Chapter 1

Norah O’Malley woke like she had every day for the past two weeks: lying in her brother’s bed, in her father’s house, rubbing her pregnant belly like it was a Magic 8 Ball that held some mystical answers for her fucked up life. Her bladder was full to bursting, another perpetual condition these days. Struggling to sit up, she shifted to get to the bathroom. This was not how she expected her life to look at twenty-two.

After taking care of business, she studied herself in the mirror. Did she look different? Of course from the chest down her body was no longer hers and hadn’t been for some time. Her face looked the same though. Right? She pressed closer to the mirror, propping her belly on the sink. What would Avery see if they met today?

Her older brother Jimmy had been pressuring her since she came home weeks ago to call Avery and tell him she was pregnant. She knew she had to and it had been crappy of her to keep this from him, but she knew Avery. He’d want to take care of her. He was that kind of guy. She could appreciate such nobility in the hero of a book or movie, but in real life, choices like this sucked.

She wasn’t sure she was ready to be a mom. Old stirrings of Catholic guilt hit her—years of parochial school had that effect—but she couldn’t imagine trapping them when they weren’t ready. She...