“Well, we didn’t know that until later, so let’s pretend that doesn’t count.”

“This isn’t something that we’re going to find out later Greg. I’m not going to have children, okay?”

She put her palms on his cheeks and stared into his eyes. Nem wanted to be certain he understood what he would give up being with her. “Do you hear me?”

“Yes, I do my princess. And I’m good, okay.”

Now Nem knew she couldn’t lie to him about this. The guilt of that lie, knowing how happy a baby would make him, would destroy her. She held out the pregnancy test with the thin blue line showing in the white results window.

“Oh my God!” His face lit up, before a furrow appeared on his forehead. “But you said you couldn’t get pregnant. Will the baby be okay?”

She put a finger to his lips and said, “Shhh, yes, I think it’ll be okay. I’ve done some research. Let’s get some tests and see.”

“I don’t want to risk you, Princess,” Greg said, kissing her face and her hands as if she really was royalty. In her mind, she prayed that the force would be with her.

Dr. Lillis was a forty-something man with a soft chin and manner to match. She’d found him from a local business search. He confirmed matter-of-factly that she was indeed pregnant and the tiny, magnificent tadpole on the ultrasound screen was alive and well. She just hoped he wouldn’t reveal that she’d always been perfectly healthy, and this was not the miracle conception her husband believed.

Greg of course insisted on coming with her to the appointment and asking about her fictitious endometriosis. Her stomach was knotted at the thought that in the next few minutes, this could all unravel.

“You’re very, very lucky,” said the doctor.

Here it comes, she thought, hoping whatever he would say about her cure would sound credible.

“I know you said you suffered from endometriosis, but I don’t understand why you were given that diagnosis. In fact, after my examination, I’m puzzled—"

“Thanks doctor,” Nem interrupted, looking at her phone, pretending to notice the time. “We’ve got to get going. I have to get back to work.”

She’d intentionally made this appointment close to the end of her lunch break for just this reason. To have an excuse to get away.

“Oh, okay, well congratulations on both counts,” he said.

“Both counts?” said Greg.

Dr. Lillis finished writing something on Nem’s card before looking up and smiling at him. “Yes, becoming pregnant for one. And Nem’s recovery, which is quite the miracle.”

He nodded at Nem and gave her a look that might have meant that he understood her subterfuge, or he knew but didn’t care. She just hoped Greg hadn’t seen it. If he knew she’d deceived him, well, that might start something, and with this first hurdle out of the way, she felt as though maybe this might all end up perfectly.

Later in bed, Nem snuggled into Greg as he slept, listening to his breathing and the rhythm of his heartbeat. Warmth and happiness blanketed her, and she assured herself everything would be fine. The minute she saw the little baby inside her on the ultrasound, she realized how much less her life might have been without this pregnancy. And without Greg. She deserved her happiness and decided it was a stroke of luck her secret birth control had failed.