I shook my head. “Has any of this been real?”

“Amelia, don’t do this. Yes, I kept it from you. I just didn’t want to hurt you because I love you so much. And I would rather have you than a baby.”

“Is that what this was all along? Some attempt to get me to be your surrogate again?” I knew I was spiraling, but I couldn’t stop.

He ran his hands down the length of my arms, a gesture I would have recognized as affectionate if I weren’t so angry. “Amelia, of course not. You know me better than that. I love you. I want to be with you. Let’s just forget the baby thing and go back inside.”

I knew before I said what I said next that I shouldn’t. I knew I couldn’t take it back. But it flew out of my mouth anyway. “Are you still pining away for Greer, too? Am I just a side distraction?”

“Stop,” he said firmly. “Don’t bring her into this.”

“ ‘Don’t bring her into this,’ ” I repeated. “Her. Her. It’s always going to be her.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” he said, turning on his heels.

As I watched him walk away, I knew that he was right. Even still, I didn’t run after him. She would always be there. But, if I was honest with myself, she would always be with us for a reason that not even Parker knew.

Elizabeth THE PIECES

THAT HAD GONE AWRY VERY quickly. But life is like that sometimes: one moment, you’re celebrating, the next, you’re debating how—or whether—to pick up the pieces.

“Well, that went well,” Tilley said.

“Thanks to you,” Olivia practically hissed.

I put my hand up, defending my sister. “We all did our part. We came on entirely too strong.”

I couldn’t help but think, though, that our questions hadn’t been out of the ordinary for a couple who had been through what Parker and Amelia already had. So maybe we had done them a favor. We had revealed cracks that had been in the foundation that would eventually make the house come down. Maybe we’d just made it come down sooner.

But what was nagging at me was that this was a problem that could be fixed, that we needed to fix. That I could fix.

“Well, I’m out,” Olivia said. “I did my part. I gave him the letter. He told her he loved her. They spent six weeks together. I have no other tricks up my sleeve.”

I studied Tilley’s face. She seemed perfectly lucid. Whatever “ball” she had been attending must have been over in her mind.

“I think we have to,” she said.

“I’m not worried about me, Tilley. I’m honestly not. I’m worried about you.”

She bit her lip. “I can handle it if she knows. I think she can handle it, too.”

“But you understand that once it’s out there, we can’t control it. We can’t control what she decides to do with the information.”