Delicate Condition

Anna turns off her computer and finds that the tooth, if it was ever there, has disappeared. She begins to question her own perceptions, so she goes upstairs to take a bath. While waiting for the tub to fill, she feels the baby kicking again. Its movements become increasingly unpleasant, until she feels a cutting sensation and sees something sharp, black, and talon-like poke out of her skin. As she starts to cry, she sees that the talon is gone and her skin is unbroken.

Hearing Anna screaming, Dex rushes into the bathroom. Since there’s only light bruising on Anna’s stomach, she chooses not to say anything about the hallucination. Dex leaves her, and she hallucinates seeing Meg in the bathroom. Screaming again, she collapses.

In 1833 a woman named Frances goes to see her friend, Betty. Betty’s husband, Charles, claims that Betty has been acting strangely since the birth of her child, telling him that there are people who want to steal the infant. When Frances gets to the bedroom, she sees Betty, wretched and animalistic, crawling on her hands and knees. Betty tells Frances that her child has been taken.

Dex puts Anna to bed, and they agree that she won’t attend the Oscars. At Dr. Hill’s recommendation, Anna goes on bedrest for the next few months.

Close to her due date, Anna discovers a new video posted by Io Preecher that features photos of Meg. The video claims that Meg is part of a Satanic cult that harvests babies from women who have pain and hallucinations during their pregnancy. Anna emails Preecher asking to find a time to meet.

Later that night, Anna awakes to find herself thinking of eating her dog. Disturbed by the craving, she goes to the fridge to see what she can eat instead. She finds a raw pork chop, which she consumes. She then sees a cat outside the window. She goes out and entices the cat with the pork bone, then captures and eats it.

Anna wakes the next morning feeling well rested, but now finds that her leg has broken out into a scale-like rash. Anna goes to the bathroom and locks Dex out; she uses scissors to cut the rash away, wanting to see if her own skin is still underneath. Dex breaks the door down and is disturbed by Anna’s self-harm. While he calls Dr. Hill, Anna finds a message on her phone from Io Preecher asking if she can meet up in Huntington, which is just a quick drive away.

While Dex is still on the phone, Anna sneaks out and gets Kamal to drive her to Huntington. Anna meets Preecher at a bar and relates her story. Years ago, Preecher went through a similar ordeal while working as a surrogate. Preecher, who never saw the child she birthed, believes that a Satanic cult is taking the babies. She reveals that her doctor was involved, and that doctor was Dr. Hill.

Anna initially denies that Dr. Hill could be involved. As Kamal drives her back, though, she realizes that the doctor would have access to all of her appointments and medications. Anna calls the office and gets Cora, the receptionist. Anna accuses Cora of having tampered with her calendar, and Cora confirms that she deduced Anna’s password and left warning messages—but only because Cora believes that Dr. Hill is aiding in harming her pregnant female patients. When Anna asks if Cora was the one who broke into her house, Cora confirms that it was her, but she entered the house with the key that Dex gave her. Cora and Dex were having an affair, and when she climbed into bed with Anna, she thought it was Dex. Cora tries to warn Anna that Dr. Hill wanted to hurt her, but Anna, stunned by this news, hangs up and blocks Cora’s number. Anna goes home and confronts Dex, who apologizes and assures her that he ended things with Cora when Anna discovered that she was pregnant. Anna, devastated by the realization that her husband let her live in fear for months because he didn’t want to get caught, continues to question Dex until he admits that he cheated on Adeline as well after she refused to conceive; Anna finally understands what Talia meant by giving Dex a “second chance.”

Anna locks herself in her bedroom and goes into labor. Not knowing who she can trust, she decides to call Olympia, Siobhan’s friend at the birthing center. Olympia says she’ll come as quickly as she can. A taxi arrives, but Cora, not Olympia, arrives. Cora explains that she has more to tell Anna. Cora hadn’t realized that Anna was still pregnant, an admission that confuses Anna because she’d assumed that Cora had been the one following her all this time. Cora claims that she hasn’t been following Anna at all; it’s Dr. Hill who is suspect, acting as a middleman for someone outside the hospital seeking women who are “desperate enough” (343)—though Cora isn’t sure just what this outside force needs these desperate women to do.

In 1648, Alice Parsons, a pregnant woman, watches the execution of a midwife, Margaret Jones, who is accused of being a witch. Margaret stands accused because of a red, hand-shaped birthmark under her chin. Margaret had helped Alice when Alice was afraid she was going to lose her child, giving her anise seeds and honey. Though this remedy had initially helped, Alice later started to develop monstrous cravings and to find dolls scattered around her property. Alice is convinced the witch did something to her child.