As I walked home, I clutched my bag of prenatal vitamins so tightly that my knuckles turned white. I clung to them life a vice, determined to keep my emotions under control. Otherwise I might have a breakdown in the middle of the street with all of the prying eyes of Grayson trained on me. That level of embarrassment was sure to earn me a bruise or two from my dear husband, the alleged baby be damned.

I couldn't stop feeling remorseful for what I'd done. In order to save myself, I had somehow unwittingly convinced Ruby to sleep with my abusive husband, and condemned a doctor to lie on my behalf. I didn't even recognize the person I was now. Sacrificing others so that I had a chance at happiness wasn't who I was. The idea made me anxious and tears filled my eyes, but I bit them back. I just needed to hold it together until I got back to Moberly Manor.

When I got home that afternoon, I told Ruby about Dr. Winthrop's help. She let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good," she said, shaking her head hopefully. "This means we have a chance of pulling this off."

"You have a lot more faith than I do," I muttered, nibbling on a cracker. My stomach was in knots, threatening to project my measly breakfast onto the kitchen floor. If I hadn't seen the blank ultrasound for myself, I'd swear I really was the one who was pregnant.

"I have a feeling things are going to work out, Mia," she smiled. "I know things got off to a rocky start, but I think things are going to change around here for the better."

"If you say so," I said with a sigh, hoisting myself from the kitchen stool. "I'm going to the library to read."

What I needed more than anything was to venture into an alternate world, one where I didn't have to worry about pregnancy, or homelessness, or being sent to the Factories. Even if it was temporary.

As I ascended the stairs to the second floor, my mind was racing. It was good that we had Dr. Winthrop on our side, but I still wasn't sure how to talk to James about my fictitious pregnancy. I was an atrocious liar and I feared he would see right through my charade. Besides, a part of me wasn't sure if we could pull this off. How could we convince an entire city that I was pregnant and Ruby was not? If we were caught, we would be in serious trouble with the Guardians. Not to mention the wrath James would instill on us. The idea made me shiver.

I figured the best option would be to keep this between me and Ruby for as long as possible. I knew there would eventually come a time when James would ask, when he would tell me it was now or never and that I would be out on the streets if the answer was no, but until then, he didn't have to know.

I knew keeping the news of the pretend pregnancy wouldn't make the situation go away, but I needed time to comprehend it myself before bringing it up to James. So much had changed in the last few weeks; it was still hard for me to fathom that Ruby was having our child. Besides, if I uttered the words into existence, it would make the circumstances real and that wasn't something I could handle yet without having a nervous breakdown.

I perused the shelves of the library and selected a book with a blue cover and a sad face. Then I curled up on a white leather chaise lounge with a thick blanket, and began reading about war veteran Nick Carraway and his neighbor, Gatsby. As I got lost in the pages of the story, my eyelids began to get heavy. I blinked a couple of times, and the next thing I knew, I was being abruptly woken by the sounds of slamming doors and aggrieved voices.

I panicked when I heard James' heavy footfalls coming down the second floor landing and tucked the book under the cushion of the chair. No sooner had I hid the book, the door to the library burst open and James marched inside, already gripping a glass full of liquor. He was followed closely by a panicked Ruby. Her eyes were wide with fear, and her lip was bleeding.

I jumped to my feet. "James... You're home early," I said, working to keep my voice steady. In reality, my heart was hammering against my chest.

"I forgot my briefcase and came home during lunch to retrieve it," James said, stepping into the library and examining me with furrowed eyes. "What are you doing in here?"

"I...I'm... uh," I stuttered, aware of the heat in my cheeks.

James stepped forward. "You what, Mia?"

I bit my jaw, trying to think of a logical reason I was here. Nothing I could think of seemed like a feasible reason for my being in the library. "I was just resting," I said, gesturing to chaise lounge and blanket.

He narrowed his eyes. "Are you lying to me?"

"No!" I exclaimed, my answer a little too hasty.

James nodded, pursing his lips as though lost in thought. Before I could react or clarify why I was in the library, James drew back his hand and slapped my face. The place where his hand made contact tingled, causing my eyes to water. I tasted blood and knew that I had a welt on my lip that matched Ruby's.

"I'll ask you one more time- what are you doing in my library, Mia?" he asked.

I stumbled, backward, falling onto the chaise lounge. I racked my brain for an excuse, any excuse, but came up with nothing. I stared at James with wide eyes, terrified what he would do to me. With a sigh, he drew back his arm, but before he could make contact with my face again, Ruby stepped into the room.

"Mr. Moberly, don't hurt her," she said, her body trembling with the amount of courage it took for her to stand up to him.

He turned to glare at her with disdain. "How dare you tell me what to do with my wife!" He said, spitting at her feet. "I have half a mind to turn you over to the Guardians for this!"

He grabbed my wrist and dragged me to my feet, using his forearm to pin me against the wall. In his anger, he pressed too hard, cutting off my air supply. I grasped at his arm, willing him to remove it from my neck, but he was too strong.

