Lila's P.O.V
The autumn had given way to winter's chill, the vineyard hills dusted with frost that sparkled under the pale sun. It had been a month and a half since Dr. Harlan's phone call shattered my world with the news of my pregnancy—six weeks along, she estimated, though the math blurred in my mind. Those early days were a whirlwind of nausea that hit like a tidal wave each morning, fatigue that draped over me like a heavy cloak, and a tentative joy that Ethan and I nurtured like a fragile flame. We'd attended our first prenatal appointment together, his hand steady in mine as the doctor confirmed the heartbeat—a rapid, fluttering sound that brought tears to my eyes. "Strong," the obstetrician had said, smiling. "Everything looks good so far."
But good was relative. Shay's memory ha
