Those are the words Claudia said on my wedding day. It was a joke then, but today the danger is terribly real. Another contraction squeezed her. After these hours of labor, I should be feeling something… intense. I’m not. It doesn’t feel like anything is changing. What if they’re right? What if I’m risking myself and my little one… for nothing?
“No,” she whispered. “No, that can’t be true. It just can’t.”
Vidal’s sweet, sad face seemed to float up in her mind. He’s been desperate for months, but he never said a word, because he wanted me to be happy.
My poor husband. He lost one love only a year and a half ago. How will he survive losing me too? He will live, perhaps, but his grief will be terrible. I have the opportunity to prevent it, or at least to try. Don’t I owe him this much?
“D
