Chapter 1

Three days before my due date, Don Adrian Moretti got behind the wheel himself and drove his first love, Nora Shaw, to the mountains.

I stood in the doorway with one hand braced under my belly, the other gripping his wrist. "Adrian, I'm about to have this baby. Please don't go."

He glanced at his watch, gently pried my fingers loose, and looked at me the way you'd look at someone being unreasonable.

"Nora's waited six years for this snowfall, Grace. I can't let her down again. Anyone can be there when the baby comes."

At two in the morning, my water broke. Blood ran down my legs and pooled on the floor.

I crawled to the door and called him seventeen times.

The last one finally went through. All I could hear was wind and Nora's bright, ringing laughter.

I begged him to come home.

All he said was: "Last week you used stomach pain to trick me into coming back."

The ambulance came. He didn't.

But Nora clipped our phone call into her snow-mountain video. She slapped ridiculous subtitles over my crying, and the comment section filled with laughing faces.

Adrian's account was pinned right at the top.

"Sorry for the entertainment, everyone. She's always like this."

Two hours later, the child I had waited six years to hold was gone.

He sent me a voice message saying he'd bring me a gift when he got back.

The nurse asked if I still wanted my husband listed as emergency contact on my chart.

I set my phone facedown on the table.

"No."

Leave the husband field blank too.

When the nurse handed the chart back, Adrian Moretti's name had already been struck through with a black pen.

I stared at that line for a few seconds before my phone buzzed.

It was his deputy and legal counsel, Miles Reed.

"Mrs. Moretti, the video on the trending page has caused a bit of a misunderstanding. The PR team would like you to use your verified account to leave a like and post something along the lines of 'Hope you two have fun.' That way the public will read it as a joke between husband and wife."

I looked down at the edge of the bed.

The medical tray had just been wheeled out by the nurse. There were still traces of blood they hadn't wiped clean.

My child had been gone less than two hours, and they were already discussing how to wrap up a video.

"The person crying in that video is me. Correct?"

Miles paused. His voice dropped lower.

"Mrs. Moretti, Miss Shaw didn't mean anything by it. She just thought your tone at the time was... a bit dramatic."

"So you want me to confirm that my crying was, in fact, funny?"

Dead silence on the other end.

I didn't wait for his answer. I hung up.

Almost immediately, Adrian's call came in.

The wind was loud on his end. Every now and then, Nora's laughter drifted through.

"Grace, why did you hang up on Miles?"

His tone was as mild as ever, as though we were just bickering over a dinner menu.

"I told him to get in touch with you. Just cooperate on the video thing. Don't let people get the wrong idea."

"I called you seventeen times just now."

"I know."

He paused.

"But last week you said your stomach hurt too. I drove back in the middle of the night, and all you wanted was for me to sit with you through dinner."

I tightened my grip on the phone.

"This time was different."

"I know you're uncomfortable in the third trimester." He spoke as if he hadn't caught anything wrong in my voice. "The home nurse already switched out the maternity pillow, and the crib was air-shipped from Italy. The one you've had your eye on for a while. When I get back the day after tomorrow, I'll take you to the last checkup."

The hospital room was warm, but his words sent a tremor through me.

That crib was one I'd picked out six years ago, during my first pregnancy.

After that baby didn't make it, I never dared mention it again.

But Adrian remembered.

He remembered I could only sleep on my left side. That I couldn't stand heavy perfume. That after the baby was born, we'd need to swap the bedroom curtains for blackout panels.

He remembered every detail.

And still didn't come home.

"Adrian."

I looked at the tray the nurse had carried out. My voice was very quiet.

"When you come back, will you really take me to the checkup?"

"Of course."

He answered without hesitation, as if there had never been any doubt.

"We've waited so long for this, Grace. You're about to be a mother. Don't throw a fit over something like this."

I closed my eyes. On the other end, I heard Nora calling him.

"Adrian, come quick, the cloud sea's out!"

He called back to her, then said to me: "Take care of the video first. I'll bring you a gift when I'm back."

"Okay."

I didn't tell him the baby was already gone.

Not to punish him.

I just suddenly didn't know what capacity I had left to tell him in.

His wife?

But on the chart, the husband field was already blank.

Nora's video still glowed on my screen.

Snow. Laughter. Wind. And my voice, torn apart, begging for help.

Adrian's comment, pinned at the top.

"Sorry for the entertainment, everyone. She's always like this."

I stared at it for a long time. Then I reached over and turned the phone facedown on the bedside table.

This time, I didn't wait for him to come back the day after tomorrow.