I was struggling to climb the stairs. I heard my mother-in-law shouting, "Call the midwife!" I clung desperately to the stair railing. A fear gripped me so intensely that I couldn't keep it together anymore. My hands were trembling. I had quietly climbed one floor when I heard someone thundering up the stairs. I hoped it was Botan, but it wasn't.
"Sister-in-law, what are you doing?" Alaz said while picking me up. My mother-in-law stood in the middle of the stairs.
"Alaz, put the girl down, what are you doing? She's your brother's wife," she shouted.
Better to die than let another man touch you. That was the crux of the matter. In my mother-in-law's eyes, my brother-in-law should never have been allowed to hold me.
"Move aside, mom," Alaz commanded.
"Son, the birth has already started.
