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I was eight months pregnant with our precious child when my husband brought his 22-year-old mistress to the baby shower. When I asked them to leave, he punched me in the stomach, sending me tumbling into the gift table. "She's pregnant with the real heir, you infertile piece of trash," he sneered, while his wealthy parents applauded. I lay on the floor, clutching my aching stomach, when the door burst open and my father...  The punch landed before anyone at my baby shower could finish laughing. One second I was standing beneath a silver balloon arch, eight months pregnant and begging my husband to remove his mistress; the next, I was crashing through a table of tiny shoes and wrapped gifts, both arms locked around my stomach.
My husband yelled, “Stop pretending,” while I was lying face-down on our driveway, unable to move anything from my waist down, barbecue sauce smeared through my hair, and his birthday guests watching me like I had become some humiliating interruption. His mother rolled her eyes and muttered, “Judith, not today,” as if losing feeling in my body was a little performance I had decided to stage next to the brisket tray. For months, Leo had convinced everyone I was dramatic, anxious, unstable, and desperate for attention, so when my legs finally stopped working in front of fourteen people, every one of them looked to him instead of helping me. Then the paramedic checked my feet, asked one quiet question about my nightly tea, and reached for her radio.