It can’t be good. If it wasn’t his baby, wouldn’t he just tell me now? Or maybe she didn’t have the appointment yet. Or maybe they found out it was a false alarm. Anything good he’d tell me right away, but he wants to see me—wants to convince me, persuade me. Love me into doing something stupid. I’m so weak for this man, but that I will not let him do. I draw the lines clearly for myself. If the baby is his, I won’t stay. My heart will break every step away from him, but it would be an act of self-preservation. If the baby is not his…

It hurts to hope this much. Hope is a bird that can soar or be shot down mid-flight.

I pull into my mother’s driveway. “I’m at home. We could meet here.”

He pauses, and when he speaks again, his voice has deepened, has heated. “I’ve missed you, Tru.”

I’ve missed you, too rides the tip of my tongue, but I bite it, let the silence after his words stretch out.

“We’ve had some developments here, too,” he says when it’s obvious I’m not going to respond in kind.

“You spoke to your mom?”

Another silence. Me making sure what was written in that biography never makes it to the shelves is different than confirming that it wasn’t true.

“How did she explain her charm being at the lake house if your family had never been there?”

“My family hadn’t, but she had with your mom, I believe.”

“Oh.” Relief courses through me, bursting out in a laugh. “That’s right. Mama would take her friends there sometimes for girlfriend weekends. I didn’t think she had started before your mom left, but I guess she had. Probably their mah-jongg group.”

“You’ll have to ask your mom.”

“Okay.” I suppress the nervousness that rises every time I think of Aiko’s pregnancy, of knowing the answer. “Then I’ll see you in a little bit.”

He draws a deep breath. “I love you, Tru.”

I can’t say it back again. I won’t yet. Not until I know my heart is safe and my hope is not in vain.

“I’ll see you soon, Ezra. Bye.”

It’s hard to hang up, to break even the smallest connection to him, but I do. How the hell will I let him go if Aiko is having his baby? God, the bitter irony of it. I can’t even get my period to come back, and she got pregnant twice by the man I love without even trying.

In the kitchen, Mama’s cooking. Raw meat and fresh vegetables crowd the counter. I set my purse on the island in the center of the room and walk over, give her a squeeze, which she returns.