“They’re your daughters?”

“Our daughters,” I said.

She removed her hand from his arm.

Whatever she had known about the marriage, she had not understood that she was arriving beside a man who had been absent through the premature birth and hospital care of three children.

“Marcus?” she said.

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s complicated.”

“He left after my doctor told us the pregnancy was high-risk,” I said.