His silence was the answer, and Elena heard it.

Three days later, Elena took a home pregnancy test, and it was positive.

That night, she planned to tell him over dinner, to show him the little plastic stick that changed everything, to watch the fear drain out of both their lives.

But Alex walked through the door that evening carrying a suitcase.

He told her he needed space, that he could not spend his life wondering whether he had sacrificed his dream of fatherhood out of mere sentimentality.

And Elena, standing there with the positive test hidden in her purse, made a decision that would shape the next six years.