Cixi could not stand any longer. The weight of the belly had begun to pull at her lower back, and although she knew very well that the burden was not truly what everyone believed it to be, the exhaustion it caused felt real enough to make her patience thinner than usual. She lowered herself onto the couch with careful annoyance, adjusted the fabric over her stomach, leaned back against the cushions, and exhaled as though the simple act of sitting had saved her from collapsing in front of Emily.
That was better, she told herself, allowing her shoulders to sink into the softness behind her.
Emily, who had been standing restlessly, irritated by someone who wanted to continue arguing but did not know which subject to attack next, sat opposite her and looked at Cixi's belly with a strange mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," Cixi breathed, pressing one hand lightly against the roundness. "This thing is very heavy."
Emily's eyebrow lifted. "Thing?"
