THE LAST THING HE TOOK FROM ME

intly that Evelisse nearly conv

e test. Looked a

takable line sta

walls, the golden lights, the huge mirror all watching as

gna

n her mind with en

more

gna

oilet lid, still clutching the test l

e'd been marr

efully he kept her at arm's length. Six years arguing with herself that Caelen wou

ed say that last part,

root inside her without bothering to ask a

quiet sound-half la

her belly. "Hello," she whispered, almost laugh

yes before the

rn. A family. Not the thing people took pictures of for magazines. Not the smile for

a real smile would break through. Maybe she'd walk into his office that night, set that tiny

or one night. Maybe he'd hold her, with

. "Maybe this is i

e thing that made them

e could buy. They were barely bigger than her palm. She sat

at her in the rearv

fingers around

ost smiling himse

d the window. "I

verything right then

happiness out in the open. She'd

ntracts, schedules-everything nailed down. She'd alway

had never quite become w

he'd done the same. Their wedding had been stunning. Their lives we

he'd reach for her in his sleep. She counted those moments as treasu

wrapped around her waist.

e distance would f

onight she wo

say, We're h

maybe-everyth

ght fifteen, Evelisse checked her phone. Nothi

t him a message. A

d, but n

ried not to worry. She'd promised herself years ago not to be

e picked her phone up

She knew that. She knew all

ir box, slipped them into a little velvet pouch. Time to surprise him at the offic

ht would be

ss-nothing fancy, nothing that woul

there, the building was half asleep-lights out, empty

. Va

arren sti

e said finally. "His

nk y

r throat. The building felt strange tonight-maybe it w

ark except for Caelen's o

was here. She could

led softly, pushi

, laptop open; his jacket hung on the back

ped in.

th

neatly centered on the desk-like so

her in bold letters:

her gut. The shoes in her

e, not Mrs. Varren. Just Evelisse Arden Va

er. Maybe it was just business-somet

ened it, the

age carried

N FOR D

raced the line again, down

. "No," she said, bef

signatures, lawyers' notes, property spl

hreat. This was finished,

ns, transfers, new accounts, s

mo

k. Two days before that, he held her during a storm and sai

She refused to let

, buried at the end: Child

tered. She rea

uld happen if she got pregnant

tomach. The baby inside h

pregnancy-before she even knew.

en note was clippe

ny decisions regarding the chil

just abo

e door cl

her not to turn. She recognized his pre

urried, crossed the roo

paperwork, her hand pr

ut through

supposed to