Chapter 2: The First Heartbeat
The resident's hands were shaking as he worked.
"Get Dr.
Okafor.
Now," he said without looking up.
The second nurse in the doorway didn't move.
She was staring at the wound.
"Now!" he snapped.
Sarah grabbed his wrist with what little strength she had left.
"My baby first," she said.
"Please.
Check my baby first."
He hesitated for just a second — then nodded to the third nurse, who pressed the fetal monitor against Sarah's stomach.
The room went completely silent.
Then — a heartbeat.
Fast, but steady.
Someone exhaled.
Someone else said "thank God" under their breath.
Sarah closed her eyes and let the tears fall.
But the resident wasn't finished.
He leaned closer to the wound, then looked up at his colleague with an expression nobody in that room could quite read.
"She did this herself," he said quietly.
"She knew exactly what she was doing."
The senior nurse stepped forward and looked.
"That's...
maggot therapy," she whispered.
"Field maggot therapy.
On herself.
Seven months pregnant.
In a swamp."
Nobody spoke.
Then the door opened.
A woman stood in the frame — small, grey-haired, her right arm held close to her side.
She looked at Sarah on the table.
May you like
And Sarah looked back at her mother for the first time in sixteen years.
Neither of them said a word.
