Five Years Earlier
Alexander's Mother's POV
I saw her at the supermart first, months before I understood what I was actually looking at.
She was thinner in the face than I remembered, her hair pulled back simply instead of the soft waves she used to wear, but there was no mistaking Bella, not to a woman who'd watched her cook Sunday dinners in my own kitchen for four years.
She was reaching for a bag of oranges, one hand braced against the small of her back in a way that told me everything before I let myself fully register it.
She was pregnant. Visibly, unmistakably, further along than a woman hides easily.
I didn't approach her. Some instinct, sharper than curiosity, told me this wasn't a conversation to have between the produce and the dairy aisle, not with Alexander's name still
