“Libby’s the strongest and most together person I know,” Nick said. “She’s never needed help before and I didn’t know what to do to help me cope, let alone help her. Whatever I tried, it felt like it wasn’t enough and I watched her moving away from me. We’d lost our baby, but it was a double whammy, because I felt I was losing my best friend too.”

His words bumped against Libby like gentle waves on Freedom’s hull. They didn’t accuse or blame, they merely existed. Just as Nick’s feelings existed. She didn’t know what to do with them.

“Would you like to speak to any of this, Libby?” Teresa asked.

Her fingers twiddled with the bracelet Nick had given her on their fifth anniversary—a happy time when thoughts of being mired deep in a marriage crisis were so unimaginable, it would have been laughable to think it possible. Yet here they both were, hurt and bleeding.

I watched her moving away from me.

It jolted Libby to realize that some of her rage at Nick might be redirected anger from that time of darkness when her world had caved in for the first time. “I didn’t just lose a baby, I lost the son we wanted.” She turned to Nick. “For weeks, every time I looked at you, all I could think of was how badly I’d let you down.”

“God, Libby, no.” He grabbed her hand. “It was never your fault. I never said it was. I never even thought it. Why would you think that? I mean, you explained the autopsy report to me …” He trailed off, clearly perplexed.

“I don’t know.” Pain struck her like a blunt knife. “I’d never failed at anything before and—”

“You didn’t fail. We had an unexplained stillbirth.”

The official term didn’t offer any solace. “Our baby died inside me! That feels like failure. I blamed myself so it seemed reasonable you’d blame me too.” She sighed. “Teresa’s right. I wasn’t thinking straight. If I had been, I’d have known you were the last person to place any blame. Instead, when we needed each other the most, I pushed you away.”

She heaved in a breath, forcing it into a tight chest. “I haven’t wanted to admit it, Nick, but I’ve got some responsibility in all of this nightmare too.”

“Thank you.” Relief filled his face and he blinked rapidly. “I’m sorry I didn’t cope better. I’m sorry my stupidity added to our pain. I’ll always regret it. Always be sorry for it.”

She touched her forehead to his. “I’m sorry too.”

They stayed there, tears mingling, until Libby shuddered in a very loud and snorty breath. Nick laughed. Teresa passed a box of tissues and offered water.