“Aw, baby,” I said softly, lying down on the bed behind her, my feet hanging off the side. I curled my body around hers. “Your aunt will come around. She loves you.”

“You heard Uncle Isaac,” she said. “I broke their hearts.”

My jaw clenched in fury as I held her tighter. Her aunt and uncle had every right to be disappointed, but I hated how shitty they’d been to Sarai. “This is going to change things,” I murmured against her hair. “You’ll see. Just wait until they find out that you’re going to give them a grandbaby to love. Babies are like magnets—they won’t be able to stay away.”

“How am I supposed to tell them?” she asked. “I came back to Missouri to go to school. They’ve been waiting for me to come home for years, and now I’m building this whole other life here.”

“Do you want to go back?” I asked, keeping my voice even. I dreaded her answer, but I needed to know. My re-enlistment was coming up, and we were going to have to make some important decisions soon. In the back of my mind, I’d assumed that if I got out of the Army, we’d move to Oregon. Most of my family was there, and I was ready to be close to them again.

“No,” she said softly. “No, I don’t.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said, kissing her head. “We have time to figure it all out.”

“I’m really scared,” she admitted, her fingers lacing with mine.

“I know,” I replied, giving her fingers a squeeze. “But I’m not scared of anything,” I boasted. “So we’ll be fine.”

“I hope so,” she said.

I pressed my lips against her hair and held them there, letting the tiny strands brush against my face. I’d do whatever it took to make sure that we were okay.

“Let’s remove that IUD,” the doctor said as he and the nurse came back into the room.

Sarai reached for my hand, and I cringed as they helped her feet into the stirrups.

“Try to relax,” the doctor said as Sarai’s fingers tightened around mine.

There was a sheet covering what the doctor was doing, but I still broke out in a cold sweat as he worked.

“You okay?” I asked, leaning down to kiss Sarai’s forehead.

“It hurts,” she breathed, squeezing her eyes shut.

My stomach churned.

“All done,” the doctor said a few minutes later, reaching up to pat Sarai’s knee as he stood up. “How’re you doing?”

“Okay,” Sarai said, letting out a deep breath.

“The worry we have when someone becomes pregnant while using an IUD is ectopic pregnancy,” he said, taking off his gloves. He walked to the sink and washed his hands, then turned to face us. “But the ultrasound showed everything progressing appropriately in your uterus.”