EMMALINE
I’m pregnant.
The words echo inside me, relentless and heavy, louder than anything else. My hands won’t stop shaking as I set the test down, but I can’t look away from it. Two lines. Clear. Unforgiving. Real.
I press my palms to the sink, bowing my head, trying to steady the storm in my chest. A hundred different thoughts rush through me, colliding and tangling until I can’t tell one from the other. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel. Relief? Terror? Joy?
At first, all I can think about is how unprepared I am. How everything between Alexander and me is still fractured and sharp, full of secrets and shadows. How can we bring a child into that? How can I raise someone inside this storm?
But then another thought cuts through, softer but stronger. The memory of myself as a gi