"Mr. Moberly, please. You're hurting her!" Ruby said, her words barely audible over the pounding of my heart in my ears. Her hands were halfway outstretched, as though she wished she could help.

"Mind your tongue, woman!" James said, taking a swipe at Ruby with his drinking hand, but he missed and sloshed alcohol all over his arm and the floor.

I continued to claw at his arm, leaving scratch marks, but this seemed to make him stronger. He pressed harder, cutting off my oxygen completely. My heart beat in my eyes, and my vision started to go black as I continued gasping for air.

I looked for Ruby and found her pulling at her hair, tears in her eyes as she stood by and watched me die, unable to do anything about it.

"For God's sake, Mr. Moberly, she's pregnant!" Ruby cried.

James eyes widened and his arm fell limply to his side. I collapsed on the floor, gasping for precious air as I tried to calm my heartrate.

"Mrs. Moberly had her doctor's appointment this morning and found out the wonderful news," Ruby continued. "She wasn't feeling well- morning sickness, I suspect- so I encouraged her to come lie down in the library. It has the most sunlight, and I thought that would be good for her and the baby."

"Is this true, Mia?" he asked. I stared up from the floor as he towered over me.

"Yes," I croaked. Though I was desperate and the lie could save my life, it felt wrong on my lips.

"Pregnant," he mouthed, as though the word felt odd on his lips. "I'm going to be a father."

The cup James had been holding fell to the ground, cracking the glass and splattering the dark liquid across the hardwood floors. But James didn't seem to notice the commotion, for he only had eyes for me. I watched as his face softened and he helped me to my feet. I think it might have been the first time I'd ever seen him smile.

He stepped toward me and I instinctually tensed, waiting for another blow, but it never came. Instead, James wrapped me in a warm embrace, his muscular, hairy, aged arms feeling strange compared to Ruby's.

"You've made me a very happy man," he whispered in my ear, placing a hand on my stomach. I fought the urge to pull away.

As he held me, I stared over his shoulder, watching Ruby clean up the mess from the spilled liquor. As James held me, I found myself wishing it was her, that we were celebrating the news of our baby, not my baby with James. Ruby met my gaze and gave a small smile that was supposed to be reassuring, but I could see the sadness in her eyes and suspected she wished for the same.

James pulled away and kissed my forehead gently. He looked into my eyes for an uncomfortable moment, before turning to Ruby.

"Get her to bed. She needs to rest if she's growing my child," he said. "I have to get back to work. I can't wait to see the look on their smug faces when I tell them the news," he said with an arrogant smirk. Then he left the house with a little extra pep in his step, once again forgetting to get his briefcase.

***************

At James' request, Ruby helped me back to my chambers. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes," I nodded, wincing at the tenderness in my neck. My voice was raspy and I could already feel a bruise darkening above my collarbone. "Are you?"

"I'm okay. More startled than anything. When James came home, my first thought was of you in his library and what would happen if he found you there."

"It was definitely a close call. Too close," said.

Though James' inquiry was temporarily suspended, I vowed never to return to the library, though it panged me to do so. I just couldn't take the chance of James finding me there and learning the truth. Baby or not, if he discovered I could read, I feared he'd send me away without a second thought.

Thank God Ruby had been there.

"You saved me. Again," I said with a smile. "Thank you for that."

She smiled. "You've saved me many times over, Mia, even if you didn't know it."

I blushed, unsure what to say. "I suppose we're all in now," I said. "There's no going back now."

Ruby nodded. "I know. But to be fair, I was all in from the beginning," she said gently kissing my bruise.

Ruby made some tea and we spent the afternoon in my quarters, hiding away from the cruelties of the world, pretending like the events of the last couple of weeks weren't real.

That night, James came home early so he could eat dinner with me for the first time in months. I was surprised to see the bouquet of daisies he gripped in his hands, and even more surprised to find him more sober than he'd been since we were bound. He was making an effort, I had to give him that. Hearing about the baby had changed him.

But there was too much bad blood between us for me to accept this new version of James. There had been too many times where he'd hurt me or belittled me or made me feel like lesser than because he was too drunk or bitter to put forth an effort with his wife. Just because a child was coming into this world didn't erase all of the terrible history we'd had.

After dinner, I went to the third floor and locked myself in my chambers. I stripped down to my undergarments and crawled into bed, pulling the covers up to my chin. Then I stared mindlessly at the ceiling, contemplating the blindside that was Ruby's pregnancy. I couldn't believe she loved me so much she was willing to go to such extremes to keep me safe. But here we were, her pregnant with James' child, and me pretending to bring forth a life into this cruel world. It was an odd sensation knowing that the woman I loved was carrying the child of the man I hated.

That night lying alone in my bed behind closed doors, I let it go. All of the emotions that I had held in during the day come bursting out. Sobs racked my body as I thought about my future and Ruby's future and the future of my unborn child. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and tugged at my nightgown as I laid in the fetal position. I was angry that this had to happened, that I lived in a world where we had to go to such extremes to prevent persecution or death.

Most of all, I was sorry to this baby who deserved more than being conceived in a web of lies, or having me and James for parents. No innocent child deserved to be punished like that.