“Yes. And you’re doing it very, very well.”

She smiled at me.

“I just need you to know,” I said, “that this has been the most amazing thing that anyone has ever done for me. I am so honored.”

I looked into her eyes, and she looked into mine, and if a third person had been in the room, they would have felt it, too—the tension between us, like something seriously romantic might happen at any time. But was it just in my head, like it had been before?

“I think the hard part is getting ready to start,” she said. I could tell she was trying to keep things light, defuse the intensity of the moment. But she couldn’t. “Thank you,” she whispered, biting her lip.

“For what?”

“For this. I’ve spent my whole life feeling so inadequate as a woman. I was scared, and you pushed me, and…” She paused, putting her hand on her stomach. “I know now what it’s like to feel life growing inside of you.”

She was so sincere and so beautiful and uncharacteristically vulnerable. I felt myself leaning in closer to her. As the hair fell over her face, I put my hand to her warm, smooth cheek, pushed her hair back behind her ear. She turned her head toward me, and our faces were mere inches apart.

The door flew open, and the doctor walked in.

Saved by the bell. Or not. It depends on how you think about it. Saved, I decided. I could never do that to Greer.

Dr. Salter sat down on his rolling stool and said, “Kids, I wish I had some better news for you.”

My heart sank, and I prayed, Let the news be that there’s only one baby.

When he said, “We can’t detect a pregnancy,” Amelia, who was now sitting up, said, “That’s impossible. I feel so incredibly pregnant.”

He held up a piece of paper. “It might be bloating from all the produce you’re eating, if your food log is to be believed.”

Suddenly white, Amelia looked at me, and all I wanted to do was console her. I was the one who had lost my babies—or had never had them. But I couldn’t stand the tears rolling down her cheeks.

“It’s my fault,” she whispered.

“No, no,” Dr. Salter said soothingly. “You know we confirmed all that, Amelia. It isn’t your fault. There’s nothing you could have done. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.” He paused. “You can always try again. You have two more healthy embryos.”

In that moment, I realized I would do whatever she wanted to. Even though they were my embryos, and it was my life that would change, I was going to let her decide. All I wanted was to see her smile.

She had been so sure this was going to work out that she had made me sure, too. We had both been wrong. It was over before it started. My children. My link to Greer. And now, as it felt, my link to Amelia, too. It was all crumbling around me as Dr. Salter said, “I’ll give you two a minute.”