Sam tried to pretend she was talking to a group of old friends as she started at the beginning, with the unexpected pregnancy in college and took them through her infertility journey, culminating with the miscarriage she and Nick had suffered last year. As always when she got to that part, her chest tightened and tears threatened. But she battled through to the finish, to the most important part about how she and Nick wanted to make a difference for people struggling with infertility and other issues that mattered to them.

“Nick and I want you to know we understand the challenges those suffering from infertility grapple with on a daily basis. We want to help, and if hearing my story makes even one of you feel less alone with these challenges, I’ll be satisfied. Thank you for your time and attention, and when you read the speech I was supposed to give, you’ll see just how brilliant my staff really is. Thank you for having me.”

Sam couldn’t believe her eyes when every one of those two thousand people stood to clap. The roar of applause was nearly deafening and totally overwhelming. And when Nick walked onto the stage carrying a bouquet of red roses, the crowd truly went wild. Sam had never been so happy to see him.

Smiling, he kissed her cheek. “You were amazing, babe.”

Though she had two thousand people applauding her, his praise trumped a standing ovation any day.

They stood together for another couple of minutes, smiling and waving to the crowd, before he guided her off the stage, with his hand on her back.

“Fancy meeting you here,” she said when they were offstage.

“I hope it was okay to join in your thunder.”

“My thunder is your thunder.”

“Is that a come-on?”

Sam laughed and went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “Thank God that’s over.”

“I almost died when you mentioned the dyslexia. Way to punt.”

“You couldn’t tell I was sweating?”

“Nope. You were calm, cool, collected, funny, touching, poignant and incredibly sexy. They loved you, and I do too.”

“I’m really glad you were able to be here while I lost my public-speaking virginity.”

“I won’t always be able to come, but I wouldn’t have missed this one. Not only because it was your first time, but because of the topic.”

“Yeah, it’s a tough one.”

“I’m so damned proud of you, Samantha.” He kissed her forehead and then put his arms around her. “You’ll never know how many people you touched today by sharing a piece of yourself with the rest of the world.”

“Feels good to be able to help people. Maybe your job won’t totally suck if we can do stuff like this once in a while.”

“No, it totally sucks. Not as bad as yours, but it definitely sucks.” They were still laughing when Sam’s staff found them.