e Hamptons usually

it tasted

e discussing nursery colors i

en were shouting,

ldhood friend, was ther

Ava. They

of terror, then a strange, s

doctor's words were

egnant, Mr

hing fragile, quickly overs

ancy, her voice trembling, eyes wi

too close, to

fore the gathered press, his handso

ublic image, a risin

n, his arm around Izzy, who leaned

zy's child.

d through th

of weakness *before* the home invasion, to s

cast, a cold dread se

nowledge, was instantly, silent

dy started online. 'Av

A vicious, c

ew the

s conceived with Ethan a wee

mpt to mend the growing

ulted. The invaders had been b

w this. H

he city lights of their Manhattan pent

know that baby is yours. Yo

rfectly styled hair, his exp

she's fragile. This would destroy her. T

about *our* child? What

was barely

ve been. We'll get through this. J

t meet h

tience while her life was

hysical ache in her

ried. Or perhaps, he was, an

n't bring a child into this w

to, the hope for th

phone, her hand su

(no relation to Izzy), the most formi

oice flat. "I need to see

tark landscape of glass and st

t cold

he words clinical, devoid of t

on unreadable, occasionally ma

ried to you, and allowed slanderous implications about your own

n, to get his formal, if re

He was, predic

y lawyer. We're fi

murmur in the backgrou

ible time with morning sickness. Look,

and he

casual dismissal was an

t Eleanor. "

l papers, her signatu

lt like severi

was quiet

e, staring at the a

that morning. The decisio

to NYU, to their whi

ing, so full of

red to her dor

he Hudson, whispering

ways protect her,

ontrast to the cold reali

ick, efficient, and

within her, a void where ho

overy room, sipping weak

ajar door, in the mai

rched on the edge of a chair, loo

renatal check-up. The

anted to scream, to rage,

weariness hel

widened, and she quickly composed

Ethan trailing anx

.. for, you know..." Izzy's voice was a

looked at Ava, his brow furrowed wi

ou doing here? A

y oblivious.

the raw truth could escape her

, I feel a

his attention already shifting back to Izz

his voice murmuring

go, the tea in he

ways told her

red of bei

just..

ears had been

s been there, a shad

, the one whose family h

d him, always had a cris

upted, vacations cut short, intimate mo

than would say. "She's been through

had tried. For ye

ggressive comments, her subtle u

than's excuses,

, the relentless encroachment, the way

y announcements, Ethan's public

the cul

t that crushed whatever was

ed in a moment of desperate ho

wed by Ethan's betrayals

o sever this last tie to Ethan, was

nothing le

ess after the proc

e a stranger's, c

soul had been drawn out, le

d for *her* pregnancy, just moments after her

t to her,

hem, to scream her pai

o tired. T

as all sh

casual "Are you alright?" – it was

'd just endured. No ide

wouldn't

efully constructed worl

son Carte