Sometimes, when she watched him like that, she wondered if this was all it took to fix what had broken between them. A heartbeat inside her, proof that they still had a future. The pregnancy wasn’t easy. Morning sickness turned into all-day exhaustion, her ankles swelled, her moods swung like doors in a storm.
But James was patient. He made her tea, rubbed her shoulders, held her hair back when she was sick. He even came to every appointment, even when work called. For the first time in years, Emily allowed herself to believe everything would be okay. The contractions started on a rainy afternoon in March.