POV: Yessica | Location: Edinburgh
The waiting room smelled like antiseptic and stale coffee.
Yessica sat in a plastic NHS chair, hands folded over her stomach, trying not to look at the couples around her.
Every other woman had someone.
A partner squeezing her hand. A mother flipping through a magazine. A friend making jokes about swollen ankles.
Yessica had a canvas tote bag and a number.
Forty-seven.
She counted floor tiles until they called her name.
"Yessica Lockwood?"
The midwife led her down a narrow corridor to a room barely larger than a cupboard.
"Dr. Gillies will be right in. This is your first visit with us? Transferred from New York?"
"Yes."
"Partner still stateside?"
"Not in the picture."
The midwife's expression didn't change. Just softened slightly, the practi
