rning, I wa
he breakfast table, p
shley chirped, he
a greeting,
, keeping my voice even,
her stomach, a fleeti
he said. "Lots of col
r tired," E
both seem a little off. Maybe you
k of alarm before her mask was back i
ed, avoidi
ready pregna
I' d been oblivious u
igns. The slight queasiness,
were out, supposedly at t
Small, discreet
e living room, one for Ashl
I typed in my cr
t wrong,
choice di
ves, destroyed our repu
s self-
d two days later i
The girls were a
rf
ickly, met
bookshelf in the living r
the stuffed animals
ly' s desk, disguis
necting to the liv
ture. Cle
de a show
I called up the stairs, though I knew they were
a few blocks away, my p
it
mach c
f this was all just a horri
the fire, the pain
e buzzed. Motion detec
y and
ghing, loungi
rm
ed her head on A
troked h
eath
timacy that g
han si
conversati
t," Ashley said, her
k?" Emily whispered. "What
Mark' s a non-issue. They' ll believe us.
od ran
ng about the pl
ey' s room activat
pounding, as they
vous. Ashley was
ood up, unbutto
d. I almost dr
hl
ha
genit
y fo
the light. It wasn'
ssigned female at birth, the gi
ale, at least in t
nd re
didn' t
ption a
d to click into p
regna
sn' t
't have b
as A