But month after month passed without a pregnancy.
Each negative test hurt more than the last.
Eventually, I stopped letting myself get excited whenever my period was late because disappointment had become too familiar.
Then one morning, everything changed.
I took another test without telling Daniel.
Two lines appeared.
I stared at them until my vision blurred with tears.
Daniel found me sitting on the bathroom floor.
For one frightening second, he thought something terrible had happened.
Then I silently held up the test.
His eyes widened.
“No.”
I laughed through my tears.
“Yes.”
He immediately dropped to his knees beside me.
And then he started crying too.
From that moment on, Daniel seemed happier than I had ever known him to be.
Every evening, he placed his hand against my stomach and waited patiently for the baby to move.
Sometimes he talked to her.
Sometimes he simply sat there smiling.
