The stars hung low that night, the kind of deep indigo sky that stretched far beyond what eyes could capture. The porch creaked softly beneath their weight as Amelia and Nora sat side by side, their mugs of tea nestled in their palms, steam curling into the night air like fragile secrets waiting to unravel.
Amelia stared ahead, the wind playing gently with the strands of her hair. Her heart felt heavy, not in a painful way, but in the way that comes when you’ve carried too much alone for too long.
Nora broke the silence first. “It’s not just about the baby, is it?”
Amelia turned her head slowly. “No. It’s not.”
Nora nodded. “I figured. The way you’ve been walking around like your soul's stuck between staying and running.”
Amelia exhaled, the truth clawing its way to the surface. “I th
