WE ALREADY HAD 3 BOYS AND GAVE UP ON OUR DREAM OF A DAUGHTER; THEN MY HUSBAND CALLED ME TO THE HOSPITAL HOLDING A NEWBORN GIRL — WHEN HE WHISPERED HIS CONFESSION, I BROKE DOWN IN THE HALLWAY.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” he said. “And I need you to hear all of it before you say anything back.”

We sat on a small bench just outside the room, close enough that I could see the corner of that bassinet the entire time he talked.

“Do you remember the round of IVF we did before Toby?” he asked.

“Of course I remember,” I said. “It’s how we got him.”

“We had two embryos left afterward,” Owen said. “You remember that part too. We paid the storage fee every year without really talking about what we were storing them for.”

I nodded slowly, not yet understanding where this was going.

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