Chapter 18: Kate

Summary

• Kate has been staying at the cottage for three weeks during late spring after a heavy rainstorm.
• On her way to the village, she sees moles hung on a gate, a local tradition signifying a mole-catcher's work, which unsettles her.
• Arriving early at the medical center with a full bladder, she debates whether to go in, recalling her hesitation even to book this appointment.
• The receptionist at the medical center recognizes Kate as the niece of someone named Violet, but quickly returns to her work.
• Kate is surprised when a male doctor, Dr. Radcliffe, calls her in since she had requested a female doctor due to an unavailable Dr. Collins.
• During the examination, Dr. Radcliffe takes her blood and uses an ultrasound, revealing that she is between 10 and 12 weeks pregnant with a noticeable heartbeat.
• Although she is surprised it's not too early to hear a heartbeat, she decides not to ask the gender of the baby and fails to ask another question she had in mind.
• The doctor mentions that Kate resembles her great-aunt Violet, advising her to give up hair dyeing during her pregnancy.
• Dr. Radcliffe mentions that his father, the first Dr. Radcliffe, started the practice and that he occasionally treated Violet.
• After the appointment, Kate hesitantly asks the receptionist for information on termination services and overhears the receptionist and an elderly patient gossiping about her family's history, including an insinuation of witchery.
• Kate discovers Violet's birth certificate hidden in an old passport, learning she is a Weyward through her mother's lineage.
• Haunted by a recurring nightmare and the gossip she overheard, Kate questions her family's history and her own future.
• She contemplates calling a termination clinic but ultimately decides against it due to the image of her baby and its connection to her identity as a Weyward.
• In the end, Kate resolves to keep her child, a girl she believes she is carrying, and to be strong and protective like the powerful figure she envisioned in her aunt's cape.