Four years ago, Linnea had been rushed to the hospital with severe, unexplained abdominal trauma.

She had woken after an emergency procedure.

Dorian had been at her bedside, weeping, explaining that the surgeons had been forced to operate in a way that severely compromised her ability to have children.

For nearly three years afterward, they had visited fertility specialists together.

He had held her hand through every tearful consultation and promised they would face the heartbreak side by side.

She opened the sealed records inside the envelope, and the floor seemed to drop away beneath her.