I looked at other books about fish and chose a few to bring home. I filled out the cards to sign up and check them out. As silly as it sounds, it thrilled me to be using the library again. It was raining hard when I tried to leave to go home, so I paused a moment by the bookshelves in the entrance where they had newspaper supplements and magazines from that month available to the public. I glanced over them, unable to make up my mind which to read. They were all there, from Magazine Littéraire to Marie-Claire. The cover of the latter displayed the title of an article that seemed to be speaking directly to me: Pregnancy. Why do they leave us right in this moment? I realized that the rain could last for hours and was contemplating going home anyway when my phone rang. Vincent, apologizing for being selfish. He had gone to the apartment so we could have lunch together. “I stopped at the trattoria you like and bought lasagna. I also got you oranges.” When he heard I was at the library he offered to come for me. We returned home arm in arm beneath his huge umbrella, blue with white clouds. The remnants of breakfast were still on the kitchen counter. Vincent took the delicacies from his bag and warmed them in the microwave. While we ate and he served himself two glasses of wine, I told him what I’d discovered about our pets. We laughed because they had been from Pauline and were as eccentric and complex as she. After lunch we made love. One of the few times we did during the pregnancy. It was a quick and tender fuck, but not without desire. Vincent said goodbye to me in bed with a kiss and went back to the office. A few minutes later, while getting dressed in front of the mirror, I noticed a brown line running straight down the middle of my stomach.