In Verity’s manuscript, Verity says she knew she was pregnant soon after becoming engaged to Jeremy. Although Jeremy’s happiness initially helps her accept the pregnancy, Verity quickly fixates on the physical changes in her body and begins seeing the baby as a threat to the body she has carefully maintained and to the attention she receives from Jeremy.

Jeremy grows more attentive as the pregnancy progresses. He comforts Verity when she is sick, talks about baby names, and goes with her to doctor’s appointments. At the second appointment, Verity learns she is carrying twin girls, and the news intensifies her fear that she will become less important to Jeremy than their children.

As Verity’s resentment deepens, she starts hoping for a miscarriage and secretly takes sleeping pills and drinks wine to try to end the pregnancy. Nothing works, and the twins continue growing. Verity’s jealousy becomes more explicit when Jeremy reacts with delight to feeling the babies move and focuses on them during an intimate moment.

Verity then asks Jeremy whether he loves the babies more than he loves her. Jeremy answers honestly that he does, though he calls the love different, and says parents should love their children more. The answer devastates Verity because it confirms her fear that the twins have already displaced her.

After leaving the bed under the pretense of using the bathroom, Verity tries to induce a miscarriage with a wire hanger. When she begins cramping and bleeding, she returns to bed and waits, hoping the loss will make Jeremy panic, grieve, and finally direct his full emotional attention back to her.