ore I had to leave for the day. I was back on my feet before I'd even settled, one ha

athroom floor instead, my stomach turning itself inside out. Any other

y passed, something une

mil

owing inside me, something entirely mine, it settled warm in my chest instead of sour. I cleaned myself up and

nd resting over hers. I watched them a moment before they called my name, and felt something twist under the excitement, quiet and uninvited. I hadn't let myself think much a

now, sitting in that chair. I could call him. I could tell him everything, and whatever else fell apart between us,

ver my stomach, watching the scree

she s

s progression looks great. E

answered itself. I looked down at the small blurred shape on the page, at everything it represented, and knew, with a certainty steadier than I expected, that I wasn't going to make that call. Whatever this baby needed, it wasn't

y bag down and pressed both h

room, just for the two of us. "But I already know I love you more than I've loved anything in a long t

ill sat, folded exactly the way I'd left it. I hadn't touche

ew streets from her apartment. She was already seated

r," she said, s

e seat across from her. "I had my checkup ye

ned. "That's wonderf

ordinary things that made up a life continuing forward. It was easy being w

his desk just as Lucas walked in, a

d off directly, sir." Lucas set

glanced at i

the desk instead of

saw Sien

ter than he probably mean

ooked

sharper than he intended, and even he seeme

, then chose his next words caref

e hand coming up to rest a

s,

said, more to himself than to Lucas

fter a silence that stretched a beat too lo

than the vague unease he'd been carrying for days. He found himself standing before he'd fully decided to, walking

o name. But Lucas's words sat differently than his own guesswork had. She was smiling. Not surviving. Not putting on a brave face for an assistant who happened t

ast. Sooner or later, he thought, she would need something from him, and he would be there to an

be waiting for a reason to call