I must not. We laughed with our heads beneath our quilt work, for fear God might have overheard. He is staring us out, everyone looks down. When Abigail said it I imagined his strange back, which is like the thick shoulders of a bull. He is the ugliest man I have ever seen, but he is powerful.
People begin to clear their throats, to glance at one another.
My sister Anne is looking at me. She widens her eyes. I smile at her and pull a face. When her own child is born, she will have no time for mine. I must remove him.