her stomach. But the moment she opened the fridge, the dull cramping—still lingering from the night before—tightened just enough to stop her in her tracks.
It wasn’t the pain itself that brought her to the floor.
It was the reminder.
The finality of what it meant.
She sank to her knees, arms wrapping around her middle as grief knocked the air from her lungs.
“This is so unfair! I don’t even know if I need to scream or cry!”
Her body knew what she needed.
The tears came hard, streaming down her face like Niagara Falls. Rocking, cradling the emptiness, Beth finally shouted the question she’d been avoiding.
“HOW? HOW COULD YOU TAKE OUR BABY FROM US? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?!”
Her screams were met by silence.
“Fine, God. FINE. Don’t answer. But I know You heard me. All I want is to know why! With everything else Bryce has lost, why would You take his baby too? He was so excited.”
Just then, her phone rang, shattering the silence. Slowly, Beth dragged herself to the couch but didn’t reach for it. It didn’t matter who was calling. Even if it were God Himself calling to answer her questions, she wouldn’t have picked up.
When the house phone rang next, she froze, listening as Bryce’s voice filled the room via the answering machine.
“Hey, babe. It’s me. I woke up thinking about you and our baby. Thought you might already be up for work. Just wanted to say good morning, and I love you. Wish we were together right now. Okay, love you. Call me, bye.”
The sound of his baritone voice and sweet words sent Beth fleeing for their bedroom. Sobs shook her as she made her way upstairs, tormented by thoughts of how excited Bryce had been about their baby. How would he survive this devastation? Would their marriage survive it?
She collapsed onto the bed and pulled the covers over her head. Her voice broke through the quiet—shaky, raw.
“You’re going to take him next, aren’t You, Lord?”
She didn’t even try to hold back the accusation, her grief too big to contain. It spilled out in prayers that didn’t feel like prayers—just pain spoken into the air.
Curling up in bed, she turned on the heated sheets and finally drifted into a restless sleep, still clinging to Bryce’s pillow.
The next days passed in a blur. Beth remained under the covers, barely sleeping, barely eating, drifting in and out of restless thoughts. The longer she lay there, the deeper she sank into despair—haunted by the memory of Bryce once saying he thought they should stay marriedifshe was pregnant.
Thatifbecame louder than everything else.
In her grief, it drowned out every other conversation they’d had. She convinced herself that Bryce wouldn’t want her anymore. Without the baby, there was no reason for him to be tied to only one woman.
“I’d better start looking for a place to live,” she whispered. “Save myself the embarrassment of Bryce asking me to leave.”
Eventually, exhaustion dragged Beth into a troubled sleep.
She startled awake when the bed shifted beneath her. Bryce was home—early. He sat beside her, concern etched across his face. He gently placed a hand on her forehead.
“You’re home early,” Beth said flatly. Her hollow eyes met his, void of their usual spark.
Bryce hesitated, taken aback by her tone and the distant, dulled version of her that greeted him.
“Yeah,” he said carefully. “I was worried. You weren’t answering my calls, or anyone’s. When the hospital called afteryou missed work, I caught the next flight. I asked your parents and Kim to check on you, but they couldn’t get into the loft.”
