Chapter 2
We moved Avice to the marine library with her nanny and two guards.
She refused at first.
“Grandpa stay.”
“I’m coming.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
Only then did she go.
I waited until the door closed.
Then I returned to the donor lounge.
Julian stood apart from Vanessa.
Good.
The physical distance matched reality now.
“Start.”
Vanessa wiped her face.
She had believed she was pregnant initially.
One home test.
Faint positive line.
A missed cycle.
Nausea.
She told Julian immediately.
He cried.
That surprised me.
My son rarely cried in front of anyone.
Avice’s mother, Caroline, had died two years earlier from an aneurysm.
Sudden.
Brutal.
Julian had not seriously dated until Vanessa.
The pregnancy felt to him like evidence life might grow again instead of only disappear.
Then Vanessa went to a private appointment alone.
No pregnancy.
The test had been wrong.
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
She looked at Julian.
“Because that morning he was happy.”
Julian laughed once.
Sharp.
“So you gave me eleven weeks of fake happiness?”
She flinched.
“I thought I would tell you that night.”
Then Diane called.
That was when the lie stopped belonging only to Vanessa.
My sister had already learned about the supposed pregnancy.
She sent flowers.
Started planning rooms.
Talked about “a fresh beginning.”
Vanessa told her privately that the doctor found nothing.
Diane’s response?
“Wait.”
That single word changed everything.
Vanessa waited one day.
Then two.
Diane told her pregnancy dating could be wrong.
Another doctor.
Another week.
By the time the second appointment confirmed there was no pregnancy, Julian had already told the family.
Avice had begun kissing Vanessa’s stomach goodnight.
I looked at Diane.
“You knew there was no child.”
“Yes.”
“And you told her to continue.”
“Yes.”
Julian stepped toward his aunt.
“Why?”
Diane looked at him as if the answer should be obvious.
“Because you were finally staying.”
Silence.
Now I understood.
Six months earlier, Julian had told me he wanted to move with Avice to Newport.
Not leave the family.
Just live outside Boston.
Raise his daughter somewhere quieter.
Diane hated it.
She had spent months trying to change his mind.
Then Vanessa became “pregnant.”
Suddenly Julian stopped talking about Newport.
He renovated the Boston townhouse.
Returned to more family dinners.
Stayed close.
May you like
My sister saw the nonexistent baby not as deception—
but as an anchor.
