Chapter 2

Carson's face drained of color as he grabbed my shoulders. His fingers were trembling from the force. "Winry, Grandpa insists I keep the baby. Helena said that if I don't stay with her every single day, she'll abort it herself and take her own life… "I swear to you that, once the baby's born, I'll register them to you. Just don't make a fuss with Helena. I promise I'll never let her replace you." He turned so quickly that his suit tail swept the coffee table and knocked over the cup of coffee I'd just brewed. I stared at my flat belly. It felt like someone had torn a slit down my chest, and cold air was rushing through. Back then, in a car crash, I'd taken a blow to my abdomen while protecting him. After I healed from it, it became difficult for me to get pregnant. I'd swallowed pills and taken shot after shot in hopes of carrying his child, but the process wrecked my body. I remembered him holding me, eyes red, as he said, "Winry, I could give up having kids, but I can't lose you." He'd said how all those other women outside our circle were nothing to him, and he promised to be faithful to me for life. Who knew his "for life" would be over in barely five years? I pinched my numb fingertips and told Francine, "Bring me my things from my study. I want to tell my father that I'll be going back to stay with them soon." ... For the next three months, Carson would send people over with little things I used to like. However, I knew whatever I had, Helena had them too. What I treasured probably meant nothing special to him. Our entire social circle whispered that the current Mrs. Lambert was losing her place. After all, Carson was spending almost all his time with the pregnant Helena. My father and brother—Albrecht Sachs and Brandon Sachs—who were overseas, heard I'd been hurt and air-shipped a whole crate of my favorite foods to me. When Francine saw me listless every day, she brought a Samoyed puppy over with a grin. "Ma'am, look! Mr. Sachs Senior had someone find this puppy for you. He said it's just like the dog you had when you were little." The puppy looked up at me with wet, dark eyes and licked the back of my hand. I pulled it into my lap. The soft fur against my palm warmed my heart a little. With the puppy around, I finally had something to look forward to. Even bitter medicine didn't go down quite so hard. Seeing my health improve, Francine suggested, "It's a nice day. Let's take the puppy out and get some sun in the garden, shall we?" We'd barely reached the trellis on the terrace when we ran into Helena in full riding gear. She carried an oddly shaped Airsoft pistol. Her belly wasn't showing yet, but she stuck it out like she was really proud of it. "Mrs. Lambert, Carson said that I'm pregnant, so I don't have to be polite to anyone." She glanced at Francine and waved the pistol in her hand. "This is perfect. You can come try this new toy with me." The pistol looked compact but probably packed a punch. "Helena, Francine isn't well. Why don't you find someone else to play with?" Meanwhile, I gestured for Francine to head back inside. Helena didn't stop her. Instead, she flung the pistol into the fish pond in the garden and clutched her belly, wailing. Footsteps pounded behind us. It was Carson's. "What happened? I told you not to play with dangerous stuff!" He saw me and paused, his brow pinched. "Winry, how did you get so thin?" He'd actually been home a few times in those three months, but each time I'd had Francine tell him I was asleep. Maybe he assumed I was sulking about Helena. He didn't know my illness had worsened. Now, even getting out of bed would cost me everything, and I had no energy to face him. As he stared at me, Helena collapsed into his arms and pointed at Francine, who was just stepping back toward the door. "She pushed me! My pistol… I just finished assembling it, and it fell into the pond. My stomach hurts so bad…"